The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-10-14

and without the pretense of trial by
court or jury. If this could be done
there was manifestly no security left fol
life or property. Plainly it could not be
done without a fiat violation of the Con.
stitution, which in express terms forbade
it. But the men who then ruled US with
rod of iron insisted upon it, and we
could not be certain that the Judges
State and National, might not be sub.
dued by their influence. The hearing Of
the cause before the Supreme Court was
great crisis in the constitutional history
of our country. There vas a place in
the argument which nobody could fill SC
we'll as General Garfield, and besought
him to help US in this desperate extrem.
ity to rescue American liberty from the
utter destruction with which it was
threatened. He responded with noble
alacrity, and made great argument in
which he proved not only the continued
existence but the inestimable value ol
the Constitution. He demonstrated that
the right of trial by jury at all times and
all places was indestructible, and that
any officer, civil or military, would vio-
late his oath if he attempted to put the
military above the civil authority. He
affirmed the whole Democratic doctrine
on the subject, and showed it to be incon.
testibly right. His sincerity was un.
doubted, for, like the rest of US, he en-
gagged in the cause as labor of love,
without fee or any reward except the
thanks of true men.
Such were his true convictions. But
when we came to deal with the same sub
ject in his political capacity he surren.
dered everything to his party. He voted
for military despotism and regular sys.
TEN of kidnapping and murder in all the
States of the South. In the same act
were other provisions which he certainly
understood to be in direct conflict with
every section of the Constitution. In all
this he did not transgress, like others, in
ignorance or in passion; he sinned
against light and knowledge and on a
cold calculation of partisan policy. It
is an infinite pity that such man should
be not only false to his country but false
to himself.
What makes all this very much worse
is his denunciation of General Hancock
for saying that the military was constitu-
tionally subordinate to the civil power,
and that liberty was still the inheritance
of the American people; for these were
propositions which he himself had as
serted and knew to be true.
1t might be expected that the course
of man so influenced would frequently
defect from the straight path, and one
great alteration we cannot but remem.
Der.
Mr. Tilden vas elected in 1876. A
false return was the only resource against
him. do not believe that General Gar.
field, if let alone, would commit an elec-
ton fraud any more than he would steal
horse or sheep. But when the man.
ayers of his party demanded his aid in a
great swindle he could not refuse. Un-
der that coercion he went down to Louis
lana aud there found it absolutely certain
that Tilden electors had been "duly ap-
pointed" at legal and full poll, so
peaceably conducted that there was not
even squabble about it in the whole
State. Aud the appointment 80 made
was attested by and recorded upon the
certificates and the oaths of election
officers adverse to the appointees in all
their feelings and wishes. There was no
earthly excuse for denying this; no con-
tradiction of it could be honest. To
count the State for Hayes was thing
that could De done only by impudent and
unmitigated fraud. For a time I hoped
that General Gar6eld's share in that
great crime had consisted in passive
acquiescence, and I am surprised by the
proofs recently brought forward of his
active assistance in its perpetration. His
judgment as a member of the Electoral
Commission was q thing to be expected,
for he must long before that have con-
yinced himself that fraud was as good q
way as any other of electing a President
In q political game he did not think that
anybody had moral sense enough to
abstain from throwing a die which he
himself had loaded to win the State.
This liability to be rushed into evi!
courses by his party associates had
brought upon him much odium which he
docs not deserve in the transactions OF
the Credit Mobilier. The stock distri-
buted by Oakes Ames was intended to
influence the legislation of Congress cor
ruptly. he and the company wh0put il
into his hands meant business, and that
business was bribery. Undoubtedly
those members who took it knowing the
nature of the thing were great criminals
and wholly unworthy to retain their
seats. But General Garfield, though he
certainly agreed to take the stock and did
actually take dividends upon it, had nc
suspicion of its connection with the
Union Pacific Railroad or of the conflict
which its possession might create between
his private interests and his public duty
He was as guiltless as the child unborn
of any dishonest meaning about the
whole business. believe this noS mere
ly because he told me so, but because it
is probable in itself and corroborated by
many circumstances. If he had stuck to
it he would have been credited by all
men as implicitly as he was by me.
Fearing that his political friends might
influence him to depart from it, | wrote
beseeching him to stand fast upon the
defense he lad made me. That he did
not take this advice is the bitterest regret
of his life. But "the party" would not
let him take it. The accusation struck
at the highest heads in the House and
the Senate. They had but one answer
and that was positive denial of the fact
that any stock had ever been taken by
them; and on that line they expected
Mr.. Ames to swear them through. Gen.
eral Garfield, for the benefit of Others
and to his own great injury, united in
making this false defense. Their witness
failed them, and they were all convicted
After the report of the committee wrote
MIR. Blaine the letter which has been ex.
tensively published, and which was an
effort to put General Garfield back upon
the true ground, which he never ought tc
have abandoned. But it was too late.
regret sincerely that General Garfield
is candidate, or that he should be
placed in any position which calls fol
criticism on his conduct as public man
d. i tbof ,,,i1l ho fau