Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-03-28

message lHat tllc disCCitinuance VI
the use of the army for the purpose
Of upholding local governments in
two States of the Union was no less a
constitutional duty and requirement
under the circumstances existing at
the time then it was much needed
measure for the restoration Of local
self government aud the promotion of
national harmony If that be cor
rect definition of the Presidents
Southern policy ! am no longer in
doubt as to whether | approve. it or
not. 1t is impossible that r should
approve it now or ever. tits clear
abandonment of one OF the plainest
and most solemn duties charged on
the President by the constitution and
laws of the United States. When tie
President abandoned the Government
of Louisiana to domestic violence he
surrendered the constitutional rights
of single State but when he adver
tised that be would never interfere
where the result of an election was
disputed, he surrendered national
prerogativc vital to our institutions.
He notified the minority in every state
when defeated by the ballot to appeal
to the bayonet, and he proclaimed in
advance that the nation should be
neutral in the conflict. If Packard
was not elected Governor of Louisi-
ana nothing can be more certain than
that Hayes was not elected President
Of the United States. Packard re-
ceived nearly two thousand more
votes than some of the Hayes Elect
ors. Under the constitution the Pres
ident had but one plain daty to DIS
charge. That was to ascertain
whether the constitutional tribunals of
Louisiana had declared Packard Gov
ernor If so, then to defend his author.
ity to the extent of his ability when
legally required. If they had not, then
it was equally his duty not merely to
have withheld all support of Packard's
pretense, but to give all required sup
port to the claim Of Packard's rival.
/ do not mean to intimate doubt
that President Hayes was entitled to
the vote of Louisiana. 1t is my set
tied belief that Louisiana declared for
him, but | certainly know that if
Packard was not elected. Hayes was
not; if the latter is not a usurper,
Nichols is / can see no possible es-
cape from the conclusion, either that
the President has usurped his own Of
flee or that he has aided Governor
Nichols to usurp his. Let no man
say that do injustice to the purposes
of the President. | am not discuss
ing his purposes but his acts. | un.
derstand he still avows himself to be
a -Republican and the friend OF equal
citizenship. 1t is not for me to dis
pute him, but it is for me to say that
he has offended both Republicanism
and free citizenship as Samuel J. Til.
den never would have offended them.
Perhaps had Samuel j. Tilden been
made President events would have
transpired in South Carolina and
Louisiana as they have TRANSFERRED.
Mr.. Hampton would have been Gov.
ernor in the former State and Mr.
Nichols in the latter. So far the Of
Tense would have been precisely the
same, but that would have been an
offense not against Republicanism bnt
against the Republicans in those
States. Tilden would have decided,
perhaps that Hampton and Nichols
were chosen governors of those States
and that if so they ought to be recog-
nZed, and even if not SO, since he
had jurisdiction of the question, would
have acqniesced 10 his decision, but
President Hayes never made such a
decision, and does not make it to-day.
Tilden would have excluded Packard
and Chamberlain because he decided
against their election. President
Hayes excluded them because their
election was disputed. The former
would have given an erroneous judg
ment and Sc it executed. Presi
dent Hayes has abandoned Judgment
to the rifle clubs in those states and
left them to make the decision which
the constitution and the courts com.
manded him to make and, infinitely
worse than that has permitted procla-
nations to be made in his name that
when the rifle clubs choose to take
the field in behalf of ticket it is no.
necessary for them to elect their tick
ct, but only to dispute the election OF
the other, and after all this prolonged
effort at pacification, this out pouring
of concessions of good will, the angel
of peace still refuses to descend upon
us i'll these very days thst the gov
eminent which rules Louisiana, which
was born of Presidential grace and
not of popular choice, has signalized
its ingratltude by an act not less in.
sulting to the President than atroci
cious in itself. 1t has dared to &C,
cuse, try and convict member of the
State Board of Canvassers of the
crime of forging the election returns
of Vernon parish in 1875. | do moi
complain because Anderson was triec
for a political Tense. If he is gull
ty of the offense charged | have not {
| syllable to utter in his defense, The
point make against the government
of Louisiana is that it prosecuted moi
in the hume of public justice but Of
partisan malice. Whitaker by The
grace of Andrew johnson was for
merly Assistant Treasurer of The
United States and as such he was {
defaulter to the government in more
than half a million. He sent An
derson to prison. Whitaker hac
been under indictment for that heavy
embezzlement, but on the 10Th o
April, just as Nichols took the office
which Packard ought to have had
the indictment against Whitaker wal
nolle pressed and he was permitted
to send Anderson to the penitentiar,
where he ought to have been himself
l r. N =.