Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-04-04

WASHINGTON, March 27.

/ who sought to shape the course of the
: new administration, and to commit the
President to a certain policy relative
to Louisiana and South Carolina, are
now palpable and threaten great en-
barrassment. Not only this, but they
have forged and furnished to the uu-
scrnpulous members Of the opposition,
very effective weapons for the warfare
they meditated from the first, upon the
very first in timations that their unsea-
sonable and lawless demands would not
be met with an unquestioned compli-
ance For. many days-indeed, ever
since the 5th inst. vague hints to the
effect that Senator Gordon, Hamburg
T Butler and their coajutors, who have
SO constantly haunted the White House
had i'll their possession an agreement
signed by Seuator Stanley Matthews,
Charles Foster, IL. c., Secretary Sher-
man and General Garfield for the
President and the Republican party
: generally, stipulating that in consi der
alton of acquiescence in the decision of
the Electoral Commission by Southern
Democrats, NicolIs aud Hampton, were
to be recognized, and the devoted I'm
lonlsts OF those states TO whose leroism m
the President was indebted for his elec-
4 were to be turned ovsrto the tender
merces of their prosecutors, with no
other guarantee Of protection than the
pledges Of q few men, one of whom is
an x-Chief Of Georgia Ku Klux, and
another only known for his leading
part in the atrocicus, cold blooded mur-
der of several coIored men few months
since. That paper of the kind al
legged IS in existence, there seems no
room to doubt. But the president, it
4 is said, repeatedly denied any knowl-
edge oft aud of having ever authorized
any one to bargain lu any shape or
form for him M Sherman as en-
phatically repudiate5 the whole matter,
and General Gordon states that the
precious document is guiltless Of Gen
eral Gar6eid's signature, and since it
was determined to send a commission
to Louisiana, The whole matter has be-
come generally known through the
unsparing denunciations Of The Presi-
dent, who is accused of duplicity and
with repudiating his pledges, this
paper being instanced as a proof. 1t
has been the engrossing subject of
conversation in political circles for the
past forty-eight hours, and productive
, Of no little excitement, and in many
quarters where Mr.. Blaine was almost
iercely condemned for his vigorous
protest, he has now come to be as
warmly commended for his vigorous
protest, probably founded upon a
knowledge of this damaging document.
At no time since the Cincinnati Con-
vention indicated its choice of candi-
dates, has there been more general and
implicit confidence in the President S
patriotism and in his determination to
decide all matters demanding his saction
upon their eq ultles; and this early ex-
perience will render him more than
ever guarded against the efforts of
those who would by indirect means
commit him to any particular line Of
action, which, upon more mature de-
liberation, his judgment would disap-
{. prove as wholly wrong Or unwse,
! whether they are well meaning but in
ulSCIeGl 1IlouuS, vi tuCmlSS III UlSSulSG,
| seeking to take him at mean disad-
vantage. The almost certain odium
which will fan upon the members of
the mixed commission to be sent to
Louisiana, appears to deter gentlemen
who have been invited to become
members from accepting, and ex-Gov.
ernor Brown, Of Tennessee is the only
one of the number who has indicated
his acceptance, while several are re-
ported to have definitely declined.
General credence would have been ac-
corded Vice President Wheeler's find
ings had he consented to have gone !;
but his declipation is generally COM
mended under The circumstances, be-
cause he could not have escaped the
Wholesale denuneiation thatwould have
been rained down upon him, regardless