Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-09-28
sanatnr Matthew'S, snasnh.


joint discussion at Dayton, Ohio, Senator
Matthews said; -y ~
Fellow Citizens;
There are manifest advantages In public
discussion Of public questions face 70 face
whore any mistakes OF fact or opinion can bS
controverted and corrected on the spot. Ger
tainly the people Of this State have no other
or greater interest In public affairs than 70
know and 10 do the true and right thing, and
the way TO get OF that is for them to exert
their intelligence upon the material Of fact
and argument that may be supplied them by
those whose vocation IL is to discuss public
questions, and shall esteem II my duty, NOT
lees than my privilege, to assume that every
person present on this occasion, without
reference to party connection, whether he be
q Democrat or a Republican, sincerely de.
sires to arrive at a knowledge OF the truth,
and, having attained IL, as nc may II he sin.
cerely attempts to, put IL in practice In order
that by the practice OF the truth he may pro
mote the highest and best public good. do
not believe, fellow-citizens, and in this re.
spect am sorry to appear TO disagree with
the honorable and distinguished gentleman
who has opened the debate-l do not believe
that the people OF this country are divided
into two classes, one of which is honest and
the other dishonest. do not believe that
all the virtue, all the intelligence, all the pa
triotism that belongs to the whole people OF
the entire country can be found In either
party exclusively. l do not believe that be-
cause man processes to be a Republican
that he Is therefore, and necessarily, a
patriot. Neither do | believe the converse,
or that when a man chooses to become a
Democrat that that makes him a saint That
might have been the effect upon my learned
brother when he was baptized into that faith,
aud ! shall walt to be at the canonization.
Fellow.citizens, among. all the anticipations
which / have had in reference TO my personal
part In this discussion, IL never entered into
my head that would be called upon to make
defense of my personal integrity and honor;
and yet don't complain that 1t has been as
saulted. l don't even, what otherwise l
might be justified in doing, require the
learned gentleman who makes the accusation
to state whether he does II on his own per,
sonal authority, or on Information derived
from others, and IL SO, upon what proof.
am so strong in not only my innocence, but
in the utter want Of any plausible reason for
disputing 1t, that | welcome the accusation
and the accuser. .li s
The charge is this: tits said by Gen. Ew-
ing that in a certain critical stage Of the
progress Of the Presidential count, when, in
spite of n judicial decision of the judicial
body to which all questions connected with
IL, had been referred, that appeared on the
scene and interviewed, and for the purpose
and with the effect ofdefeating certain Dem.
OCEdlb WHO OJuGTWlbG WOulu ubNC lOl1eu WlJO
Others of their party in preventing the decla-
ration OF the election that X. b. Hayes is
President; and then and there and with these
Democrats l made, in the name and on the
behalf Of the present President of the United
States, dishonest and dishonoTable bargain
by which he was permitted to, be declared
and inauguratcd President, upon the prom
ise, as Consideration, that when inaugural
ed he would withdraw the troops from
Louisiana and South Carolina, and so
permit in the latter the State Govern.
ment represented by Wade Hampton, and
in the former State that represented
by Gov. Nichols, to be established as the
recognized governments Of those respective
States. The gentleman went so far AS to
particularize that this bargain was in writing.
Now intend to make my denial TO cover 1t
in every form, written, verbal, implied, eX.
pressed collateral, incidental, in every possi-
BILE form, shape, variety, mode, tense, or view
that the ingenuity or the malice of men may
affirm it.. 1t is lie. There is not word OF
truth In 1t. There is not particle of plausible
foundation for it. There Is not an event, a
fact, document, or an incident which could
justify reasonable, conscientious man con-
cerning the possibility of it, Every scrap that
ever wrote or signed in connection with the
history of that event has been published far
and wide II any man has anything yet, let
him produce it. defy all my accusers No,
undertake to deprive President Hayes OF the
honor and the grace of first .conceiying and
originating the policy which he himself car
ried out. II was born OF his own good sense
and his own good heart. 1t is described first
in his letter of acceptance, where it was seen
and known and read, and every man that
knew him, and every assurance that ever
was given by myself, and so far as know by
any other man in Washington City or else
where in reference to what he would or
would not do when he became President, was
founded on that and that alone. AS for my
self never had, from the time went on to
Washington to act as one of the counsel be-
fore the Electoral Commission until the Gay
that he arrived in Washington after the an
nouncement and declaration OF his election
had been made--I never had the slightest
with him.
But don't propose to stop on the defen-
sive in this matter. l accuse-and think
can make my accusation goou-I accuse that
portion of the Democratic party represented
by nay distinguished competitor and Demo
crat in Ohio, one of whose members repre-
sents this Congressional district, and many
Others OF which were members from the State
of Ohio, of having entered into conspiracy
against the peace and prosperity and good
order of this entire people, contrary to law
and against their solemn and plighted faith.
charge them with the intent and attempt,
of the lawful result of the Presidential elec
tion and inaugurating man not elected by
the law or the Electoral Colleges for that
purpose, If necessary, to organize new re-
bellion and bring about new civil war. On
the floor of the House OF Representatives
they endeavored in every way that their in
genuity could suggest to delay from hour to
hour and from day to day the progress of the
Presidential count, in order that the 4th of
March might arrive without the declaration
of that legitimate result, in the expectation
and anticipation that their majority in the
House of Representatives, taking the Consti-
tuition and the law into their own hands,
contrary to every principle of jurisprudence
and every precedent of our history, would de-
eide, first, that there had been no election,
and proceed to the election of Samuel j.
Tiiden, and then proceed to inaugurate him,
and to do it, II necessary, by organized force;
and but for the moderation and good sense
and patriotism of the Democratic Repre-
sentatives from the Southern States, who
said that they had had civil war enough, or
We should to-day, instead of being engaged
In the peaceful discussion of the present
issues, have been engaged in fighting out the
question whether Samuel j. Tiden should
usurp the Presidential power In this country
or not.
You remember, fellow-citizens, that the
proposition to refer all questions growing
Oub VI lhhb Ihll WIS
a Democratic proposition. 1t was voted for
In the Senate of the United States by every
Democratic Senator but one. 1t was passed
In the House of Representatives by an una
nimtty almost as great. 1t was urged and
advocated as measure of peace, cOncilia-
tion and harmony and honorable adjustment,
with the express and solemn pledge given by
almost every Democratic speaker OF either
house that whichever way the decision would
be all parties, all sides, wouldacquiesce in it
as an honorable and legal adjustment, and,
as said, 1t was accepted and voted for by
many Republicans, and acquiesced in by the
people, by the Republican people as well as
the Democrats. II Was organized upon the
idea that the questions were political and
that the party adhesion of the members of
the tribunal would be likely to influence and
bias them, and 80, that neither party should
have any advantage on that score, an equal
number was taken from each side, but in'or-
der to have some decision there had to be a
fifteenth man, aud that man was TO be a
] Judge OF the Supreme Court, selected by the
four other Judges of that court already des-
Iguated on that tribunal. II that fifteenth
man had been a Democrat he would have
voted just AS the other Democrats did, and
then all the Democrats would have said
. AmenW But Providence interposed, and
by putting Judge Davis In the Senate put
l.. n...'N H.. a.. ~