Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-09-28
RE cANNor Hs rgusTsp.

An attempt is being made by some So
called independent journals to create
the impression that though fraud and force
are being employed in his behalf all through
the South. yet General Hancock has no
sympathy with these practices, and would, If
he were elected, put himself in opposition
to them. OF all the positions taken by
Democratic advocates this appears to us to
be the weakest and most irrational. A
striking specimen of the kind of argument
referred to occurs in recent article in the
Chicago Times, which sets out by demon
strating the wholesale character OF the
Alabama frauds, and showing concluslvely
the truth of all that has been published
concerning them, and then proceeds to
argue that General Hancock ought not to
be mistrusted becauseof the lawlessness and
brutality of Southern bulldozers and ballot
box suffers, but ought to be taken at his
word when he declares that Sc the right
90 to free ballot is a right preservative Of
g all rights, and must and shall be main
tanned in every part of the United
States, and when he says: ''It is only
=" by full vote, free ballot, and fair
count, that the people can rule in fact as
required by the theory of our Govern
'ment Take this foundation away and
3" the whole structure falls" Upon this the
Times solemnly observes Whatever
''' solid-South' Democrats believe, most
''people in the Northern States believe
General Hancock WILL if elected. act in
accordance with this declaration, and
"that of his party platform. He has been
in the service of the nation all his life,
"and is known to be loyal and law-abId-
g ing man. 1t is not to be supposed for a
"moment, therefore, that, if elected, he
twill permit the foundation OF our Gov
eminent to be taken away, and suffer the
"whole structure to fall, if it is in his
"power to prevent it. We can only
characterize this as nonsense. Ii there is
any one thing palmer than another at the
present moment in American politics, it is
the fact that the fright to free ballot 3"
has already been repudiated and denied
throughout the South. From this it follows
that General Hancock's dependence is not
upon "a full vote, free ballot, and fair
"count" but upon the forcible or fraudu-
lent suppression of the franchise in the
Southern States. In accepting the Demo-
cratic nomination he declared his entire will
ingness to take the Presidency as the spoil
of fraud and force. No other interpreta-
ton can possibly be placed upon his posi-
ton. He knew that the hopes of his party
rested upon the solidity of the South. He
knew that without the l3S Electoral votes
of that region his canvass would be idle.
He knew that these 1873 votes could not be
honestly obtained. He knew that if they
were obtained it must be by such frauds as
have already been practiced in Alabama.
He knew that he never could be fairly
elected to the office he sought, and that if
he secured it the victory would not repre-
sent an expression of the will of the ma.
jority, but would be triumph of outrage
and dishonesty, and a monumental de-
feat of republican institutions. All this was
necessarily involved in General Hancock s
acceptance of the Democratic nomination,
and it follows that his letter of acceptance
was and must be regarded as an act of
| brazen hypocrisY and utter cant.