Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-04-26
The sh.meiul rrnve.,y.

rev speculatiOnS Will TeRafu W
possible developments in Florida.
Since then the whole shameful
stery has reached us. On the morn
ing after the Presidential election
Of 1876 the managers of the Repub.
Iican campaign found that they
needed the votes Of the States of
South Carolina, Florida and Lou
isiana, which they knew had gone
against them, to return Republic
can President as elected. They at
once made their preparations to
have these votes counted for their
candidate, right or wrong. No re-
straint of conscience was operative
with these bold, bad men. They
aimed at success, at whatever sac
RIDGE of principle. They had been
used, for years, under demagogic
professions of devotion to the Re-
public, to making a mockery Of
Republican institutions, and they
were ready to 60 forward on the
path they had entered.
Surely no one can have forgotten
that disgraceful, dispiriting pan
Drama of fraud? First was the Fed
eral ;'bull.dozing'' prior to the cleo
ton. Federal troops were poured
into South Carolina, Florida and
Louisiana. Democrats were ar
rested at the head of political pro-
cessions, with the hope of melting
riots. Desperate efforts were made
to force a collision between the
whites and blacks, which were only
defeated by the matchless self. con-
troll of the Democratic leaders.
The election over, the machinery
of the national government was
prostituted to coercing the declara-
ton of electoral results at war with
the decision of the people at the
ballot box.
Readers of the HERALD have
often encountered the expression of
the belief, in these columns, that
the agents of the fraud would them
selves, some day or other. reveal
the nlodus operdndi by which
these Repablic subvertipg viii
lainies were accomplished. We
went upon the principle that
''murder will out" There is
a propulsive element in guilt,
lying slightly below the surface,
which always, in time, breaks the
crust of deception with IA noise as
of the defamation of nitro-glycerine.
We also confidently relied upon
the force of the old adage that,
when rogues fall out, honest men
come by their own. There is a sort
of centrifugal attaction in villainy
which breaks the bonds of confed-
Grated guilt, and makes each MALE
factor witness against his fell
low.
Readers of the HERALD, in our
telegraphic columns, may read the
first installment Of the story of the
calculated villainies by which
Hayes was made President. One
of the architects of the fabric of
Presidential fraud tells the story of
how the mortar was mixed that &C.
mented the pile. His revelations
are The first authentic ones; they
will by no means be the last.
Now what will the great Ameri-
can nation do in the face Of such
shameful Developments, before sus-
pected, now verified by the actors
In the fraud? 1t must be borne in
mind that this man McL;nn, who
confesses his villainy, was n Presi-
dent maker. He had more to do
with seating man in the chair
filled by Washington than the
great States of New York, Indiana,
New Jersey, and all the others
which voted for Mr.. Tilden put to-
gether. His voice was important
enough to make President. Is it
potential enough to impeach fraud?
Are we to become a Machiavelian
nation, whose life breath depends
on splitting straws OH the moral
aspect of politics? Is there any
longer any robust manhood in the
American people? Is there any
place for conscience in our body
polite? Having allied ourselves
to gross political putrescence, are
We to drag along the rank, often
sive corpse, for three more weary
years?
AS old Davy Crockett used to say,
"Things is wsrkin." A fermenta-
ton is going on which ought to re.
suit in the elision of Hayes from
office. We see the changes which
one short year has already brought
about. Surely every patriotic .siti-
zen is justified in hoping that the
American people will do right
though the heavens fall? The
finest conceivable vindication of
Republican government would be
to take out the man who does not
belong in the White House and
put In the man who does. And
who shall say, in view of events
already developed, and OF a train
of others impending over Hayes