The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-11-12
The End of the Conspiracy OF silence

In many Republican quarters We are glad
to observe since election day II rcviving
disposition to face tho music on tho Force
bill and Federal interference issue. This
Is natural. The doctrine Of Federal inter-
ference and the practical system of super
vision represented in this town by JOHN l.
DAVENPORT are the very bone and sinew
OF Republicanism. AcQuiesccncc in the
DaE-REEp-HoAn theory OF Federal su-
premacy at tho polling places in the States
more than any other one thing distinguishes
the Republican from the Democrat. A Re-
publican abandoning tho political theory
on which the Force bill rests would cease
u DO a Republican.
Yct SO intense was tho public sentiment
aroused by The Sun when it put the Force
bill Issue at tho front. that tho shrewdcr
Republican leaders feared to meet It, with
the Presidential election close at hand.
Gen. HARRIsoN's letter Of acceptance was
the signal to the party that the question
must be avoided throughout tho campaign.
The whole Republican canvass was con-
spiracy OF silence with respect to this car
dinal principle Of Rcpublicansm. As far as
tho Force bill and Federal Interference with
elections were concerned, there was IL gag
on tho mouth Of every Republican stump
speaker and padlocked chain on every
Republican printing press. No spectacle
Ike this had ever before been witnessed in
Presidential campaign in tho United
States: great party panic stricken by an
Issue OF its own making and shutting and
sealing for three months its own lips
against any utterance OF the ideas and
arguments which it had been proclaimng
openly. detiantly. and vociferously for more
than twenty years.
1t Is only fair To say that the actual effect
OF this extraordinary policy of evasion was
not what Gen. HARRISON and his friends
had expected. The systematic muteness of
the party Of Force and Fraud deceived not
a single voter opposed to the LODGE bill.
Instead OF allaying the apprehensions Of
the justly alarmed South the conspiracy of
silence served to strengthen the general
conviction that at the first oppor-
tunity tho Republicans would fasten
negro domination on. the States which
after n terrible experience had shaken off
the black incubus. Instead of satisfying
Northern Democrats that the plot to ex-
tend DavenpOrtism had been abandoned,
the conspiracy OF silence only confirmed the
belief that the screws would be applied re-
morselessly IL the Republicans carried the
election. The conspirators gained no votes
by their dishonest treatment Of the Force
bill issue. 1t Is probably true that they lost
the support of thousands OF honest and dis
gusted Republicans who would have been
glad to see the issue pushed to its extreme
consequences with old-fashioned Republic
can vigor. and who heartily wished THAD
STEVENS back on earth again.
In the changed condition OF things. what
will be the attitude of the Republican party?
The new Force bill is killed. and it can never
be resurrocted. The old Force legislation
stands on the statutes az it has stood since
1871. or during the whole lifetime Of citi-
zens who cast on Tuesday last their maiden
vote for President. Davenportism must be
wiped out. The first duty Of the new Demo-
cratic Congress and the new Democratic
President will be to repeal the Federal cleo
ton laws. Tho Republicans cannot pre-
vent the repeal: will they resist it2