The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1878-05-20
A CoAFEssI0N aF GUILT.


ing of tho filibustering of the Republi- |
cans in Congress on the POTTER resolu- |
tion, says: at Is an open Confession of |
their guilt" Mr.. ADAMS is by ne means
as infallible as some OF his admirefo =.
the East would have 1t appear, but he's
a cool headed observer of events, and ne
has in this case hit the nail right square
upon the head. That it is tacit "con-
fessiono their guilt must be acknowI-
edged by every fair minded man IN the
country, who has any knowledge OF the
issue which has been raised. This SEN
tence is n capitalization of the opinion OF
four-Rths of the people. 1t has been forced
upon those who still had confidence IN
the leaders of the Republican party, by
the manner in which they squabbled aud
fought over tina resolution to investigate
the election frauds in Florida. They try
to defend their action by saying that 1t IS
intended TO reopen the question OF MI.
HAYES title to his office, and by It's At
tendant circumstances TO create revolt
tionarv disturbances in the country.
This is clearly pretext and subter!uge
which deceives no one but the feeblest In
tellect. Not only Mr.. POTTER, who in
troduced the resolution for investigation,
but every Democratic member Of the
House taking part in the debate, ex-
pressly declared that there was no inteu-
ton TO disturb the Presidential title.
This doctrine or policy has been laid
down and adopted by the Democrats IN
and out of Congress everywhere.
From the first, the Demo
cratic argument in Congress and
in the press has been almost unanimous
upon this point, namely: that, whatever
an investigation may show as to election
| frauds in Florida and Louisiana, such
frauds now come too late to vitiate the
Presidential title, either before Congress
or in the Courts. THIS much is settled,
and there the matter ends. All other
questions relating to the great fraud are
intended to be reopened, aud 1t is very
clearly proposed, among other things, to
try the title of the Republican party to
responsibility. If the leaders of that
party are found to be guilty of the GRIM
inal ofenses with which they are
. charged by the recent confessions Of
MCLIN, Dennis and others, and still
further by the production ofdocumentary
evidence soon TO be in the possession of
the investigating committee, then not
only they, but the party of which they
stand as the leaders" are to be held
responsible. This is indeed the object of
he investigation, namely, to find out
just who is responsible for a great wrong
done to the people Of the country, and to
hold the perpetrators of it to strict
accountability to the good end not only
of punishment, but that repition
thereof may be placed beyond
the bounds of possibility. The
people have right and it is their
duty 10 demand an investigation into this
matter at the hands of their representa-
tives in Congress. Their action very
Clearly seems TO be a confession of guilt
and of completely on the part Of certain
trusted leaders of the Republican party"
in the great frauds. 1t will be far better
for these representatives OF this party
and for the party itself if they shall
cease their opposition 70 measure that
is sure to come sooner or later, and
heartily Join the Democrats in their
efforts TO discover the truth demanded in
the interest of the nation.
As the N. Y. Express says:
"Mr. Wilson, Of West Virginia, takes
the right ground by proposing to meet
the Republicans on their own pretensions
by amending the Potter resolution, au-
lhorizing the committee to investigate
alleged frauds in any State, provided
they have probable cause to believe that
such frauds existed"
This is true. The Democrats have
nothing to concesl-the Republicans
have everything.