The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-08-18


| is excluded. That he did this work at New
Orleans no man can question. There was a
hat the canvass of the votes was fairly made.
For that pretense all respect disappeared after
they refused to join the Democrats from the
North in seeing that the count was in fact fair.
He has made a sworn statement OF MS con-
duct at New Orleans, and by that he must be
Judged: His testimony commences at page
| 1o9 OF Doc. 81, accompanying report No. l4O,
House Represen iatives, Sd seSS, 45th Congress
Somewhat by designation and somewhat by
choice, the Parish of West FeIiciana came
into the charge of General Garfield for exam
ination. He received copies of all the official
papers, which had been delivered to the Re-
turning Board, touching the election In thst
Parish. For his work one OF PRckaTd's inner
rooms in the Custom House was assigned to
him. This room he occupied alone. ON page
sol he says: Occasionally some of the men,
who were getting up statements about other
Parishes, came IN there, but the room was
a,uined the affidavits that had been taken,
and made out list Of half or
three -fourths of the witnesses, and procured
were not, as ne supposed sufficiently IIll, he
prepared, or had prepared, additional iDter-
iOgatories, so ss to bring the evidence In bet
ter shape before the Returning Board. The
most remarkable testimony which General
Garfield assisted in preparing was that of Amy
Mitchell, a cOlOTed woman wnO,e husband
was killed In West Feliciana Parish. He pre-
pared the interrogatories after private inter
view with her, anu her testimony went before
the Returning Board in answers to the inter-
rogatories. She had before then made an ath
davit, but he thought 1t was not sufficiently
full, Her account OF tue murder was shock
ing indeed, almost as horrible as the story
told by Eliza PinKston. But it turned
out SfteTwsrd ntne tnas tne grestsG efo part
Committee OF Congress, when examined and
cross examined, she herself withdrew ii, de
ciaring the greater part to be untrue. Her
testimony is found on page AL, Document 81,
part g. In that inner room OF the Custom
House he spent days examining theelection
papers OF West Feliciana, holding interviews
with the witnesses and draughtiDg, as he says,
'interrogatoIies 10 draw out more fully from
some of the witnesses the testimony whicn
interTOgatOries which subsequently were ap
pended TO the testimony OF these witnesses
were of my draughting." The testimony
revised by Garfield went back TO the Return
ing Board, and the result was that West
Feiiclana, with Its Democratic majority, was
rejected. All this preceded and was TO control
the retU rms. That was his " Org down there,
hut at W ashingtOn his vote was that Congress
could not 90 behind the returns so made. AS
agent for his party he helped to make the re-
turns by manipulating evidence; and as
jury man for the Nation. be he d such returns
conclusive and binding. His associates were
occupied upon the other Parishes, for he testi-
fies that the work was distributed among
them. After spending eighteen. days in such
labOrs he and his associates lett for the North
ain e eat anxiety as TO what the result would
be" as he says. Under oath ne conceded that
when ne got there the @ Sta'e chad had gone for the
out. or some votes not cast were counted.
When he got there more than 5000 marked
tne toes oinSrgpce' Tere that nI 'n9 much behind.
But when they lelt the work was done,
though the result was not announced.
| But two days had passed, and they were yet
upon the cars, when message overlook them
that allsyed their anxiety. IL told them that
| the crime was consummated; that the elected
were counted out and the defeated were
counted in. 1t then remained only to assert
and maintain that the work of the Returning
Board, brought ABOUT In part as | have de-
scrlbed, whso covered by the Governors GER.
tificate, should pind Congress. The Commits
sion settled that, and Garfield was upon the
Commission, and voted upon it-one OF the
eight. Geztlemen, what think you OF this?
| Ought he TO have go-e upon the Commission? ?
/ Not only with opinions formed anu sVoWeo,
/ but with purposes determined upon, he took
his seat-he took the oath! He TOOK his seat
but also the rights OF the men who mad been
| elected.
In respect to the action of Congress upon
| this question have thought and said that the
wIOngs done to individuals were swallowed
| up and lost IN the greater wrong and outrage
upon the people and their institutions. But
erations arse. He accepted perhaps sought)
| place upon a tribunal that was TO decide,
not only questions of public right. out also
the claims of individua's to great offices. He
did that when he Dad formed a purpose TO de-
eide against thOS5 whose claim was supported
by the preponderance of the vote. He was
disqualified by his formed aud avowed pur-
pose, and also by his participation in the
preparatory work. For tnat / challenge him
before the bar of pu0lic opinion; and Go
this in the name of public and private
right; in the name of Justice
of lair play and OF universal law. When men,
TONED for the position. 1t would have bsen
grand and Ronan-like II he had risen in his
place in the House of Representatives, and
announced that The services that his party
had required of him had disqualified him, and
that be could not accept and would not serve
with opinions already formed, without in
forming the Court and parties, and asking to
| be excused? L think the great body OF the
people now think and know that the incum-
offices President and Vice
President we're not elected, pat that they were
inaugurated without right. Are any of you
vote will you say that General Garfield did
right? Shall it be made an henored precedent
| or o condemned crime?
I have but one more suggestion connected
| with this subject for your consideration. The
administration and the party have rewarded
with public offices all the parties directly con-
nected with The fraud. 1 say all, because the
| exceptions are but one, two or three. The
members OF tns Ketnrning in boards, 1tnlT inelr
| and visiting statesmen, almost all have lucra-
| tive public employment. They number a
n ,nd s ore aq" tban saoo0e neT Year and
| above 81 900 0OJ during the four years OF the
Misunderstanding of the cost OF our new
State House, and the full cost of the State ad-
mInistration for one year. L will not COM
ment upon the wrong and indecency of max
| ing sucn use OF the Presidents patronage.
surely we all understand that the peoples
offices Sughs not to BE gwen HaHa. IN
L
he should have done so out of his own estate.
| Are you willing that they shall stay in? Shall
| they become pensiOners-Wells and his two
| sons. and the rest OF the hundred? General
| Garfield, IL elected, can not and will not turn
1 them out. for he was with them and of them.
| Gentlemen, will your ballots go to lndorse
what was done. and the men who did it?
| In our platforms, State and National, we have
| declared our opposition to Capitalization, and
| our purpose to stand with all our might by the
| constitutional rights and powers OF the United
| States, and with equal fidelity by the rights
and powers of the States as reserved to them
4 In the Constitution. The purpose and policy
| of the Republican party has been to weaken
/ the States and to strengthen the Federal au
| thority. General Garfield is in strong SYM
pathy with his party in that respect. He has
| favored legislation having that tendency. And
| did you observe that 10 his speech In response
/ TO q serenade, the other evening, he made
| Alexander Hamilton the one great statesman
| aud leader of thought In the Revolutionary
period? To him he attributed the de-
velopment of every germ In the
Constitution of the United States,
Without any reseI vation, i would do grear
honor to the exalted qualities OF Alexandet
Hamilton-to his brilliant genius, his great
accomplishments and his exalted patriotism.
But in these tlmes when principles and hRb-
| It's TO which the country has long been accus-
| toned pushed aside, and things new and
stri king are substituted; and when grandeur
| and power are the qualities OF government
| special Y admired, l would not support for any
4 important Office any man whose opinions and
4 conduct are likely to come under the In f1u-