New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-06

was undertaken. and the law was executed
This is the fraud case in nutshell.
The stupendOus system OF Intimidation anu
fraud by which the Confederate Democracy
boped to gain control of the Government
being thus defeated. the party began 10
threaten another rebellion. and to say that the
lower branch of Congress, in when there was
q Democratic majority, would not submit !"
have the result of the election declared In the
ordinary way as provided by the CohsIilu-
ton. Out of this threatening state OF AFFAIRS
came the Electoral Commission tribunal VI
their own creation, accepted by Republicans III
full confidence in the justice OF their
cause. and for the sake of peace. mat tfl-
bunal ratified the proceedings of the Boards
of State Canvassers which had given ceriih-
cotas IN the Republican Presidential Electors,
and upon the formal counting OF the votes
the Republican candidates were deciaicu
elected and took their seats. But even theh
the Confederate Democracy, bafled in th'ii
design of securing possession oil the UoNei"
mont were not content to submit. There was
talk of inaugurating 1ilden by force ana OF set-
tipo civil war on foot anew and the Democratic
r,oioritv in the House went so far as to pass
a resolution declaring, in spite or the hhuihs
of the Commission. that Illden had been law
fully elected. They did submit ac last' put
sulenly and with i'll grace; and, II they tell
the truth themselves. only because their can
didate was too cowardly to take the oath Oh
office and lead them in revolt.
From that time to this, as is well known,
they have kept up the constant cry that they
have been defrauded. This has been pretty
much their only capital; they have made it
almost the sole ISSUE Some of them have de-
nounced Mr.. Tilden roundly for not taking
the oath and assuming the Office; Others have
after fashion, praised him for his self-sacrl-
ficing patriotism in submitting to wrong
rather than inaugurate civil war. All OF them
have said. and with the emphasis or
clenched teeth, that the next time they would
seat their candidate at any and all
hazards. Everybody is familiar with the
threats and buster with which their newspa-
pers have been filed and their orators have
filled the air for months past. 1t is the same
kind of bullying that they gave us so much
of prior to 1861 the same that they tried
in 1877. "This time" they say, and keep
saving" this time we shall seat our candi-
"date" And now, after three years or
this fraud talk, whom have they nomi-
nated7 Is it the man who they
claim was defrauded ?-the man who
alone is entitled to a denomination, upon their
showing? Not at all. Their candidate Is the
senior MaioI-General of the Army, the officer
who, had Mr.. Tilden consented to set re-
volt on foot in 1877, would have been called
unon TO put him and his followers down.
At first blush it seems inconsistent ana
illogical But it is not 1t seems they know
their man. For it turns out that this Army
officer upon whom the Government was III
great measure dependent for the preservation
of peace IN 1877, had the Democratic revolt
been started, was all the time in sympathy with
the men who threatened Instruction, and only
waited Mr.. Tilden's action to put himself at
the head not of the Government forces, but OF
the reyolutOnists. Here is an Army officer
ready to 90 behind the orders of his superb
ors. the action of the constituted authorities,
the official declaration, the acts of the Return
ing Boards and the returns themselves. and,
setting up his individual judgment III the mat
ter, decide the whole question. Not only thar,
but he was ready to take over his command
and use the soldiers under HIM to carry out the
orders OF pretender. This is the stOry-and
the facts have not been denied-that General
VIM. +. Smith and his Tammany associates
circulated among delegates at Cincinnati,
upon the strength Of which Hancock was
nominated. This 1t is that explains the
stampede of the Confederate Democracy to
him. 1t is knowledge of these facts that so
arouses the enthusiasm of Southern Demo-
Gratis and leads General Preston, of Ken
lucky, to talk about killing whoever shall
oppose Hancock's Inauguration, and to pledge
his life and fortune that no one shall dare
to take the Presidency from his grasp.
General Hancock is the Democratic nominee,
not because of his sodierly qualities or his
craftsmanship, but because the Democratic
delegates at Cincinnati believed General
Smiths story about him, and believed that
man who was so willing to resort to revolu-
tionary proceedings in behalf of another would
not shrink from doing it on his own account If
the opportunity were given him. And the
same considerations that induced the DemOc-
racy to nominate him should lead him now to
resign his commission in the Army.
--
FANATTCLSM IN FRANCE.