Smyrna times., 1878-10-09

THE CAPTURE OF THE PREsIDENCY.-The
unfortunate closeness of the last Presiden-
tial election-both claiming to be elected
and each charging the other with fraud
has had q strong tendency to familiar the
people with crime and attach the stigma of
fraud to an Office that should be conspicu-
Gus for high and dignifed character. The
closeness Of the election was unfortunate.
Politicians are notoriously corrupt, and act
on the military maxim, that "any thing is
fair in war; and if each can out cheat the
other, they think it fair to do so. The
game is so understood; but in plying their
dark tricks the people are scandalized, and
those who want virtuous elections are turn
ed down by the superior tactics of wiry
politicians. If there was fraud in the Re-
turning Board on the one hand there was
equal fraud in the Bulldozing" on the
other, and neither could hold up his escut-
cheon and say it was clean. The contest
was narrowed down to one vote that was
to decide the ruler of the nation. Who
should have it? The question intensified
the nation in the face of a renewed civil
strife. The Democrats wisely contended
for an Electoral Commission, which was
carried by majority vote and the COM
mission awarded the election to Mr.. Hayes.
His election by the people was irregular
and uncertain certainly it was not the en-
questioned authority that any party or peo-
pie would like, but the Commission gave 1T
the sanction of the highest law and this
should have suficed. But the taunt of
I" His Fraudulency" is the usual synonym
of the political papers in referring to him,
as if they had not made as desperate an
effort to capture that odd vote. Cronin
and the Oregon cyphers are not forgotten :;
they showed at the time that certain par
ties were capable of playing a bold and
desperate game, and that they did not sue
ceed can in no way be chargeable to
their honesty or purity of intentions.
But q new revelation has come to light.
The New York Tribune has succeeded in
capturing several hundred cypher kilograms
with the key that unlocks them, showing
up the parties, Manton Marble, Pelton,
Coyle, &C., and how they attempted to buy
the Florida electoral vote. 1t is a story
that we might we'll wish that events had
not rendered its telling necessary. We
could wish that the whole business pertain
ing to the last Presidential election could
be put out of memory. "But the persistent
cry of fraud, raised from the very hour
thevotes of the Commission were found to be
not for Mr.. Tilden, and kept up to this day
in Congress TO the peril of the public peace,
and elsewhere to the dishonor of the coun-
try, has forced an investigation, not con-
Quoted, like the one instituted by partisans
in Congress, for the purpose of hiding
truth. The clamor of fraud has COM
PEELED the discovery of the facts, and here
they are They show, in brief, that the
very men who have been the loudest and
most persistent in crying fraud are those
at whose door lies foul crime against the
country" 1t goes to show more than ever
the insincerity of politicians; that they are
corrupt to an alarming extent, and that
we the people are in their hands and must
suffer whatever reproach they may bring
upon our institutions.