The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-01-31
Lessons from Maine.

hneW ironl the beginning 1t must end,
IN Disgrace and defeat. 1t matters
not what pretence of resistance NAV
be made. 1t matters not how loudly
the Democrats and Greenbackers.
now literally 'as thick as two
thieves" may scold and threaten.
The law prevails. 1t is supported by
all the moral force of an intelligent
and order-loving community and by
armed force enough to crush any for.
chile resistance. Now let us see what
the Democratic party has gained by
this extraordinary performance.
I'LL has-made an end Of the cry
OF fraud, as a possible weapon in the
next campaign. The cipher despat-
ches, and the attempts to buy elec-
toral votes in 1876, some people said,
were only the unauthorized acts of
individuals. But this impudent theft
in Maine was the work of an entire
party in the State, aided, counselled,
abetted and constantly encouraged
by large proportion of the Demo
Gratis in other States. For weeks it
has been plain that the main object
was to steal the electoral vote Of a
Northern State for the Democratic
candidate this fall, and many Demo-
cratic Journals have publicly chuck
led over the pretended "prinaa .tdcie
validity" of the organization of the
Fusionists in Maine, as basis for
Democratic electoral votes of prin,a
tdcte validity. Beaten rogues usually
fall out. Soon we shall haye Demoe
cratic journals showing up the part
of Mr.. Tilden and of other Demo.
cratic leaders in the pecuniary and
legal arrangements for this shame
less robbery. In future when Dem.
ocrat shouts "Fraud" people will
stop his mouth with the cry of
Maine"
IL. The utterly reckless, desper-
ate and revolutionary character of
the Democratic party, by this event,
has been brought home to the appre-
citation of conservative and laws
abiding men more strongly than was
possible in any other way. There
hMhitiff1oHHhtH hhitiff1 HhtHii humber, it is true, perpetra-
ted in the interest of the Democratic
party. But most of them have been
at the South. There it was possible
to howl down every statement Of
truth as "a Radical lie," to hire
newspaper and press agents to send
falsehoods all over the land, to get
eminent ministers of the gospel to
sign cards solemnly declaring that
white was black, and to hire red
headed and other perjurers to prove
it. In Maine, the theft was perpe.
trated in the broad daylight of civ
ilized, intelligent and self-respecting
Northern community. Arms were
gathered. Desperate men were en-
listed to sustain the insurrectiOn by
blo0dshed. For weeks the peace of
the State has been preserved only by
the patience of the Republicans, and
their firm reliance upon the law.
III. 1t has been shown how base.
ly Democratic partisanship will
wrest the law from its true meaning
and purpose in order to shelter a
crime. In every controversy at the
South the result turned upon legal
claims quite as impudent, and tricks
quite as knavish, as those which the
Supreme Court of Maine brushed
away with contempt. Yet it is stout
ly insisted by Democrats, to this
day, that Republicans were guilty of
fraud in Southern States because
they did not submit to the infamous
tricks or accept the insolent assump-
tions of Democratic partisans as to
the construction and effect of the
laws. Even now there are Demo-
cratic Journals which still insist that
Garcelon, Pillsbury and the other
political pickpockets of Maine were
technically right, and had law on
their side" Yet these people know
that their legal assumptions are ut
terly unfounded, and that the only
object of these tricks is to rob the
people of their rights. In precisely
the same way, law is distorted to
shield Democratic crime at the south
and the whole world can now see
how it is done.
w. 1t has been shown that the
Democratic party, throughout the
land, is ready to strike hands with
the worst repudiators and Commu-
nists, even in the perpetration of a
shameful wrong, in the hope of prof
iting by that wrong. Where was the
Democrat who insisted that electoral
votes based upon the Garcelon rob
berry should not be counted? The
party, as whole, showed ITS entire
roo ,l,naoe to nrofit wv this theft and