The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-03-06
REPUBLICAN DEATH STRUGGLE.
The Reason of MIR. Hayes's Failure and
the Doom Of the Republican Party
George w. Julian Writes the Obituary
of the Party.

OF the PARTY.
From the North American Review.1
IL was not strange, there
| fore, that the old leaders assumed the entire
/ direction and management of the canvass for
/ Governor Hayes They were entitled to it by
/ the logic of politics. Instead of advocating
| the reforms specified in the Cincinnati plat
| form and his letter of acceptance. they
/ studiously avoided all reference to them.
/ The question of our civil service was not
/ discussed, and If mentioned ct all il was in
\ the way OF laudetion. The whole manage
ment of the canvass assumed that the add
/ mlnlstratlon of Governor Hayes, should be
/ be elected, would be a continuation of that
1 of General Grant. The canvass in fact was
merely renewal of the struggle between
/ the policy of hate and the policy Of reconcile
| alton which had so long divided the people,
and under cover of which political democrat
/ ization was rapidly reaching its climax.
/ lt was a new and enlarged edition of
/ the conflicts of 1868 and 1872, in
/ which the republican leaders in every
section of the Union labored necessarily
/ to unite the party and energize Its action by
keeping at white heat the animosities EN-
/ gendered by the war. Governor Hayes
serenely looked on, and if he did not
/ expressly sanction this mode of conducting
/ the canvass, he certainly could not have
\ been Ignorant of the issue on which the
battle was being waged, and the methods
| employed to secure the victory. If it had
been known that after reaching the presi-
dency he would openly espouse the demo.
cratic policy respecting the affairs of the
south, and set his face against the corrupt
use of the public patronage which had pre-
! vailed under his predecessor, weare confident
he would not have received a single vote at
Cincinnati, nor have been thought of as
even possible candidate. His election was
the triumph OF the machine politicians,
| because they had perfect right to claim it
as legitimately redOundlng TO their glory
and advantage: and it should surprise no
one that they are now banded against him
as his enemies, and determined 70 punish
him for recreancy to party obligations by
which he had fairly bound himself in the
acceptance of his nomination and the atti-
/ tude he maintained during the canvass.
/ But let US follow the fortunes Of the party
q little further, and note the efforts it put
forth to prolong its unhallowed rule. Its
career thus far had made it perfectly certain
that 1t would not willingl resign its hold Oh
power. and would scruple at no means OF
Prolonging its life; but the memories of the
war could not last forever In peace or in
strife the people of the lately warning Sec
tions of the L MON were destined to live
/ together, and it was the clear interest of both
/ that the past should be forgotten in the
/ rivalries of a common brotherhood for the
! common veal. The grand achievements of
U
| form the basis and mainspr ng of its life, and
| hide from the people the frightful abuses
/ which at last threatened the existence of our
| institutions. The death struggle of the party
was alarmingly foreshadowed by events, but
/ its trained captains, girding themselves for
the work, and relying upon the same party
/ devil worship which had served them so
long, prepared for the final conflict. That
/ they still acted upon the darling theory that
/ the overthrow of the party would involve
\ the certain ruin of the country, and that its
! continued ascendency was therefore to be
maintained at all hazards, was abundantly
demonstrated by unmistakable facts, 70
/ which we must now invite the attention of
/ the reader.
/ On the morning of the day following the
/ presidential election the opinion generally
prevailed that Tilden and Hendricks had
been chosen. The leading organs of repub-
icanism conceded the fact and several OF
/ them INDUCED in melancholy moraliziDgs
over the event. Democrats, of course, re-
/ jOIced, but their JOY was shOrt-lived. A
/ telegram from William L. Chandler was
soon flashed over the wires, claiming the
election of Hayes and Wheeler by one ma
| jority Of the electoral college, and by the
votes of the very states which were finally
/ counted in their favor, through the electoral
commission. This claim was at once assert
\ ed by the republican press and politicians
throughout the country, and was never
abandoned Nr. Chandler was a very active
and prominentrepublican politician, a mem
Der of the national executive committee. and
perfectly notorious as most INSCRIPTIONS
partisan. He is the same gentleman whose
services in Florida afterward proved so val
liable to his party in securing the count of
that state for the republican candidates, in
| defiance of both fact and law, and who las
since publicly defended the action of the
Louisiana returning board in throwing out
Governor Tildens majority OF more than 700
votes, on the ground that ''the national ex-
/ igency demanded it."
The supporters of Tilden and Hendricks
were surprised and alarmed by Mr.. Chandler s
telegram, and Mr.. Hewitt, chairman of the
national democratic committee, soon after
ward invited several representative public
men, of both political parties, to repair to
New Orleans for the purpose of securing a
fair count of the vote of Louisiana. The
president. protesting to have the cause of
honesty and fair dealing at heart, extended
a similar invitation to a number of prOmi-
nent politicians, but all, be it noted, mem
bers of the republican party, and the chief
of them very decided partisans. He also
ordered to Louisiana an imposing military
force to preserve peace and good order and
see that the returning board was unmolested
in the performance of its duty; but, as he
had destroyed civil government in the state
by the bayonet at the bidding Of his party
in 1872 it was not easy to see the necessity
for this military order, unless some new out.
rage was contemplated. 1t should also be
remembered that, according TO his own de-
clared opinion, the state was In such a con0i-
ton of lawlessness that its vote should not
be counted, which was an admission that Til
den and Hendricks had been elected. On their
arrival in New Orleans, the men who had
responded to Mr.. Hewitt's request proposed
to Senator Sherman and the republicans as
socisted with him joint conference and
friendly cooperation, with the view to just
aud satisfactory settlement Of notwithstanding
political controversy. But this proposition
was summarily rejected, on the pretext that
these representative republicans had no legal
authority to interfere with the vote of the
state, or the action of its officers in canvass
ing it; and when they were reminded that
no such authority had been thought Of and
that the proposed conference contemplated
only such moral influence as 1t might be
able to exert, these republicans disavowe6
any authority or wish to Interfere with the
action of the returning board even to thal
extent and thereby left the public com plete