The daily gazette., 1878-06-26
The Suppressed Address.

tuc cicctioh VI Illuel, DdSlnp Lne Cl.ll1n
OF his election on the vote of Oregon,
which address Mr.. Watterson and others
with difficulty suppressed, Mr.. Hewett
publishes the address rs subjoined and
says:
This address was written by me in
New York on the second or third Sun.
day in December, 1876, was submitted to
Gov. Tilden on the same day, was ap.
proved with some slight notifications
copied in his house by his two secretar.
les, and the copy thus made was the one
read TO the executive committee, and is
now in my possession together with the
original draft in my own handwriting
The only material difference between the
draft and the copy is the following phrase
which was not approved by Mr.. Tilden
and was omitted by his request:
"And to this end, while the people are
yet free and independent, we invite
them to assemble at their usual places ot
meeting in every city, town and hamlet
in the country on the Sth day of January
next, to consider the dangers of the situ;l-
! tion, and by calm, temperate and firm
| resolves to enlighten their representa-.
tives in Congress assembled as to their
duties in this great crisis of our institu.
tions,'" and so on, as in the address print
Mr.. Watterson has no excuse for mis-
representing it, for he heard it read; but
he had nothing to do with suppressing 1t,
because he was not a member of the ma
tional committee whose executive
committee decided against my will
and protest. to issue merely a brief
announcement, claiming the electing of
Tilden and Hendricks, without resting
the claim upon any grounds whatever.
This, i'll my judgment was blunder, and
at this distance we can now see the wis
dom of the address which had prepar-
ed as follows:
To the People of he Un,ted States:
Pursuant to provisions of the constitu-
ton the electoral colleges met in the
several states on the first Wednesday Of
December and cast three hundred and
siXty-nine votes for president and vice
president. OF this number Samuel j.
Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks. each
received one hundred and eighty-fve
votes, while rutherford B. Hayes and
William A. Wheeler each received one
hundred and elghty-four votes. On the
face of the returns, therefore, already
made public, but not yet officially coun
ted by the two houses of Congress, rs re-
CURED by the constitution, Samuel j.
Tilden is elected president, and Thomas
A. Hendricks vice president of the
United States.
Including, however, In the one hun
dred and eighty-four votes counted for
Hayes and Wheeler are seven votes from
South Carolina, four votes from Florida,
and eight votes from Louisiana, which,
in our judgment, belonged to and ofright
should have been for cast Tilden and len
bricks and in the votes counted for
Tilden and Hendricks is one vote from
Oregon, cast by an elector who, while he
did not receive majority of the votes
of the people of that state, did receive
the certificate of election from the COVER
nor in accordance with the law of Ore
gon, because the candidate who received
the majority of the votes was ineligible
by reason of the provisions of the consti-
tuition of the United States. Assuming,
therefore, that the intention of the peo-
pie, rather than the fraudulent returns
in the three Southern states, and the
provisions of the law in the Pacific state,
should be respected in the final count by
the two houses of Congress, Tilden and
Hendricks will be declared elected by
203 votes cast for them, against 166 votes
cast for Hayes and Wheeler. In either
view of the case therefore, whether it
be decided to make the count on the face
of the certificates, or according to the
real intention and actual vote of the peo-
pie of the several states, the Democratic
national committee feel that they are
justified i'll claiming the election of Til
den and Hendricks in accordance with
the strict provisions of the law, happily
ratified and confirmed, not only by a ma
jorty of all the states, but by large ma
jor1ty of the popular vote of the whole
nation.
The committee have reason, however
to apprehend that an attempt will be
made, in plain violation of the provisions
of the constitution, and of the expressed
will of people, so to pervert the final
counting of the votes by the two houses
of Congress as to reject the one vote of
Oregon cast for Tilden and Hendricks,
on the plea that it does not express the
voice of the people of the state, and to
count for Hayes and Wheeler the votes
of South Carolina, Florida and Louisi-
siana, ON the plea that it is not competent
to ge behind the official returns, duly
certified in accordance with the provi-
sions of law. The inconsistency of this
position, however it may be disguised, is
too obvious to deceive the people, who
to use phrase homely indeed but more
expressive than volume of rhetoric,
believe that it is ga poor rule that will
not work both ways"
So far as this committee is concerned,
representing the great national party,
which put Tilden and Hendricksin nom-
nation, we do not hesitate to declare
our conviction and position in favor of
the doctrine OF substantial justice, and
of giving effect to the real will of the
| the people. We believe that the returns
sent to the vice president can and should
| be inquired into. We believe that only
genuine and not false or fraudulent votes
should be counted, and, to quote the
| words OF President Lincoln, that "the
two houses of Congress, convened un-
der the twelfth article of the constitu-
ton, have complete power to exclude
from counting all electoral votes deemed
by them to be Illegal" We also believe
that full effect should be given to the
voice of the state and of the United
States, with the limits and under the
restrictions of the constitution. If (by
the application of these rules of justice
fairly applied) the result should be that,
on the one hand, the votes of Florida,
South Carolina and Louisiana should be
received and on the other the vote of
| Oregon should be rejected, thus securing
the election of Hayes and Wheeler, we
feel safe in saying that the result would
| be cheerfully acquiesced in by the peo-
ple; but if these rules should be applied
only where they inure 10 the benefit of
the Republican candidates, and rejected
when they work to their detriment, we
have no hesitation in declaring our belief
that the people of this country will never
submit to such an act of injustice and