Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-02-16
Hayes and the Presidency.

SsASAS@A~Js
The current number of the illustrate
ed american, Maurice Minton's marvel
in the world of illustrated newspapers,
has strong, but bitter, review of ..The
Crime of '76''-an article in which
Mr.. Hayes is severely criticised for &C
cepting the presidency when there was
good reason to believe that Mr.. Tilden
had been duly elected.
Mr.. Minton starts out with the state
ment that in the city palace of Venice
the portrait of one of the Venetian
rulers has his face turned to the wall.
This was done because the original OF
the picture, Marino. Falieri, conspired
against the state and consented to seize
the dogeship when his term was ended.
Perhaps, says the writer. there will
come time when public virtue will
demand the same treatment for the
portrait of Rutherford B. Hayes. The
article goes on to say:
..He- was defeated by more than a
quarter of million votes at the polls,
and score or two in the electoral col
lege. He squarely owned his defeat,
and seemed to bow to the unequivocal
verdict. But New York newspaper
inspired by love of the sensational,
if not baser motive-boldly disputed
the returns, insidiously suggested ras-
cality, and to the amazement Of the
country, found countenance and co-op-
Grafton in the vehement support Of the
leading party managers. The claim
was so monstrous, the rascalityso open,
that the man chiefly concerned Pres
ident-elect Tilden paid no heed to the
swiftly concerted conspiracy Gradu-
ally the plot took the consistency Of
party policy. Many journals that had
advocated Hayes held aloof. even pro-
tested half-heartedly; but, aided by an
administration leaning rather to party
than law and justice, the will of the
people was made to seem in doubt.
Corrupt election boards in Florida,
Louisiana and South Carolina wore
bribed to change the returns, and
through the instrumentality of parti-
san bench of judges, Hayes was given
the seat to which Tilden had been
elected Hence Rutherford B. Hayes
must live in the annals of the republic
as a warning, as conspicuous instance
of the moral precept which warns as
that great station can be too dearly
bought; that stolen honor lis no honor;
that fraud not only taints all it touches,
but is a lasting legacy for the shame and
confusion Of the innocent.
Hayes was in all relations of life an
upright man, an exemplary citizen;
but his consent to hold the presidency
through fraud, the most ignobleI
recorded in history, renders all these
qualities hateful, for they seem q mere
cloak to monumental wrong-do:ng. His
sin did not go day, an hour, unpnn-
ished. The party that used him, the
leaders that seduced him, turned from
him in loathing. The curse that Byron
puts on Cain seems to have fallen upon
Hayes. The heavens did not, it is true,
refuse him light; the sun did not blind
him. nor the earth refuse him shelter:
but whenever his name was heard,
wherever he appeared, an ominous
whisper condensed public loathing,
even white the proprieties exacted de-
cent liberation. Hayes's punishment,
it may safely be asserted, viii serve for
many q day to come to admonish man
and parties against such miscreancy as
the fraud Of 1876.
We still believe that Mr.. Tlden was
elected president In 1876, and we be-
lieve that he was cheated out 81 his
Office by corrupt returning boards. |
But we have not forgotten that the