The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-03-06

himself by his political rascality and disre-
gard of law while holding his gubernatorial
! office in 1867. The board has been charac-
/ terized by Hon. William A Wheeler ga "a
disgrace to civilization" and was covered
/ with universal suspicion. And yet, John
| Sherman, Stanley Matthews, James A. Gar
1 Held and their republican associates, in
! rejecting the proposition for joint political
conference, declared that they had no reason
/ to doubt that perfectly honest and just
\ declaration of the results of the election in
/ Louisiana would be made by its members
/ while Mr.. Sherman pronounced Mr.. Wells
the peer of any man in the senatei"
! The belief that these republican leaders
/ bad united with the returning board in its
conspiracy to cheat the people of the United
States received further confirmation in its
action while canYassing the votes. The
board persistently tramplei upon the law
under which it acted, by refusing to fill the
! vacancy in its membership and supply
the political element which was wanting 1t
wrapped itself in the mantle of darkness
while pretending to discharge its duties by
/ excluding from its sessions the public the
/ general press reporters, the supervisors and
/ registers OF election, and the candidates for
/ office and their attorneys In number of
/ instances the sealed returns from distant
! parishes were clandestInely opened, and the
/ papers tempered with after they had been
received by the board, as was shown by the
L
was simply impo sble to attend its. daily
! sessions and scrutinizs its action without
/ realizing that forgery, perjury and fraud
/ were literally woven into the work. 1t
/ hagrantly violated the law from which it
derived its authority, by throwing out the
ballots OF seven or eight thousand legally
4 qualified democratic voters in order 10
! secure republican victory. There was no
charge OF repeating. ballot stuffing
or fraudulent returns, and their
! action was founded solely
the complaint of intimidation and
with that they had nothing whatever to do,
unless the commissioner of election or super
I visors of registration had laid the foundation
for it by their atfidavits, setting forth the
| facts OF any riot, tumult, acts of violence,
/ intimidation, armed disturbance or corrupt
/ influences which prevented or tended 10
/ prevent a fair, free and peaceable election,
! and showing the number OF qualified electors
deferred by such proceedings from voting or
registering. These statements must be made
out within "a hours after the receipt Of all
4 the returns for the different polling places
and must be forwarded in duplicate to the
! supervisor OF registration OF the parish If
/ this foundation was not laid the board had
no jurisdiction whatever, except to count the
/ votes returned; and as the fact is undenied
and undeniable that no such foundation
was laid, the action of the board in counting
/ the vote OF the state for Hayes and Wheeler
was an utter defiance OF its laws. fragrant
outrage and hldeous mockery of represent
alive government
/ But the line of argument we are pursuing
does not end here. Tilden and Hendricks
were coun Ell out In Louisiana, but the
/ ton was not yet cheated. The house of rep
resentatives was in the hands of the demo.
Gratis, and, if the concurring action of both
houses OF congress was required in counting
the electoral vote, the triumph of Hayes
] ora1 Nhaal nt unr Hha
/ grand conspiracy might fail after all; for the
/ right of the vice president to count the vote
| and declare the result had been denied by
nearly all the leading men of the country,
/ of whatever party. Indeed, according to an
unbroken chain of precedents beginning
with the election of Washington and reach
/ ing down to the year 1876, the counting OF
the electoral vote is rghtlully done by con-
gress, or under its authority and direction;
/ while the right of the vice president 10
/ count or canvass it has never been claimed
by any presiding officer of the senate, at
any time or under any circumstances. The
twenty-second Joint rule, adopted in 1865 by
a republican congress, was an express rec0g-
milton of the right of the two houses of con-
gress to determine the question. To this
. rule and the principle it recognized nearly
ell the leading republicans in the senate
stood committed, and their decided opinions
on the subject had been recorded in its de
What was to be done? How could the DEM
ocrats be kept out of power, and the reign of
republicanism be prolonged, if these prece
dents were to be considered as binding?
/ The difficulty was not insurmountable-
Where there is will there is way and
the case was plain one in the eyes of the
| leaders, who regarded a new lease of repub-
lican power as a foreordained necessity, and
had never faliered in their pursuit OF it since
| they had been summoned to their task by the
telegram of VIM. L Chandler. The republican
party was stretched on its bed of death, and
gaspiHg out its prayer for deliverance from
I the judgment to come; and if any nostrums
would save it they must be administered.
The Inauguration of Hayes and Wheeer
was foregone conclusion, and, as this could
only be done through the canvass and count
OF the electoral vote by the vice president
precedents must be disregarded aud that
officer must face the duty. Accordingly
Senator Morton, always ready to sacrifice
! either principle or consistency in the service
of his party. announced that the president
of the senate would count the electoral vote
and declare the result and that If necessary,
it would be enforced by the army and navy.
A decided majority of his party friends were
ready to Join him in this somersauit, and the
vice president avoWed his readiness to play
his part while the president, who, as we
have said, believed the vote of Louisiana
should not be counted proceeded TO mass
his troops in the capital. Whether this
revolutionary conspiracy would have been
attempted if the democrats had been ready
to sand by their constitutional rights can
never be certainly known but the spirit
and aim of the republican leaders were per
fectly developed and worked out the desired
result
single further illustration OF the domin-
ating idea and ruling passion of the republic
can party remains to be noticed. The cleo
toral commission, which was agreed to under
the apprehension of civil war, contained a
republican majority of eight TO seven. That
that majority, itself the product OF the party
and representative of its ideas and policy,
would suddenly call halt in the march of
events through which 40 600 600 of people
were TO be deprived of the right to choose
their chief functionaries was not to be be-
lieved for moment by any man who would
soberly ponder the question. That the demo-
cratic leaders and masses were SO ready to
confide in the honor and patriotism of a
commission so constituted seemed to US