The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-11-14
Citizen Years AftAr.

whole medical profession.
Fifteen Years After.
The speech OF tho Hon. ADRIAN s. HEWITT
at the anti-lottery meeting in Chickering
Hall on Thursday night contained one
passage OF extraordinary interest. Mr..
HEWITT spoke OF the theft OF the Presidency
in 1876 by the Republican party:
"A single State can determine and has dcsermineda
Presidential! election The vote OF Louisiana deter
mined Presidential election. That vote was offered
to me for money. and declined to buyh tAppauscl
That vote was sold for money. make no reelection
upon parties when make this statement. Simply
cali your attention the fact that when the
OF great state gets into the bands OF traders and
jobbers the great Of United States
all its powers II. Post oces Its public lands It's edu
catona system at the mercy Of the jobber and the
thief lApp!ausel"
We do not remember that this highly inn
portant testimony has ever before been
elected from Mr.. HEWITT in any public
declaration. He says that he hns personal
knowledge that the vote OF Louisiana WIS
sold to Mr.. Hayes managers for money;
that the same vote was offered for money
to him as Mr.. T1LDEN's representative. and
that he declined to buy livery properly.
as all patriotic citizens and all honest men
will agree.
Some time in the summer OF 1878. when the
great crime was less than two years old and
the beneficiaries OF that crime were still In
the full enjoyment OF its fruits, there oc-
Cured a spirited. we may even say Bit
terly personal. controversy between the
Hon. HENRY WATTERsoN and Mr.. HEWITT
as to the extent Of the latter's response
bility for the failure Of the Democratic
party to obtain its rights by the
seating Of Mr.. TILDEN in the Office
to which he had been elected. Col. WAT
TERsoN acrimoniously. and. as We are
glad to believe. unjustly. charged Mr..
HEWITT not only with u mismanage-
ment Of Democratic interests at tho time
OF the electoral count. but also with sup
pressing the fact of Mr.. T1LDEN's personal
disapproval OF the Electoral Commission
bill at critical time in the deliberations OF
Mr.. T1LDEN's friends at Washington.
The merits OF the WArrERsoN-HEw1TT
controversy are not now Of living interest.
Time doubtless has softened the sentiments
Of each Of the two statesmen with reference
to the others part in the events OF 1876 and
1877 We refer to the incident merely to say
that even under the strongest provocation
to disclose all that he knew about the
theft of the Presidency. Mr.. HEWITT
withheld the statement which he made SO
distinctly and emphatically at an anti
lottery meeting in Chickering Hall fifteen
years after the crime.
There was also. as it may be remembered.
a searching investigation into all of the cir
cumstances surrounding the theft Of the
vote of Louisiana, conducted by the
special committee OF the Forty-fifth
Congress, known us the POTTER Com
mittee. The object was not to rem
edy the irremediable. but to bring out
the whole truth. to fix the responsibility
where it belonged. and to make a repetition
OF the crime forever impossible. Those
Democrats who possessed special knowl
edge bearing upon the crime came forward
and testified. The report and testimony of
the POTTER investigation fill about twenty
five hundred printed pages. but on no page
is there any piece Of evidence more impor-
tant than that which Mr.. HEWITT volun-
teered on Thursday night before mass
meeting called for an enterprise Of moral
and social. rather than political reform.
We speak OF the POTTER Investigation
merely to say that the Hon. ABRAM S.
HEWITT was not among the witnesses be-
fore that committee. He did not appear
to testify to the sensational facts which no
gave SO freely to the anti-lottery meeting
in Chickering Hall. In all the twenty
five hundred pages he appears only once.
and then indirectly. Major BURKE testi-
fled that when he went to Mr.. HEWITT as
the ostensible manager OF Mr.. TILDENs
case In the House. and asked him whether
Louisiana was to be abandoned by the
Democratic managers. Mr.. HEWITT re-
piled. among other things. that 1.-THE
Democratic party could not afford to
take the responsibility OF plunging this
country into anarchy and strife, upsettlng
values and disturbing trade"
But Mr.. HEwITT's silence on previous &C.
casions when his testimony would have
been so valuable, does not render it less in
teresting now that Its Importance is mainly
historical.
II the Speakership Of the Albany Assem-
bly, should be assigned to this city. good
man for the place would be WILLIAM A. SULzEn.
The Hon. ROGER QuAxIls MILLS OF Cor
sicaua and GRovxR CLxvRLAND. ESQ. OF Buzz
yards Bay have Joyous surprise In store for
them tonight. Il will come from Connecti-
cut, and 1t will be news more glorious than
moonlight on Barren Island and sweeter than
the pawpaw fully ripe The Corsicana Cornet
Band will come out and play when the great
news reaches Texas. aud the Convex Oracle Of
Tudor Haven will consecrats q letter to 1t.
The Mugwumps flap their ears upon the
ground and. breathless. listen for the joyful