The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-26
WATTERSON'S VIEWS.
HE DEFENDS STANLEY MATTHEWS
AND THE CONFEDERATE
BRTGADTERs.o
An Attack on Hayes and Hewitt The
President Party to the frauds
by which ne was Seated

Ah AStaCA Or hhyes anu Hewitt - The
President a Party to the Frauds
by which He was seated.
IN. Y. Sun Interview with Henry Watterson j
You think the report OF the judiciary Com
mittee was an error p
II say simply that it was a premature, and,
on the whole, q cowardly plea OF On-combat-
lYlsfn-an acceptance on the part of the DEM
to be put upon them by the Republicans,
coupled with tame disavowal- altogether
needless, and something flat"
VIII the Potter Committee identify the
President personally with the frauds which
brought him into office p
There Is hardly any room to doubt that the
President has the general, and to all intents.
guilty knowledge of the circumstances to
which he owes his place. That accounts for
the refusal Of Stanley Matthews to 90 before
the Potter Committee. The head and front
OF Matthews offending was his effort to save
his party friends from scandaious exposure,
knowledge Of which had reached him. No
one pret6ndS that he participated in the LOU
isiana frauds. He was In New Orleans but q
rev days. His subsequent operations against
PACKARD were open and aboveboard. / happen
10 Know that his vote to sect Kellogg In the
Senate was given at the urgency of the Pres
ldent himself and, as | believe, against
Matthews own better judgment as well as
against his inclination.
"You think that the Potter investigation
reylyes the candidacy of Mr.. Tilden 2"
and fnsineere, In me to say, Sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof Besides, Mr.
TIden has been q most abused, msrepresent-
ed man, and should be a most unjust one If
did not sympathize with the desire and In
tentlon Of his friends to see his conduct
Throughout trying ordeal put clearly, fully
and correctly before the country. 1t Is too
early to. begin the work Of making Presi-
dent. But 1t Is never too early to tell the
truth When the mists clear away, it will be
found that many people have been misled and
f1isrepresented by the laundering and mud
ding OF that fussy man, Hewitt"
Would you object to naming some Of what
you consider to be Mr.. Hewitt's blunders?"
His whole transaction Of the business Of
the National Committee, OF which chance had
made him chairman, was mess and bungle.
His Tightly and ridiculous intrigues, or
would-be intrigues with Grant. his sillv row
and humiliating defeat with The Postoffice
people, his incessant blatherskiting and
egotismwhy he wanted to issue an address
early 10 December, resting our case upon the
vote of Oregon, and few of us had time OF
It suppresslng him. His latest escapade was
to charge the Confederates Of the House with
Detraying Itlden, when the objects Of his rage
had done Just precisely what he had done
himself nun that is-yoted for the electoral bill
Has not Mr.. Hill, of Georgia, recently
confirmed Mr.. Hewitt's view by statement
that there was round-robin of forty-two
C0nfederates?"
with him on this subject while l was In
Washington, and Ne denies having said any
thing OF the sort. What he said was that the
country. owes the settlement Of the success
sion to the fidelity OF the Confederates, who.
having voted the commission, carried out its
decision In good faith. An analysis of the
vote for the commission and for the count
Will show that Mr.. Tilden's immediate
friends stood by both the one and the other. |
1t is true that Mr.. Tilden was seriously op-
posed to the Electoral bill But its support
was mainly derived from his nearest friends, |
Mr.. Herman and Mr.. Barnum In the
SENATE y Mt. Hewitt and s,Mr,. Field
Confederates who supported It, and |
afterward stood by 1t, as Mr.. Herman and Mr.. |
Hewitt did, were such men AS Tucker. Hill, |
Gordon, Gibson and Lamar-two of them en-
terlng upon six years terms In the Senate, |
and two prominently named for ernbers OF |
the Cabinet, should Mr.. Tilden come in The /
men who voted against the commission, and /
who fllibustered to Obstr1ct the count lex
cepting Mr.. Field, who joined In the latter,
were generally hostile to Mr.. Tilden. This is,
of itself, sufficient answer to Mr.. Hewitts
gable, very properly and promptly rebuked
by Mr.. Ellis. But behind 1t there was q eau
Gus rule pledging the party to stand by the
could Lamar and Hill have to feei
Democratic Senators. they had every
OF December Mr.. Lamar joined Mr.. Randall,
Mr.. Ottendorfer and myself In sending tele-
gram from New Orleans to Mr. Tilden, Of
about this purport: You have carried Louis
lana. The State will be counted against us.
Issue an address to the country, stating that
you are elected President and will maintain
your title / think now that the country
owes It's peace and the Democratic party. its
united existence to the abstinence and for
bearanee Of Mr.. Tilden, who could only have
headed q popular emeute. But / did not
think so them and 1t is false of Mr.. Hewitt to
pretend at this late day that there was any
improper collision between Southern Demo-
Gratis and the Hayes set. am sure that Mr..
Tilden himself Is of q more just and dsCrim-
mating turn Of mind; but In this as In other
matters, it is not the first time he has been
misreDresented by that frisky person who
goes about with SO much cry and so little
WOOL"
"But what aboutthe Wormley conference?"
MIR. Watterson laughed. why, bless you,"
he said, "the only Democratic, members of
Congress who were there were Ellis and Levy,
of Louisiana, and myself I had been asked
to go along with them as O sort of witness
and referee, and partly to learn for Gen. But
Ter, OF South Carolina whether the Intentions
OF the Hayes people were as honorable toward
his State as toward Louisiana The coming
In of Hayes was already assured / was as
thoroughly committed to 1t as Garfield, and
so. was Hewitt and so were all Of US who
acted together in executing the will OF the
South Carolina and Louisiana wished to
save what they could out of the wreck.
They wanted the troops removed. This
was the burden Of the talk on their side, while
the Republicans present seemed to be aiming
at impressing us with the notion that they
were not as big rascals as we took them to be-
There was no agreement whatever, verbal or
in writing. There was not O word said which
might not have appeared next dav without
anybody. Proctor Knott tells
me-a circumstances / had forgotten-that |
supped with him that night and gave him the
particulars They were certainly known by
everybody who cared to learn them next [
day, there being no effort or occasion for
was surprised and amused
several months afterwards to find an
affair so insignificant elevated to the
dignity of conference. 1t was nothing J
more than a pow-wow between persons who l
having differed on the main ISSUE were
agreed upon the new phase of the situation :
the fair execution Of the count and the just ,
treatment Of the people of Louisiana and
South Carolina, and who were not wholly
lost to reason and good will"
stYO,1 think then that the execution of the