Year: 1877

The conduct of the President with reference
to the charge of fraud in his title is very eX-
aspclating. notwithstanding that some OF the
most exemplary men that ever were honOred by
Tammany Hall, or that ever packed Il caucus
o. stuffed ballOt-boX, or squeezed tax levy


or blackmailed corporation, have soemny
affirmed their belief, and reiterated it with pain
ful monotony, day after day, that Mr.. Hayes is
a de facto and not de jure President, and that
his title is absolutely void through fraud, the
President goes right on i'll the discharge of his
duties, lust as though he was de jme
as well as a de facto ruler and there WAS no
faint upon his title. The diplomatic uterance
of Mr. Charles Francis Adams to the effect
that the stamp of fraud was on his forehead,


has not shamed him into wearing his hat over
his eyes. Nor has the elegant rhetoric of the
same eminent authority concerning the settling
of the cornerstone of the arch in the mud
and the necessity for dragging it out and put
ting it on rock, seemed to disturb i'll the
least his equanimity. The President and the
members OF the Cabinet go on attending to
business just as though they were honest
men and had been honestly elected, paying
no attention whatever to the earnest remarks


of Mr. Adams and the Tammany sages. Of
course, no one Will claim in the face of the
assertions of Mr.. Adams and Tammany to the
contrary that President Hayes is an honest
man. But how provoking it is to see him
acting so much like one. The counterfeit is so
perfect that simple minded people who have
not vet learned that the decision of Mr. Adams
and Tammany Hall is final and conclusive,
are more than half inclined to believe it gen
uine. That is the worst feature of this business.


The indifference with which the President
seems to regard the opinion of Mr.. Adams and
Alderman Purroy deserves the seyerest public
censure. Knowing what those statesmen think
of his right to the Presidency it is clearly his
duty to resign; or If not that, at least to
apologize. But he does neither. He brazenly
keeps on playing honest. So entirely unsatls-
factory person has seldom appeared in public
life = His behavior before his nomination was
very strange. Instead of exerting himself in Il
proper manner to obtain the nomination, as
Mr.. Tlden did, he kept quiet till the
nomination came to him. Afterwards, in
stead of attending to the campaign in
person, like Mr. Tilden, he took no
active part whatever. Instead he behaved all
the way through like an ordinary private ciu-
zen, not even senulnS cypncr ulSpatcncS 10
distant committee emen or taking part i'll negO-
tiations for Electoral votes. There was an
afiectation of Indifference about this kind of
conduct that contrasted strangely with the
earncstness of his opponent, and was very
offensive to that gentleman's supporters, who
never witnessed anything 50 unbccoming in a
candidate for office. While Mr.. Tlden
was constantly in the cOmmittee-room or other
wise exposing himself to the enemy's fire at the
very front of the battle Mr.. Hayes acted as
though he thought if the people wanted him for
President they would vote for him, and if they
did not he had no idea of forcing himself upon
them. Tammany Hall saw through it all easily
enough, to he sure, but the people were so
deceived by it as rather to admire the mans
demeanor. Then, too, all the time the cleo
ton dispute was in progress, he was conduct
ing his own business as Governor of Ohio, and
not consulting with committees OF making bar
gains for votes or dong any of the wrongs
which Mr.. Adams and Alderman Purroy and