The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1878-06-06

tbe Presidential election In 1876,
Of information which leads him
freely 10 denounca the President
and the Administration as guilty
accomplices, either before or after
the fact, in the frauds through
which the Hayes electors, in Flori-
da and Louisiana, obtained those
State certificates which the Sun
deliberately maintained in Novem-
her. 1876, must be accepted as n
nal and conclusive. But Senator
Conkiing is not Southern sena-
tor nor is he q Democrat. LII he
possessed this information IN No
vember, 1876, and has failed ever
since to bring an open accusation
against the President and the Ad-
ministration on the strength OF 1T,
surely it is against him, and not
against the Southern rebels, that
the Sun should direct its wrath.
What part has the South really
borne in the history of the Hayes
Administration? Certainly the
south did not nominate Mr.. Hayes.
@ -rtaiuly the South did not elect
Mr.. Hayes. MIR. Hayes was sup
ported iu his Presidential canvass
by the whole power OF the ,detest-
able Administration of President
Grant, and the South contended
against hin, not simply to WIN
victory, hut to secure ltselt from
political degradation. and from So
cial anarchy. How wisely, no Just
and candid American ever should
forget. Tainted, provoked, irrlta-
ted on every side by the unscrupu-
lous enlissaries of an admlnistra'
ton of which Senator Conkf;ng
was a trusted counsellor, the peo-
ple of the South went through a
canvass which, for them, Involved
/. the issues of political life or polit-
ical death, without uproar, disturb
ance or confusion. When the can
vass ended, it appeared that Mr..
TiIdeu was chosen lawfnI Presl-
; dent of the United States by l9G
electoral votes out of 369, being It
clear majority of % over his ke
publican competition. OF Those l9t
votes the Southern States cast III
the Northern States only Do III
the East Il single phalanx OF three
conterminousS tates--Connect'cut
New York and New Jersey--stoot
: for the Constitution aud the soy
ereignty of the laws with the soiit
i South; in the West, Indiana alone
What followed? Under the pro
lection of Grauts administration
A of which Senator Cnnk'ing was
trusted counsellor, the people o
two Southern States. Florida AM
Louisiana, were deliberately rob
II bed of their votes for the Demo
e cratic electors. and the machlner
e was set in motion which resnlte
!, in the Electoral Commission an
' eventually in the inauguration G
3 Mr.. HAYES. The Democrats I,
Ia the South protested against th
u outrage perpetrated upon the eli.
,r toral franchise. III all imag'nabl
D forms. They looked---as had the
~ not the right to look a--to the leat
81 ers of the Northern Democrac.
re- aud to the candidate whom the.
ID the people of the South, had cleo
to ed, TO uphold the threatened SAN
al tity of the ballot, and see justls
er done. They looked in vain. WEI
nc they to assume the Initiative 4
So civil war for the assertion OF r
TO suits achieved by their peacei
he ballots9 Had they desired dis
O. MON rather than union, strife rat
er than peacee then was the tin
IS, TO have shown it. They did n
'oi desire disunion, they desired unio
'or They did not desire strife, tn
er- desired peace. When Northe
WIS Democrats accepted the decree
OF the Electoral Commission fro
Us Senator Conkling and Preside
to Giant, against the earnest but SO
OF tary warnings and protests of Il
es, World, the Democrats of the Son
nd saw the Federal power once mt
10y confded to Republican Adm
zen istration, but not by any act
BILE theirsi In their local governme,
nth they asserted, without bloodsln
o g-@ that sanctity of the ballot viii