Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-01-18
The Presidents Title.

sions have given rise TO much absurd
conjecture and still more absurd proph-
ecy respecting Mr.. Hayes title to the
Presidential Office and the purposes of
various Republican leaders on that sub
ject The cry of Fraud which a
small section of the Northern Democ-
racy has persistently maintained, and
which Mr.. Tilden on his return from
Europe frantically echoed, Is now said
to have been taken up by prominent
Republicans disaifected toward the Ad-
ministration. We have yet to see any
tangible evidence in support of the
statement. The sensational reports
printed here and there turn out, on eX-
animation, to be destitute of founda-
ton. Gen. Butler, who was one of the
first to be singled out for leadership in
the war which it is proposed to wage,
disclaims the distinction. He has no
more love for the Presidents Southern
policy than the great body of the Re-
publican party, but he is too shrewd a
politician to play the game of the Til
den factionists. The later rumor, as
cribing to Mr.. Conkling a resolve to do
indirectly what Mr.. Butler will not con-
descend to do at all, deserves mention
only as an illustration of the wild guess
work which is obviously the source of
most of the current stories. As for Mr.
w. L. Chandler, he has probably dis
covered by this time that he has more
fame outside of New Hampshire than
in il. His impudent attempt to issue II
bull of accommodation against the
President has fallen so fiat, in his own
Il l,n nIG moi 10 M
likely to operate as an encouragement
to others. Besides, the preteXt on
which Mr.. Chandler proposed to drive
Mr.. Hayes into the political wilderness
was derived altogether from the unde-
niable divergence of the latter from the
Republican policy at the South; the
stale gossip relating to the counting in
last March being reproduced for effect
merely, and not as basis of the party S
action.
1t is not pretended that any new testi-
mony has been discovered bearing upon
the question of fraud as an element in
the settlement of the Presidential con-
test. All that is known now was known
and published eight or nine months
ago. The stories then circulated were
directed, not against the President, but
against prominent members of both
parties. The bargaining then alleged
| implicated influential Southern Demo.
Gratis quite as much as Northern Re.
publicans. On both sides the accusa-
ton was promptly and explicitly de.
MED. The long interval has yielded
nothing in the shape of evidence. We
are told, indeed, that Southerners who
acted in pursuance of an improved
compact in relation to the count and
| subsequent surrender in Louisiana, be.
| ing disgusted with the non-fuliillment
of terms, are now prepared to reveal
mysteries hitherto hidden. What the
revelations amount to we shall be bet
ter able to Judge when they come to the
light; but it should be understood in
| advance that the credibility of con
fessed scoundrels will be an essentia
element of the controversy, and that
other. testimony than theirs will be
needed before the charge can be de
clared proved.
Besides, as the case stands, the honor
and integrity of the Republican party
are to be put on trial, rather than the
President. He did not pass judgment
upon the returns. He did not coupt
himself in. He did not declare him.
self elected. The Republican party
was practically unit in support of the
claim to the Presidency urged in his be
half. 1t insisted that he had beer
rightfully elected, and long before the
final decision was reached it approved
all the methods which the Electoral
Commission accepted as conclusive
| The party cannot rid itself of response
bility or make Mr.. Hayes scapegoa
for its own doings. The responsibility
dered possible by the cooperation o
the moderate portion of the Democracy
To any bargain they must have beer
privy. Without their help its consum
nation would have been impossible
The talked-of indictment, therefore
must be against the Republicans as
party, not against the President, and i
must also embrace the best members o
the Democratic party in both branche
of Congress.
Who shall prefer such an Indictment
Not Mr. w. E. Chandler, surely. No
any individual Republican who ma
happen to be at variance with the Presi
dent. The few adherents of Mr.. Tildel
who have suggested proceedings to tes
the validity of MIR. Hayes title hav
been snubbed and silenced by the com
mon sense and responsibility of tn
party to which the great defeated be
longs. How is it with the Republicans
Were the party out of doors dissatisfie
with the action of the parry in Con
gress? We look in vain for aught tina
indicates discomfort. Many of the Stat
conventions have emphatically indorse
Mr. Hayes title; not one has cast
doubt upon it. Even the convention
which condemned the Southern policy
or evaded it, had not a syllable to sa
derogatory to the right of the Presiden
to the position he occupies. We shal
be slow to believe that any known Re
publican, whether Senator or lobbyist
ventures to impute fraud to his part
in Congress, or to impute after-partici
patton in fraud to the party throughou
the country. Who has right to al
his personal grievances at the party
expense, or to stigmatize as fraudulen
a proceeding and its result for whic
the party is responsibleP
That there is a disposition to judg
the President harshly, no ore familia
with the undercurrents of Republican
opinion can deny. But the origin o
the feeling is equally certain. 1t i
mainly traceable to the Southern policy
Careful management and desire t,
avert dissension jointly operated to pre-
vent the stern condemnation which a
one period seemed imminent. Gu
wonder is that the censure so widel,
expressed out of doors was so generally
repressed in the conventions. Had som,
of them declared their hostility to tn,
Administration as a consequence of tn,
course pursued by the President, they
would have acted within their prOvinc,
and in harmony with a sentiment mucl
more powerful than Mr.. Hayes and hi
friends have been willing to admit it t.
be. But the time for party quarre
with him on account of the South il
past The results of his policy are only
| nartiallV deyelOped. and until theV he