The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-11-20
"A BLAST FROM BLAIR.
Mourning for Tilden-An Attack on the
"Rotten South

S1r.-Everv ono will nov admit that
;he late Presidential election was already
lost in 1919. and that the SIM then prop
rrJy estimated the effect of EelIv's course
in co de.I,ripr Mr. can any ;ptalli,rcnt
nubIic man now fail to see th1t if was the
Rutcu South or those who in the phrase
of the day 500 in fer the old tlog and an
,rrrn,,ri,tion and not the Solid South
which defeated MS.
It WAS this class OF politicians of whom
Mr.. Lamar. then chairman of the Texas
Pacific Subsidy Comu,ittpe WAS the rep
r,.scutatiyr man which sold the Prcsi
,I.ncy +, fine R,dir,;s in 1885, a,,l If
WAS because they ratified. bv means rf
the Electoral Commission. the fraud in
Louisiana. Florida, and South Carolina,
directed bv Chandler, that the Radicals
IN the Seuate all welcomed the southern
leader ~ flat body notwithstanding the
report of the committee of which Bout
well was chairman. that his hands were
UIiDpiu,r with the blood of thousands of
negroes shed in Mississippi to secure his
election. and notwithstanding volumes
III evidence bad been previously taken
ny the committee to sub>tanti,te this
charge iur the avowed purpose oil cNclud-
ing him from the Senate
The admission of Lamar to the Senate
under such circumstances WAS mainly a
ratification hv Cunkliu- and Blaine and
Ill the Radicals of the Senate Of the bar
gain made BIZ the rotten South with
Haves. in pursuance of which Lamar had
declared him elected bv saving that the
President of the Senate had the riuht to
count the electoral vote. The considera
ton of this was Iayes' agreement with
Colonel Roberts to recognize the South
eTn leaders as the representatives of the
south. and TO take one or more of them
into his Cabinet.
This bargain was made by Col. Rob
erts. now an employe of the War Depart
ment. prior to the meeting of CONGRESS-
in IS, and the report of it civen to the
newspapers was published bv me in the
Eaion newspaper shortly afterward and
with Lamar $ declaration above referred
to- was assumed to be conclusive evil
dence that we We're clearly sold out. and
SO declared i'll the GnioH of December
14th. 1876. This was long before the
Electoral Commission was thought of as
the means of carrying out the contract.
At that time as indicated bv Lamar's
declaration. the plan of the rotten South
was To sustain Mr.. Ferry's claim TO coupt
the vote. This is confirmed by the nub
lie statement arterward made by Sena-
tor Hill. of Georgia, who was then in
the House. that enough of the Southern
representatives to control the House had
formed league in the early part of the
session to act independently of the Demo
cratic party on the Presidential question.
But some of the Republican Senators.
among whom was Mr. Conklinc. who
were on the record against the right of
the President of the Senate to count the
vote. objected to this course: and Conk-
ling. to obviate the difficulty. SUGGESTED
the Electoral Commission. bv which the
same result was equally assured. the
counting being riven TO cirbt RcnubIi-
cans and seven Democrats. and the effect
being merely to allow the Republicans
to select some other Republican than
Ferry to do the counting.
1t was the power which these South
ern politicians were supposed to be able
to exert in the Democratic National Con-
vcntien and over 1873 electoral votes which
then enabled them to dictate the Flee
toral Commission to Nessrs. Bayard and
Thurman. and afterward to make Kelly
and his allies in New York bolt the nomi-
nation in 1879 in order to prevent their
condemnation bv the denomination and
election of Tilden Bv this means they
have caused the defeat of the party in
the Presidential election. They thus
forced the abandonment of the recor-
niZed exponent of the Democratic prin
ciples which the people had passed upon
in 1876. and of the question of the fraud
by which the declared will of the people
had been defeated. 1t was in vain that
Tilden and his friends struggled for the
success of the party under Hancock, con-
tiding in the Soundness of the prevailing
sentiment Of the party and its nominees
for success could only be commanded by
such an aggressive assertion of the dis
tinctivc issues in reform and against fraud
ri Which i'iiden was the exponent. AS
would snpcrs,de sectional and financial
ISSUES wi.ir!i tic Radicals pressed on the
public mini. and succeeded in making
the turning points IL the election when
!IidcT was withdrawn.
The executive pnwer Of the govern
uIent has tins been givcI to the central
Isis Tor another Years tnt