Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-10-09
ADEspOrIC CONSPIRACY.

] y
| election. IT, ..- ..jA T.. .. 81 '.r.'..-s
DEsPOTIC CONSPIRACY. s.s
Some of the Eastern newspapers are re
publishing the interview between Gen. Stew
art L. Woodford, of New York, with John
| F. Mines, of Utica, relative to what is de-
nominated conspiracy on the part of Til
den and his supporters to assume the gov.
| eminent of the country independent of the
judgment Of the electoral commissions. The
interview was published in full in the GLOBE
some months since, not because of any be-
lief in its truth, but as curious sample OF
the political literature of the day. The
story related has been neither denied nor
affirmed by Gen. Woodford. who was in Eu-
rope at the time OF its publication. It was
in brief, that boasts had been made that Til.
den would be inaugurated from the city hall
steps by Democratic Judges, and that stimuli
taneously the custom house and sub-treas-
ury would be seized by an armed mob, and
organized assistance would be offered to the
decision of the electoral commission; and
that Grant had determined to prevent the
consunmation OF the scheme at all hazards
having laid his plans to kidnap Tilden in the
event of his undertaking to carry out the
scheme, convey hin, on board gunboat and
try him for high treason. Here is sample
of the reported utterances of Gen. Wood
ford: ELH1s'
''The danger was real-I can assure you Of
that. believe that during the month that
closed the administration of Grant and opened
that OF Hayes the country stood on tho brink
Of a civil war more terrible than that which
we passed through, ard it would have drench.
ed the whole North i, blood. If Mr.. Tilden
had listened to his mere ensr.etic advisers and
insisted On attcn,rtiug 10 assume the reigns of
government we shoul,i' have had war on these
Streets and should hive been com elled to
take an active part in it. ,-l-.- F. -.1 ~
MY plans were all laid systematically (you
know my old habit of SYSTEM and approved
some very effective precautions beforehand.
You smile, because you will never realize how
near you were to a grand explosion, and that
all the material for a coup d'etat were lying
loose around you-while good, honest citizens
went to bed unmoved at night, thinking that
all the talk of resistance WIS mere campaign
thunder. / confess that I do not want such
grows serious over the prospects of war, we may
take it for granted that there is something more
than threats in the air. believe that we were
in more danger of bloodshed then than in, the
month that proceeded the fall of Sumter.
But you have asked what intended to do
coup d'etat and had himself inaugurated on
the city hall steps or elsewhere in this city.
My orders and intentions were to seize him at
once under warrant charging him with high
treason, to convey him secretly and securely
on board government vessel lying in the
East river and ship him to Fort Adams or
some other secure point where he would under
go his trial. The first thing anybody knew
of it he would have disappeared, and the sud
denness of the blow would have either dis
heartened his followers and taught them a
salutary lesson of respect for the law. or it
would have been the first blow of terrific con-
hict between the law and It's violators"
We admit that the plan of inaugurating
Mr.. Tilden as President was discussed in
some quarters, but are certain that it re-
ceived no encouragement whatever from
him. Indeed, his forbearance and good
Judgment in the face of the greatest wrong
ever perpetrated under thu pretense of law
no doubt saved the country from serious in
ternal commotion if not from actual civil
war. But if he had taken the oath of Office
inobedience to the demands of his less
cool-headed friends, would he have commit.
ted an act of treason such as would warrant
his arbitrary arrest and trial? We have had
numerous instances of rival candidates Law
ing claim to the same Office, each assuming
to exercise it's functions, but no one has
ever thought of charging either with so
grave crime as treason. While such
scheme was talked about, however, there
was never any probability of its being car
ried out. Mr.. Tilden would not have lent
himself to an enterprise fraught with such
danger to the tranquility of the country, no
matter how grievous wrong he was COM
PEELED to suffer. The fact that Grant, Robe.
son, Woodford and their associates were
alarmed at the possibility of such coup a.
etat is simply proof that they knew thew
we're perpetrating crime that would almost
have justified civil war. A guilty conscience
needs no accuser, and the guilt Of the Re-
publioans was so pronounced, and selfevi-
dent that they rushed headlong at the pre-
sumption that the Democrats would endeay-
or to defeat their iniquity and made prepa-
rations accordingly to put down rebellion
which existed only in their imaginations.
The nature of the preparations illustrate
fully the tendency of the party towards des-,
potio measures. ,, The arrest of Tilden was
not to be made openly under due process
of law. Lettres du cachet were
to be issued; the offender was to be taken
secretly by night; was to be conveyed on
board vessel of war in the bay; thence
was to be carried to some impregnable has.
tile, and there tried for his life by prejudioed
judges, without benefit of counsel, and exc
cuted promptly. It was scheme worthy of
the conception of Pompadour, and would
have been carried out with the hsartlessness
and cruelty of Louis XIV.
The country has been spared such an evil
as these petty despots longed to infliot upon
it. There is no doubt but they would have
relolced at the opportunity Of getting rid of
so troublesome an adversary as Mr.. Tilden