The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-12-26

the nelQ OF q luDOIeO LnOuSdnu IueH-
who would see that Mr.. Tilden was in
augurated. All this is simply the old
story of the braggart, Owen Glendower,
calling spirits from the vastly deep, but
they refused to come. II by mounting
his horse--meant an appeal to arms to .
prevent the counting in or inauguration /
of Hayes. it would have been just what /
Grant as President and Sherman as
General of the army desired. They had ;
both taken the precaution of having
enough of the regular army in and
around Washington to have made quick
work with Mr.. Tilden on horseback at
the head of his little squad of Democrats,
and as for WatersOn's western army of
hundred thousand strong, he would
soon have wished himself back in Ken
tucky. It is all nonsense, therefore, to
talk about Mr.. Tilden asserting ''his
rights 10y physical force, which would
have embroiled the country in another
/ civil war
{ Mr.. Tilden may be, as is said of him,
/ a timid man who takes counsel of his
/ fears rather than of his judgment, but
/ il was the part of wisdom under all the
/ circumstances for him to take the posi-
tion, rs he always has done, that it was
the American people whose will had
been defeated through fraud rather than
himself
Mr.. Tilden in a conversation a little
over year ago with Hugh McDermott,
editor Of the Jersey City Herald made
remark which affords a clue to his
motives in submitting to the decision of
the Electoral Commission. McDermott
said to Gov. Tilden: If General Jack
son had been in your place he would
have gone to Washington" Mr.. Tilden,
after rejecting a few moments, replied !:
Perhaps l should have done so, bit then
zoe ,rould hare had ciriI trdr." That was
q sentiment honorable to Samuel J. Til
der's heart for what are al the honors
of the Presidency when compared TO the
untold miseries and bloody horrors Of a
civil war? Another man might, per-
haps, have acted differently from Mr.
Tilden, but the impartial judgment of
pOsterity will regard his quiet submis-
sion to the most atrOCious wrong OF the
century as the highest evidence of his
unselish patriotism.
There is something peculiarly aggra-
waiting when we consider the source of
this charge of cowardice and want of
nerve against Mr.. Tilden. 1t is made
principally by Southern Congressman
and the editors of Southern newspapers.
: What the Southern leaders wanted
above and beyond every other considera-
ton in the spring of 1S77-what they
wanted above even the Inauguration OF
q Democratic PresIdent-was the re-
moval of the troops from South Carolina
and Louisiana. The intimate personal
friends OF Hayes-such men as Foster. the
GOvernor-elect of Ohio, Stanley Mat.
thcws, and others-pledged the Southern
men that this would be done, prorided
the count of the electoral vote in all the
States was not interrupted or prevented
by the House, and Mr.. Hayes was de
= . clared elected. This was the bait helC
out to Southern Congressman, and they
eagerly swallowed it; in confirmation
> Of which we have the public declaration
; of Senator Ben Hill, of Georgia, then
member of the House, that sufficient
number Of Southern members had en-
tered into n solemn written agreement
TO oppose by their votes any interrup
tion or delay in the count They stooC
' by this agreement-voted with the Re
d, publicans-the count Of the vote wa'
fiuished-TIlden was openly cheated Ou
-, Of the Presidency-and Hayes was de
. clared elected, in pursuance of the de
: cision Of the Electoral Commission. j
:. is, therefore. adding insult to injury fo
southern men. who aided and abette,
il cOnsummating the fraud, to nov
charge their victim, Mr. Tilden, will
, cOwardice and want of spirit in not as
o sertiug his rights" After having strip
4 ped Mr.. Tilden of those very rights
f by giving validity to the acts of the
: eight to ssrsH commission. modesty ought
0 TO teach them to take any other shape
T than that Southern men and Southern
- newspapers have an undoubted right &c
n prefer some other man than Mr.. Tildc1
e as the candidate, but when they denounce
/ him for not having done the very thing
! which Southern votes in the House had
n made it impossible. even worse than a
D farce. to attempt to do, they are guilty OF
= most sublime act of meanness.
An old adage teaches us that sit is a
, dirty bird that befouls Its own nest, =
and Il the Southern members of Con.
r greSs who were parties to the agreement
7 vouchcd for 10y Ben Hill are satisfied
with the part they took in the count of
, the electoral returns, Samuel J. Tilden
can safely appeal to history to vindicate
the integrity of his motives, as well as
, his fOrbearance in appealing to physical
, force in vain attempt to possess him
. self of the Office to which ne had been
, elected by a majority of a quarter of a
million of the American people.