The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-05-11
OAKLAND, MD, sATURDfY NAY ii &, /



da s. the Presidential electi6 5ased
up4 the confessions Of AIeI IlIn snds
Dennis, is not SO inexpIicabIe as ii
seetls. When they suggested such
an inquiry they were met by agen-
efai Willingness among the Repabli-
cans to accede toit, provided that the
Investigation should Include in. its
scope the entire circumstances Of the.
election, not only inthat State, but
also IN Louisiana and Mississippi
This counter move gave check to 0us
DeA ocratic friends, and they have.
SING retired for consultation, So to-
s:ssakx Everybody pnderstan6s that,
tfe svidence'of McEin and Dennis,
who by their own admissions have
perjured themselves at one time or
the other, is not valuable enough to
build Il case upon, and could not be
accepted as proof of anything unless
supported by other testimony. The
clever lawyers among the Demo
cratic representative see this plainly
enough, land are decidedly too shrewd
to open contest in which they
would be armed with no more effec-
tive weapon than that furnished them
by two individuals who either were
fOreswOrn in 1876 or are fores worn
now. Weare tolerably sure that if
they are acting under the advice of
Mr.. Tilden that cautious intriguant
will not allow them to try the issue
upon the faith ofthe narratives of the
professed penitents, and that his
counsel just now is to make haste
slowly. More especially is this the
condition Ofatfalrs at the moment.
because whatever development may
be produced of Republican frauds in
the contested States is tolerably sure
to be offset by convincing evidence
that the wrong doing was about
evenly distributed between the two
parties. This conviction may be
fairly expressed without any partisa.l
considerations attaching to it. With
regard to Louisiana, for instance, we
do not believe that any amount of
Investigation could discover for
which side the vote Of that State
should have been honestly counted
in 1876. General Grant was credited
with the remark that he thought
there had been no such thing as a
fair election in Louisiana since the
war. Whether he made it or not, it
is in all probability true. When
Democrats insist upon circumstances
pointing to villainy on the part of
Returning Boards in counting votes,
Republicans can in turn point to such
extraordinary revolutions as that in
Mississippi, where over 10000 Re-
publican majority was converted in
two years to more than 1000 Demo-
cratic majority, and to parishes in
Louisiana where the Republican vote
suddenly dwinded to fewer scores
than it was hundreds Il year previous.
Such conversions do not result from
any natural causes. From one year
to another few thousand voters in
a State may change their politics, but
they do not com over by tens of
thousands Of their own free will.
Looking at the matter in this light,
the Democrats are wise in letting
haste wait upon caution. They
might be badly disappointed if they
expect to reap political capital from
investigations into the conduct of
elections in the contested States.
There are two sides to every ques-
tion, may it please your Honor, and
the evidence is not all in until all the
witnesses are examined. This whole
business may be discussed outside OF
partisan bias. If Returning Boards
conspired to manipulate figures, per-
haps they We're only endeavoring to
correct the falsities wrought by ter
rorism and fraud at the polls. And
we are not positively certain but that
Republicans could tell as sorry a tale
as Democrats of the perversion of the
right of franchise and the alteration
of minorities into majorities. More
over, we do not see what good result:
could come of the investigations
which some men have in c0nlempla.
ton. There have been score O
Congressional inquiries into elections
in the South during the last twelve
years, but they have not had any
especially beneficial effect. The Re
publicans on the committees believed
the evidence of the Republican wit
nesses. and the Democratic members
placed faith in what Democrats tOlC
them. The committees came back
to Washington and made widely
contrary reports, and that was the
end Of it. The process and the con
clusions would be The same if tht
Florida, Mississippi and Louisians
business were gone into again. Th'
D.. 4 I