Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-06-13

and its vast reading public, are entitled
to those facts, and Ought to have them.
We, as people, are opposed to all
sorts of monOpolies; and 10 allow few
obscure, and not too honest, election
officers of the two paltry States to mo.
nopolize our facts-it's insufferable!
We want them, need them, must have
them. Now, Mr.. Potter proposes to
get rs these facts; and who shall say
that the step is not commendable? 1t
may be objected, and truly, we ad'
init, that facts duplicating in gross
frauds the best IEen Of the nation. our
ideals OF political honor, are not calcula-
ted to inspire much confidence in our
Institutions, and are not the best med
icine for political morals. But, what
OF That? The facts are ours, and we
have right to demand them. Polit-
ical morals Is not question at issue; it
is solely q matter of title to thOse facts.
President Hayes, Secretary Sherman,
Minister Noyes, and the rest of them,
have been in power too long, and we
may want to impeach them, or some
thing-(mind, we don't say yet that
we Uiu)-and as the necessary materi-
ais are ours already by right, we insist
on having them. 1t is against the ma
tional honor thus to secrete them; and
we insist that "the national honor shsll
be vindicated."
Some objection is made to the quail
ity of those facts. 1t is true that our
acquaintance with Louisiana and Flor
ida politicians has not tended to in
spire lofty and unqualified confidence
in their yeracity. We admit Ito put it
as softly as our acquaintance with them
will justify, that they are, except
Mouktar Pashs and M. Ristics, the
most complished liars of the age;
that as knaves, in bulh their private
and official ca pacities, they are unri-
vailed; that the only serious obstacle to
their being bought is the finding q pur-
chaser 1.-THE price is small matter;
that, in short, their testimony is of lit
tie value in establishing facts, and
that most of the facts brought to light
through them are sure to be of an infe-
rior quality in regard to truth. All
this we admit. And yet we insist that
those facts, good or bad, are ours by an
indefeasible title, and that it is the
part of a great statesman to secure
them. If they do nothing else, they
will stimulate political interest du
ring the long weary months till Con-.
gresS and our own talented General
Assembly meet again. If they prove
nothing else, they will prove the infa-
great and good Democrats for the 'na-
tional honor" If they do not unseat
Hayes, they will reseat Potter. Ifthey
do not render John Sherman infamous,
they will render Clarkson n. Potter
famous. But some unreasonable per-
sons, who do not at all understand the
great Democratic principles ofretrench-
ment and reform, object to the cost of
these facts-S20, 900, they complain, is
70 be wasted in three months, by a
committee of eleven persons, to bring
out worse than worthless facts; or, if
they accomplish any end, it will be on
ly to unsettle business, to destroy con-
fidence, and to bring about revOlu
tion. They insist that this proceeding
Is not consistent with our great princi-
pie OF etrenchment, which only proves
that they do not comprehend that
principle. These persons lose sight of
the principle laid down by the great
and philosophic Potter, that the ina
tional honor must be vindicated.' With
Samuel j. Tilden in the presidential
chair, we can gloriously vindicate that
honor. If we fail, we fail gloriously
striving; we fail only after having ex-
hausted the power of money, energy
and fine words. If we fail to obtain
our facts, ''the nations honor" will be
"vindicated," in part, by our having
exposed TO the contempt OF an indig-
nant public all the liars, great and
small, in New Orleans and Tallahassee.