The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-06-08
aeral Keys Open Letter to the
Southern People,


eSfYed from friends in the South dis
cAiming sympathy with any efforts
tQ unseat President Hayes, Postmas-
tef General Key has written the fol-
wing open letter to the people of
t|e South:
WASHINGTON, May %.
he circumstances attending the
IisSage of the Potter resolution to in
vAsflgate the alleged frauds in the
Isfesldential election of 1876 lin the
3tatesiof Louisiana and Florida, to-
gefher with the subsequent declara-
tons of many influential Democratic
siticians and Journalists, evidence
'shiI II both Houses of the Forty
sixth Congress are Democratic, the
majority intend to Gust President
Hayes and inaugurate Mr.. Tilden.
The title of President Hayes was
settled irrevocably by the Forty
fourth Congress in the act creating
the Electoral Commission, under
which he was legally declared elected,
and legally inaugurated. The Forty
fifth Congress has no more right to
dispute his election than he has to
question the title of any victorious
contestant to his seat in thai body.
The Forty-siXth Congress Will have
no more right to ignore him and to
recognize his defeated contestant,
Mr.. Tllden, than Mr.. Hayes would
have to send file of soldiers to the
House Of Representative to unseat
democrat whom he might con-
slider to have been wrongfully seated
or fraudulently elected. The leaders
in this desperate attempt to Next
canize our institutions rely confident
ly upon the ''Solid South" to furnish
the bulk of the Democratic majority
in the next House of Representatives
the Senate being already secured.
Remembering the encouragement.
which the Northern Democrats in
1860 and 1861 extended to the South
ern States to secede, and the manner
in which their promises of aid and
comfort were fulfilled, can the South
ern people afford to join this revolu-
tiOnary movement, with the GER
tainty that, when the inevitable
hour Of peril comes, they will again
be left unas5iSted and alone to meet
the storm from the North, once more
united by this attempt to revive an
issue whose settlement was forced by
public opinion upon an unwilling
Congress?
In the dark days Of February, 1877,
when civil war over the disputed
election was iminent. and patriots
trembled for the safety of republican
Institutions, the Southern members
Of Congress averted the danger by
compelling the completion of the
electoral count under the law which
both parties in Congress had enac-
ted.
But now the representatives from
the Southern States, with very few
exceptions, have joined movement
to SubVert the results of their former
patriotic action, and to remand the
country to that anarchy from which
less than two years ago it was saved
by their efforts.
Grant that in permitting the an
tonOmy of all States and in appoint
ing citizens to Office in the South,
instead of strangers, President Hayes
has but discharged his constitutional
duty, does that excuse the Southern
Representative for attempting to in
validate his title, which they estab-
lished? or will it justify them in
bringing the country again in danger
of civil war in the effort to unseat
him and inaugurate Mr.. Tilden?
The South must now face the most
momentouS crisis in its history since
1861. To endorse the recent conduct
of their Representatives is to admit
the truth Of the charge that the PEG
pie of the South care nothing for the
welfare of the Union, desire the
downfall of the Republic and would
rejoice to see it again involved in
civil war.
If there representatives have not
reflected their sentiments, as | be-
lieVe to be the case, then the people
of the Southern States should take
care that in the Forty sixth Congress
they are represented by men who
will defeat the disturbers of the pub
lie peace and prevent the Mexican
izatiOn of our institutions.
To do this they may be compelled
to act independent of the Democratic
party. Recent events have demon
strated the inability of Democratic
members of Congress to resist the
mandates of the caucus and the ter
rors of the party lash, the one welded
and the other inspired by men who
seem willing to endanger the welfare
of the country and the stability ofre-
publican institutions for the sake of
revenge on political opponents and
in the hope Of dividing the spells of
victory.
If the Democratic Representatives
OF the South could not resist the
caucus command to pass the Potter
resolution, unamended and without
debate, how will they be able in the
Forty sixth Congress to resist a
similar command to ignore Mr..
Hayes as President and to recognize
MIR. Tilden? 1t is, therefore, the
duty of the Southern peple to afford
a browning evidence of their renewed
! devotion to the Union, in which they
now enjoy every right ofcitizenship,
and are subjected to no restrictions
not laid upon every citizen. by send
ing Representatives to the Forty
sixth Congress pledged to resist at
! all hazards the revolutionary schemes
. NN l.