Iron County register., 1883-05-03
An Ungrateful Administration.

| indictment at Washington as personal
| persecution and as an act of base in
| gratitude on the part of the Administra-
| ton. He claims that he saved the
Republican party in 1876 by issuing
certificates as Governor of Louisiana for
eight electors, all of whom had been de-
feated by large majorities.
In an interview on this subject, re-
| ported in the Boston Herald, Kellogg
asserts that Chandler telegraphed him
that unless Louisiana could be held all
was lost. Thereupon he exerted his of
ncial power to prevent the impending
catastrophe. and with success.
| This confession reveals only part of
the conspiracy by which the Presidency
| was stolen outright in 1876. That con-
| spiracy was hatched by the present
Secretary of the Navy, who sent out the
| first false telegram, in the name of Zach
| Chandler, claiming one hundred and
eighty-fve votes for Hayes. This was
after Tilden's election had been pro-
claimed to the world, and after Hayes,
in public speech at Columbus, had adj
mitted his own defeat.
The conspirators dreaded the pres
ence of Mr.. Tilden in the White House.
It was sure to result in an exposure of
|
| They had possession of the Government,
and We're determined to keep it, even
| to the extremity Of provoking civil war.
The scheme of sending visiting states
| men, as they We're called, to Louisiana,
| South Carolina and Florida was invent
ed as convenient cover for the iniQuit-
Gus designs of the conspirators. That
| plan insured divided report, by which
doubt might be raised in the public
mind and the partisan spirit enlisted on
the Republican side. .,.--..-t ....
| Behind the authors and managers of
this foul work stood Grants Admins
| tration, threatening. to meet re-
monstrance with force, and menacing
the peoples. representatives with arrest
and imprisonment for defending an
honest election. General Sherman sum-
moned picked troops to Washington
from frontier posts 1000 miles distant;
and the Capital was garrisoned as if in
| preparation against foreign enemy.
John Sherman, Garfield, Stanley Mat
thews, and other Republican chiefs went
| to Louisiana TO organize the fraud for
stealing that State, which had given
| Tilden a clear. fair and positive ajor-
ity of about eight thousand votes, Their
acts have become a part of the political
| history of the times, and are familiar to
the country. .-.s-s .. l-
Despite the rank perjury, the for
| geries, the frauds and the destruction
of returns, Wells, Anderson and their
| associates in the. Returning Board,
found the task of overcoming the large
and lawful majority for Tilden difficult
and dangerous. They determined to
| seize the opportunity FOR great specu-
lation, and to sell the votes of the State
to the highest bidder.
An overture to that effect was made
to Don Cameron, tnen Secretary of
! War. with modest demand for a mill
ion of dollars. He declined the offer.
Mr.. Hewitt. then Chairman of the Ma
| tional Democratic Committee, was next
approached by an agent of Wells, with
| more moderate offer, but he refused alb
solutely to entertain the proposition,
| upon any terms whatever.
| After long and unsuccessful huckster-
| ing, the time drew near for final ac-
ton. On the eve of the return, Wells
proposed to Duncan F. Kenner, recent
| ly a member of the Tariff Commission,
to give Tilden the vote that belonged to
him for two hundred thousand dollars
down. That attempted negotiation
failed, and Kellogg, as Governor, certi-
fed eight Republican Electors from
Louisiana, every one of whom had been
beaten by majority of thousands.
The act of March l. 1892, provides
| that
1.-THE Electors shall make and sign three
| certificates of all the votes given by them,
| each of which certificates shall contain two
Lists of the vffes o for
| and shall annex to each of the certificates one
of the lists of the Electors which shall have
been furnished to them by direction of the
Executive of the State. -.
:. The Electors shall seal up the certificates so
made by them, and certify upon each that the
| President and of all the votes given for Vice
President. are contained therein"
| These certificates are disposed of as
follows: One set is given in charge to
special messenger-whoi in this case
was Anderson of the Returning Board
to be delivered to the President of the
| Senate, before the first Wednesday in
| January then next ensuing; the second
set, with the contents superscribed on
| the envelope, is addressed to the Presi-
| dent of the Senate by mail; and the
third set is delivered to the Judge of the
| District in which the Electors shall
! assemble.
The same act declares that Congress
Wednesday in February succeeding
every meeting of the Electors, and that
the certificates. or so many of them as
| have been received. shall then be opened,
| and the votes counted. xEs. FL
1t is thus seen that the certificates are
sealed when delivered to the President
| of the Senate before the first Wednesday
in January, and they cannot be legally
| opened before the second Wednesday in
February. Thomas w. Ferry at that
| time was President pro tenapore of the
| Senate. Anderson delivered the Louis
lana certificates to him. Externally
they were correct in form. But it was
soon discovered that serious error. in
validating the certificates, had been
committed. That error could not have
been detected without breaking the seal,
violating the law, and perpetrating
felony. The certificate was in the pos
session of Ferry officially as the custo-
dian nominated for that ol,iaot b1y tho