Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-05-25
New York World.


our esteemed contemporary, tho
a Sun, may be embarrassed in the
work of bringing about a thorough
searching, and impartial investiga
tion of the frauds which, as we be
. leVe, were committed in Florida
and Louisiana at the time of the
Presidential Election in 1876. Fol
our esteemed contemporary in No
vember of that year laid down fully
and earnestly the doctrine, never
accepted by The WORLD, that there
is no power which can go behind
the certificates of State given to
certain persons as Presidential elec-
tors. And as the Sun neither is nor
claims to be q Democratic journal
we have no reason of course to ex-
pect that it will do justice to the mo-
tives or the conduct of the great
body of the Democratic voters ofthe
Union.
But it seems to us nevertheless
that even from the point of view of
such a Republican as Senator Conk-
ling, with whom we understand
the Sun to agree in his views as TO
the status and character of the pres
ent Republica Administration, it is
very far from just to charge the
Democratic masses of the South, as
the Sun now does with treason to
the country and with a deliberate
desire to destroy by fraud "the Gov
ernment which the Southern armies
! were unable to overthrow" because
the South has shown itself willing
to recognize the Administration of
President Hayes as a lawful author
ity. Mr.. Charles Francis Adams,
who can hardly be thought to be a
sympathizer with those whom the
Sun vehemently denounces as
southern rebels now yclept Demo-
crats"-has recently expressed his
conviction that no assault ought
now to be made upon the title of
| President Hayes, and if we are not
mistaken a member of his family
has even gone so far as to accept a
/ Federal Office under the existing
| Administration. The WORLD has
brought out prominently before the
country the fact that Senator Conk-
| ling has been in possession, ever
since the Presidential election of
/ 1876, of information which leads
him freely to denounce the Presi-
dent and his Administration as
guilty accomplices either before or
after the fact in the frauds through
which the Hayes electors in Florida
and Louisiana obtained those State
certificates which the Sun elaborate
! ly maintained in November, 1876,
must be accepted as final and con-
elusive. But Senator COnkling is
1 =
Democrat. If he possessed this in
| formation in 1876, and has failed
ever since to bring an open accusa-
ton against the President and the
Administration on the strength of
it, surely it is against him and not
against the "SOuthern rebels" that
the Sun should direct it's wrath.
What part has theSOuth really borne
in the history of the Hayes Admin
istration? Certainly the South did
notnominate Mr.. Hayes. Mr.. Hayes
was supported in his Presidential
canvass by the whole power of the
detestable Administration of Presi-
dent Grant, and the South cOnten-
ded against him not simply to win
a political victory, but to secure
itself from political degradation and
from social anarchy. How solidly
it supported the candidacy of Mr.. |
Tilden we all know. How wisely, !
no just and candid American ever
should forget. Tainted, provoked, !
irritated on every side by the un-
scrupulous emissaries of an Admin
istratiOn of which Senator COnkling
was a trusted counsellor, the people
of the South went through canvass
which for them involved the issues
of political life or death, without |
uproar, disturbance or confusion. |
When the canvass ended, it appear !
ed that Mr.. Iilden was chosen law |
full President of the United States
by 1876 electoral votes out of 369, !
being clear majority of % over his |
Republican competitor. OF these
1876 votes the Southern States cast |
131, the Northern States only 65. In
the East a single phalanX of three |
cOnterminOus States Connecticut, |
New York and New Jersey-stOod /
for the Constitution and the sOver- |
eighty of the laws with the Solid |
South; in the West, Indiana alone. }
What followed ? Under the prOtec- |
ton of Grants administration, of |
which Senator Conkling was q trus-
ted counsellor, the people of two |
Southern States, Florida and Louis
lana, were deliberately robbed of |
their votes for the Democratic cleo |
tors, and the machinery was set in |
motion which resulted in the Elec- |
tOral Commission and eventually in |
the Inauguration of Mr.. Hayes, The |
Democrats of the South protested |
against the outrage perpetrated upon
the electoral franchise, in all imag-
Unable forms. They looked-as had |
they not right to look ?-to the
leaders of the Northern Democracy
and to the candidate whom they, !
the people of the South, had elected,
to uphold the threatened sanctity of |
the ballot and see justice done. They !
looked in vain. Were they to as
sumo the initiative of civil war for
the assertion of results achieved by
their peaceful ballots Had they
desired disuniOn rather than un-
ion, strife rather than peace, then
was the time to have shown it. They
did not desire disunion, they desired |
union. They did not desire strife,
they desired peace. When North
ern Democrats accepted the decree of
the Electoral Commission from Sen
atOr COnkling and President Grant,
against the earnest but solitary war
nings and protests of The WORLD,
the Democrats of the South saw the |
Federal power once more cOnfided /
to a Redublican Administration
but not by any act of theirs IN
their local governments they asser-
ted without bloodshed that sanctity
Of the ballot which Northern Demo |
Gratis shrank from asserting in the |
Federal Government. The people |
of Florida and of Louisiana could |
only help to elect Mr.. Tilden Pres
ident. They could not make him
President if he would not accept |
and maintain the title which they /
had given him. But the people Of |
Florida and Louisiana, like the peo-
pie of South Carolina, without the /
help of the candidate whom they |
had chosen to the Presidency did |
maintain the titles which they had (
given by their votes at the same |
time to Governor Drew and Cover |
nor Hampton and Governor Mich