The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-02-13
THE ATTEMPT TO oANoNIzE TILDEN,

THE ATTEMPT TO CANONIZE TILDEE,
At the Tilden banquet, in New York, Sec
rotary Villas referred to it as celebrating 1.-The
natal day of the nineteenth President of the
United States" adding: when in Tilden's
person the colossal wrong of usurpation was
done to US, the sky seemed dark beyond re-
covery, but the mighty principles of Democ-
umphant" etc. Ex-Governor Hoadly, of
Ohio, spoke in the same strain, referring to
Tilden as having been "falrly elected Presi-
dent" and to President Hayes as "a usurper,"
etc. There has been a good deal of this sort
of stuff of late, and there seems to be grow
ing disposition among the Democracy to make
a saint and martyr out of Mr.. Tilden. How
ever disgusting this may be, it is not surpris-
ing. A party that presents solid front in
defense Of every species OF election fraud,
from the shotgun policy in Mississippi and
tissue tickets in South Carolina to forging
tally-sheets in Marion county, can make a
saint out of almost anybody. So far the
requisites for saintship are concerned, Samuel
J. Tilden and Sim Coy are about on par
The former was Democratic boss of much
greater cunning and much higher degree, but
his methods were not whit more honest
than those of Coy. Talk about stealing the
presidency! 1t was he who tried to steal it.
and because he was caught while running
away with the swag and compelled, under the
decision of tribunal created in part by his
own friends, to surrender it, the leaders of the
Democratic party still shouting
stop thief" But for the stupen-
dous frauds practiced in the South
there never would have been any pretense of
Tildens election. His claim rested on fraud
from the beginning, and as fast as one fraud
was exposed, it was attempted to replace it
with another The presidential election of
1876 was the last one in which the Republic
ans have stood up manfully for their rights
and made brave fight against the infamous
system of fraud that has since prevailed in
the South. In 1880 they had electoral votes
to spare, and Democratic claims in the South
were not disputed. In 1884 the great fraud
of 1876 was repeated, the South was made
solid for Cleveland as it was for Tilden, and
the Republicans submitted. No claimant ever
went into court with drtier hands than
Tilden took before the Electoral Com
mission, and claim was ever more
thoroughly saturated with fraud. The
attempt to paint Mr.. Tilden as the victim of
great wrong, and to make political saint
of him is perversion iof the truth of his
tory and an insult to the intelligence of the
people. To give semblance of truth to this
preposterous claim Ex-Governor Hoadly fur
ther said that the formation of the Electoral
Commission ''was without Tilden's consent
yea, without his knowledge and without con-
sultation with him, the Republican party was
enabled to steal the presidency" This state
ment bears the lie on its face 1t is absurd
to say that prominent Democrats in Congress,
some of whom were his intimate friends and in
constant communication with him, would have
aided in creating the Electoral Commission
without his knowledge or consent. The
statement is part of the plan to make it APP
pear that Mr.. Tilden was the innocent and
helpless victim of great wrong. On this
point we are not left to conjecture. Mayor
Hewitt, of New York, denies Judge Hoadly's
statement in the strongest possible terms.
Mr.. Hewitt was chairman Ct the Democratic
national committee in 1867, when the cleo
toral commission bill was under consideration,
and was also member Of the House and of
the committee on the electoral bill. He says
that he himself acquainted Mr.. Tilden with
all the steps taken in the proceedings of the
committee '.and received his approval of what
my colleagues and myself were doing"
When the form of the bill was agreed upon it
was sent to Mr.. Tilden by special messenger,
and upon his return the messenger reported
that Mr.. Tilden was entirely satisfied with its
provisions. The statement of Mayor Hewitt
is conclusive this point. There is no evil
dence that copy of the bill was ever sent to
Mr.. Hayes for his approval, though he had the
same interest in the proceedings Mr.. Til
den and quite as much right to object in
advance to the proceedings. The plain truth
is that the unsuccessful attempt of the Demo-
cratic party headed by Samuel J. Tilden, to
steal the presidency in 1876 is one of the most
disgraceful passages in the history of a party
that has furnished very many such.
The recent sale of the property of the
Whitney Arms Company. at New Haven, to
another arms manufacturing company has
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