The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-06-05

HE WARNS THE SOUTH AGAINST POT
TYR TIIDEy & co.

TER. TILDES x co
Postmaster General Key has writ
ten the following open letter to the
, people of the South, in lieu of person.
al answer to the many letters received
from friends in that section IN relation
10 the revolutionary action Of the
Democratic leaders in Congress;
! WASHINGTON, May 2S.-Tbe cir
I cumstances attending the passage Of
the Potter resolution to investigate
the alleged frauds in the Presidential
election of 1876 10 the States Of Lou.
isiana and Florida. together with the
: subsequent declarations of many in
fluential Democratic politicians and
Journalists, evidence that if both
houses Of the Forty-sixth Congress
are Democratic, the majority intend
to GUST President Hayes and inaugu-
rate Mr.. Tilden.
The title Of President Hayes was
settled irreyocably by the Forty
fourth Congress, in the act creating
the Electoral Commission, under
which be was legally declared elect
ed and legally inaugurated. The
Forty-6fth Congress has no more
right to dispute his election than be
has to question the title of any vic
torious contestant to his seat in that
body. The Foriy-sixth Congress
will have no more right TO ignore
him and to recognize his defeated
contestant, Mr.. Tilden, than Mr..
Hayes would have to send a file of
soldiers to the House Of Representa-
tives to unseat a Democrat whom be
might consider to have been wrong
fully seated or fraudulently elected.
The leaders Of this desperate at
tempt to Mexicanize our institutions
rely confidently upon the "Solid
South" to furnish the bulk of the
Democratic majority in the next
House of Representatives, the Senate
being already secured. Remember
ing the encouragement which the
Northern Democrats in 1860 and 1861
extended to the Southern States TO
secede, and the manner in which
their promises of aid and comfort
were fulfilled, can the Southern peo-
pie afford to join this revolutionary
movement With the certainty that
when the inevitable hour of peril
comes they will again be left unas
sisted and alone to meet the storm
from the North once more united by
this attempt TO revive an issue whose
settlement was forced by public opin-
ion upon an unwilling Congress.
In the dark days of February, 1877,
when civil war over the disputed
election was imminent, and patriots
trembled for the safety Of our Repub-
lican institutions, the Southern mem
bers Of Congress ayerted the danger
by compelling the completion Of the
electoral count under the law which
parties in Congress had enacted.
But now the Representatives from
the Southern States, with a very few
exceptions, have joined a movement
to subvert the results of their former
patriotic action, and to remand the
country to that anarchy from which
less than two years ago it was saved
by their efforts.
Grant that in permitting the auton-
omy of all the States, and 10 appoint
ing citizens to Office in the South in
stead Of strangers, President Hayes
has but discharged his constitutional
duty, does that excuse the Southern
Representatives for attempting to in-
validate his title, which they estab-
lished, or will itjustify them in bring
lag the country again in danger of
civil war in the effort to unsea him
and inaugurate Mr.. Tilden?
The South must now face the most
momentous crisis 10 its history since
1861.
To indorse the recent conduct of
their Representatives is to admit the
truth Of the charge that the people Of
the South care nothing for the wei
fare of the Union, desire the downfall
of the Republic, and would rejoice to
see it again involved in civil war.
II their Representatives have not
reflected their sentiments, as | be-
lieve to be the case, then the people
of the Southern States should take
care that in the F~orty-sixth Congress
they are represented by men who
will defeat the disturbers of the pub
lie peace and prevent the Mexicaniza-
ton of our institutions.
To do this they may be compelled
to act independent of the Democratic
party. Recent events have demon
straied the inability of Democratic
members Of Congress tn resist the
mandates of the caucus and the ter
rors of the party lash, the q WELD
ed and the other inspired by men
who seem willing TO ~endanger the
welfare Of the country and the stabil-
ity of Republican institutions for the
sake of revenge on political opponents
and in the hope of dividing the spoils
of victory. If the Democratic Rep
r~esentatives of the South could not
resist the caucus command to pass
the Potter resolution, unameDded and
without debate. how will they be able,
in the Forty-slxth Congress, to resist
a similar command to ignore Mr..
Hayes as President and to recognize
Mr.. Tilden?
1t is, therefore, the duty of the
Southern people to afford a browning
evidence of their renewed devotion
to the Union, in which they now en-
joy every right of citizenship, and are
subjected to DO restrictions not laid
upon every citizen, by sending Rep
r~esentatives to the Forty-sixth Con-
gress, pledged to resist, at all hazards,
the revolutionary schemes of the mis-
makers who seem to have gain
ed control over the House OF Repre-
sentatives Of the Forty-fifth Congress.
To this end the people in every dis
trict should meet, publicly organize
and resolve to support no person for
Congress who has given aid to this
movement, and who will not pledge
himself to sustain the title of Presi-
dent Hayes during the term for
L