The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-08-08
REoUaRENcE TO rILpEN,s PLAN IMPOSSIBLE.

CIV BeueIuuUl' All OuE purple ID uhunJeu ou Jue
4th OF July. But the fall elections approach La
Dor party tickets, Greenback conventions, Com
munism" platforms, and nominations by the
Nationals" no sooner attest the life and reality
Of the peoples rule than half the Republican
press go into paroXysms over It's happy tempestu-
Ousness and cry aloud for a man on horseback !"
to keep order, uphold property and save society
Such dread Of the people, held by the half hedged
monarchistB who flavor all the policies Of that
party, is a standing invitation to usurpers. Sued
terrOTs stuffed the scarecr0ws set up by Grant ami
Ferrys threat. H. indeed, such be the lenure Of
our popular sovereignty and American liberties
the sooner we know II the better. But the plain
square issue with which Mr.. Tilden confronted
usurpauon, and which would have brought the
dTag0nade menace TO sharp and final test
could not, after being supplanted, be revived. 1t
was hopelessly beclouded by that event. Had 1t
been possible to defeat the proposed arbitrament
by q concerted revolt among the Democratic rank
and file In Congress- It's defeat would not have re.
instated the earlier issue, nor facilitated recur
renee to Mr.. Tildens plan To that the Condi.
tiOns of success were, an indomltRble and united
Democracy and an unbroken favoring public
opinion. But the mere proposal of the electoral
arbitrament, backed by great Democratic leaders,
caused three illusions TO prevail the Illusion
that such an arDitrament was the only alterna.
tive to civil war; the illusion that such tribunal
must establish truth in its decision and the peo.
pie In their rights the illusion of the business
classes oppressed by long suffering under ruin.
GUS tariffs and tluctuating Cuuences that 1t was
the haTbinger OF new prosperity So that the
| rank and file would have been resuming a con.
test abandoned by their familiar leaders as hope
| less, and attempting recurrence to the earlier
issue amidst public opinion now reversed and
hostile So that the case OF the people versnS the
pseudo savior Of society yet awaits fair trial under
fair auspices For who can say that untimehness
In raising supreme issue OF popular sovereignty
when beclOuded by untoward events might not
have enlisted the patriotism of the masses them
selves and their peaceful aspirations against the
sacred cause of popular rights and given the usur
per a cogn of vantage which his uttermOst auda-
city had never won,
But, besides, 1t was tken quite too late to renew
battle of opinion from which the great cham.
pions had sounded retreat The illusions in
spired by their proposal of the electoral scheme
rendered everything else impraCticable It's real
character could only be made manifest by expe.
rleuCe of its results,
AN UNwRITTEN CHAPTER OF POLITICAL HISTORY.
Be that however as 1t may. If the President
de iure failed to become President de fact0 too,
through any act or omission of his own, 1t was
not by means of his untried plan for the defeat of
the Republican conspiracy. 1t must have been,
If ever, by his judgment action, or advice upon
the Electoral Commission plan, during the three
days from his first knowledge of 1t, January H. to
the day, January II, when, by the concurrence of
the leading Democratic members of the Senate
and House upon the two conference committees,
the safe chart Of the House Privileges Committee
was rolled up and flung away, and the Democrat.
ic party were embarked upon unsounded and
shipWreckiDg seas.
What his Judgment, action and advice were is
now to be told,
HEWITT WITH THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION SCHEME.
On the evening of Saturday, January 10, the
undersigned calling upon Mr.. Tilden found him
iRreceipt Of the McCrary House BILL with pro-
posed amendments and letter from Mr. Hewitt
advertising the Governor that his counsel thereon
would be asked the next day Mr.. Tilden invited
the undersigned to call on the morrow, when Mr..
Hewitt should be there, TO consider this bill-the
supposed axis on which the deliberations of the
House Conference Committee were revolving.
The undersigned thus came to be present Janu-
ary 18th, the day and date when Mr.. Tilden re.
Reived from Mr. Hewitts lips his first information
| that other measures had been abandoned, that
the Senate Conference Committee had just dis.
| closed to the House Conference Committee an
leCtoral Commission Bill It had been priysteiv
| preparing; that the House Committee were pressed
| to accept and adopt the same, and that the sub
| ject he wished to confer upon was that.
Mr.. Hewitt explained as the Senate Committee s
reason for secrecy, that without 1t they could not
carry the bill. 1t had been adopted BY arrange
ment betweec the three Democratic and four Re-
| publican members, and was so strictly observed
| that when Senator Herman made inquiry of one
Of the former, he was iold that nothing could be
| disclosed to him without violating an honorable
understanding, So well was the secret kept, that
| Senator BaTnum, now chairman of the National
Committee, passing through New York on Friday
the 10Th, had expressed his conviction that ma.
oTity of the Senate, as Mr.. Tilden's plan antCi.
pRted, would concur in denying the right of Fer.
ry to make the count
TILDEN's COUNSEL NOT AsKED-BUT HIS ADHESION.
Before he read the new bill, Mr.. Tilden was
| told by Mr.. Hewitt that the Democratic members
| of the Senate Committee were already absolutely
committed to 1t, and would concur with their Re-
publican associates In reporting II to the Senate,
whereupon the House Committee should concur
or not and whether Mr. Tilden approved it or
| not
"Is 1t not rather late, then" said Mr. Tiden, ITO
consult me?
"They do not consult you" replied Mr. Hewitt
"They are public men, and have their own duties
and responsibilities. consult you"
TILDEN's PLAN CoNTRAsTED WITH THE NEW
SCHEME.
After possessing himself of the policy and pro-
visions of the BILL Mr. Tildens perception Of their
character was prompt and decided His disap.
proval of the Electoral Commission scheme, as
might have been inferred by any political neo
phyte, from its contrast at all points with his own
plan, was inherent and incurable.
II was a scheme for getting votes counted with
the approval of but single House. and that
House the one in political sympathy with the ma
jority OF Commission recruited from and con.
trolied by bench Of which all the members, save
one. had been appointed by Lincoln or Grant
But his counsels had approved, Mr.. BigelOw's
treatise had maintained, Mr.. Knotts committees
resolutions had formulated and taken issue upon
| the doctrine settled by uniform construction Of
the Constitution and by uniform procedure
| thereunder-that with two political bodies, each
being a unit, each having equal authority, a
challenged vote in the very nature Of things new
er could be, as II never had been, counted until
| the challenge were overcome by the cOncuring
| separate affirmative voice of both.
1t cast down one other insuperable bar 10 the
success of the oonsptracy-that latent but final
| power vested In the House Of Representatives to
inc whether or not a President had been
elected and, If not, TO choose one. But the
treatise of his friend had demonstrated, the resO
luttons by himself prepared for the House Privil-
| eges Committee, had affirmed, the ultimate right
OF Judgment by the House whether choosing of
the President had devolved upon 1t from fail
ure of election by the colleges
Instead Of fixing as the center Of the contest the
| House OF Representatives, whose constitutional
powers dominated the situation, and whose ma
| jority was in sympathy with the majority Of the
| people, the new scheme was resting upon the
| Democratic minority OF The Senate divorced from
the House Of Representatives, making that House
| Of no account In these preliminary negotiations
and by the effect of the bill itself, when law,
oaDcelling the transcendent authorities and the
decisive majority Of the House as factors in the
| counting Of electoral votes It exchanged posi-
tive powers In the control Of friends for the priv
| Iege Of attempting persuasiOns OF enemies.
Publicity had been the essence OF his own plan,
with free debate in the unclouded blazeo of public