The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-07-07
THE FRAUD ISSUE PRESERVED.

THE FRAUD ISSUE PRESERVED.
The sentiment of the country expressed
since the Presidential nominations Demon
strates very conclusively that the people
have not forgotten that the Presidency was
conferred four years ago upon a man who
was not elected; that the highest Court in
the country was prostituted to the service
of the vilest partisanship. and that all the
men who were engaged in the commission
of that great wrong have been rewarded for
their work by high and lucrative offices in
both the State and Federal Governments.
This question, as Mr.. Tilden truly said In
his farewell letter, "transcends all others in
importance" Il was wrong done to the
country, and not to men. Samuel ]. Tilden
and Thomas A. Hendricks, as the representa-
tives OF the people, were, It is true, deprived
of the high offices to which they had been
chosen by majority of more than quarter
of million Of their countrymen, in accord.
ance with the laws of the country, and
they were deprived of them by fraud and
perjury and conspiracy on the part OF men
who were willing to become crimiDals in
order to retain power. But the moral
sentiment of the country suffered to
degree which renders the wrong to indi-
vidusls Insignificant in comparison. Fraud
first triumphant In American history by the
efforts and with the support of a great party.
rendered doubtful the final success Of re-
publican institutions Great abuses, which
had seemingly become part of our system
OF government, were continued and agra
waited. Great reforms which might have
been carried out we're ignored and trampled
upon and their realization, upon which the
American people had set their hearts, was
postponed. Cheap and economical govern
ment gave way to the glitter and show OF
central, strong government. Reform Of the
civil service, which would have come natur.
ally with tine return to cheap, unostentatious
government, and with the advent of a great
man into the Presidential chair, was put
aside, and places in the civil service became
the prostituted reward of theft and wrong
as well as of partisanship. Jealousy between
the sections, the era of hate, the use of the
army in elections, continued to remind the
country of past ill feelings, which neither
existed nor had cause to longer exist In the
hearts of the people.
So, there remained not only the recollec-
ton of one great wrong, not only the realiza-
ton that it had shown it's serpent hiss and
had been neither scotched nor killed, and
that the return to simpler, better ways was
postponed, but a great capacity for good
had also been postponed. 1t was seen
that prosperity would have been fastened
and increased in measure by satisfaction and
confidence. Nothing, therefore, could
destroy the fraud issue for this canvass It's
effects were too far reaching to be depend
ent upon the will of any one man, or to be
dissipated by the folly of great party, if
that party had even possessed nothing else
than the inheritance and the ways OF folly.
The issue was here in the country. It was a
fixed fact, and here it must stay. And when
Mr.. Tilden and Mr.. Hendricks declined to
assume the lead in the coming contest. the
American people, in their sovereign ca
pacity, selected others as the representatives
of this greatest of issues The men had
taken themselves from the field, but the
question still remained. 1t holds the field
to-day, and it will hold it until the close of
this campaign. For four years the American
people--not mere party-have condemned
the men aud the methods OF 1877. They
condemn them to-day, and they will con-
denim them in the coming canvass in such
tones ss shall not be mistaken. One Of the
perpetrators of that great crime has come
forward TO represent and champion and de.
fend ii. Upon the vote Of James A. Garfield
depended the success of that great con-
spiracy, and that vote it received.
He planned, sanctioned and abetted the
wrong, and gave his assistance to insure
its success. He must now stand by 1t
while the country tries, condemns and exc
outes him for that crime. The great
wrong represents destruction 10 the princi-
Piles of free government It sought to make
failure of popular institutions. 1t over
threw the popular will. II annulled the
power of great States. Its exponent and its
defender was the Republican party. Its
victim was the cause of free Government
the liberty of whole people. Its avenger is
the Democratic party, backed by the
voice of the country. The fraud issue
Is supreme. To It, tariff and revenue and
mere policies are as nothing. because 1t
represents them all. The country would
have no need for tariff and revenues and
circulating medium IL the Government were
to be again subverted by the setting aside OF
the will of the people-.f their chosen repre-
sentatives are to be put away by conspiracy