Year: 1879


spatch is forwarded. the first portion giving the
clusions of the democratic majority of the commit
tee part of which sent yesterday. and the latter
portion summarizes the statement of the republican
minority The majority will make separate re-
port concerning the inquiry into the cipher de-
spatches" =


END OF THE MAJORITY REPORT


Ftrs--The power to appoint electors OF President
and Vice President for the states of Louisiana and
Florida legally and consttutioualy vested in the
people thereof.


.Second-Ths power was duly executed in 1876. On
the day. in the manner and ut the places prescribed
by law the ballots OF the people were ere taken ana
counted. showing clear majority OF 1000 for Tiiden
electors.


Third-This majority wholly mace up of voters
legally qualified their right to vote being subjected
to the scrutiny OF hostile registers and commission
appointed by their enemies for every polling
place.


Fourtl-The election was free and peaceable There
is no proof pretencc that intimidation prac-
tised on the day of election.


Fyfh-Nor were the people prevented by intimida-
tion any from assembling at the polls. All
allegations to the contrary are efcctualy dsproved
by the undisputed fact that the vote larger in
proportion to tho population than at any previous
election held in the Stae larger than in most Of
the other States where elections held the
day and where every exertion was made to bring out
the last man.


pointed by the people, who alone had the right and
power to appoint. This thing not done in a
OF appointment was immediately placed on the pub
lie records Of several parishes. This fact as in
dsputaDle other IN history.


SerenThe legal, just and constitutional effect of
this appointment upon the Presidential election could
be avoided only by fasifying the act of the people
that is to say, by frauduently altering the election
returns i'll such manner to make them ap-
pear like an appointment of other persons instead
Of those who In truth and in fact were appointed.
This the crime by which the authority and will
OF the people were defeated in the under
sideration, q crime-considering the extent of the
corrupt combination required TO carry il through
the vast chainwork of frauds, false pretences and
perjury. and connecting it together and the magni-
M nr fha rInhfS ipa6n " fha tfha
magnitude.


SEVERE AnRnGNMENr REPUBLICAN LEADERS.


EighM-The agents of the republican party sent
into the State to get its electoral vote for Mr. Hayes
were among the abest and most conspicuous men in
service by the then President, aud many of them
were known as the intimate friends of his
Tilden electors had been fairy peaceaby and legally
chosen by a large majority OF the people at full
poll encouraged by their presence the fraud false
hood and crime by which the vote used to elect
Mr. Hayes. They affected to believe that the Return
ing Board had legal and constitutional power to set
aside the appointment made by the people and make
another appointment themselves. They pronounced
the warmest encomiums members of that Board
who bore characters notoriousy bad. and they dis
tnctly refused to unite with democrats effort
to have an honest count of the votes actually cast
md legally returned by the proper officers of the
election.


Nnh-No direct evidence has revealed what bar
gain was made. in words or ia writing, with men,
bcrs of the socallcd Returning Board. buwe cannot
doubt that they did their corrupt work with the
understanding that they should not only be protected





lnny This pledge has been kept. When Wells and
Anderson were indicted federal officers at Washing
law at New Orleans, and those same men and the
Others who gave their active assistance to the per-
petration of the fraud have been quartered upon the
public Treasury. and the people whom they have de-
frauded are made 10 pay them for their crime.


7en@-All the foregoing propositions of fact apply
nomre mutato to Florida well rs to Louisiana. The
majority in the former state large as in
the latter but it decisive and we'll attestei The
appointment by the people was frustrated and





ing statesmen OF the same class and followed
by similar reward. The fraud was aggravated in,
Florida, because the Canvassing Board had no
power under their statute but that of clerks,
and their supreme Court had expressly decided
and because all the departments of the state judicial
Legislative and executive protested against their
ton as not only false but nsurpation. The
necessary effect of successful and prosperous fasi
6cation of the choice OF the people for the Chief
Magisracy of the country is to tempt all those who
proht by the wrong and those who suffer by ii to
peat the same corrupt methods future occasions.


THE MINORITY REPORT.


The minority of the committee-Messrs Hiscock
Cox and Reed-presented their report .s afternoon.
In IT they dissent from many of the views presented
in the report of the majority. both TO the per-
Thence OF the same to the investigation and to tho
conclusions expressed upon the testimony taken,
but they take pleasure i'll esifyng that the rulings
of the chairman and his manner OF directing the
business marked by the most equitable and
even generous spirit. They differed from the ma
jor.y as to some resolutions dopted by them limit
ing the scope of the examination. but this difference
OF Judgment did not diminish their sense of the per-
sonal courtesy shown to them. They then refer to





original resolutions for its appointment did not ask
fora general investigation OF all frauds connected
with the last Presidential election. but only what
might he found in the acts of officials and persons
OF one political party ia only two of the
States in which fraudulent practices were
charged They took this View in the committee
and treated the investigation wholly nnncces-
eary made without probable cause. far the in
dividuals named We're aimed ut, and likely to add
nothing of value to public Information on the gen.
eral subject. They confined themselves. therefore.
to the task of trying to mako the inquiries invcsti
gated by the majority something more than n demo-
cratic investigation of republicans, that whatever
was put before the world might have of tho
elements of examination of both sides. This
would explain why they did not move for original
and did not ask for Investigations of the fraus
In Oregon, South Carolina. Mississippi and other
States. When the Florida investigation was begun
they offered resolutions that the alleged frauds tho
ballot box well as those charged upon
and returning officers. should be examined. This
voted down by tho majority although IL was matter of
notorety aud was by them brought TO the attention
Of the majority that both kinds of charges
made. They understood the majority TO base their
action upon the limitations they thought put
10 the investigation by the original resolutions, and
aid not quarrel with their Judgment though this
would show the original resolutions TO be and
partisan in their character. They have conducted
the examination on the inerpretations thus given.


UNfAInNiss oF THE DEMOCRATIC COMMISSIONERS.


But what surprises thom and what they desire most
emphatically to dissent from the action Of the
majority in affecting to report for whom the vote of
Florids was actually given after they had thus
refused to examine both sides of that very
question. While their work was In pro-
gress publication made in leading
journal OF the cipher dispatches. The startling
character of the revelations made the naction of tho
minority appear singular in this case as commonly
happened before but they quietly waited 10 what
course the majority would ieel it necessary to take
They had learned that the majority treated these
dispatches Ms separate matter OF invest CATION and
report. They could not regard IL; q
report upon the frauds of Florida with the
cipher dispatches omitted would be like tho
play of Hamlet, with Hamlet left out. The
acts too notorious to be lett out and therefore
they dissented from the method OF making mp the
report suggested by the other side The majority
report also that they would have preferred to sit
with closed doors. but yielded to the wish Of the
minority. This true and they saw no reason
to regret this They thought the same also
of the cipher Investigations that the publicity was
necessity and that the public judgment is just.


THOSE cIPHEn DEsrArcHEs.


Uion the cipher despatch Investigation the mi