Year: 1878

move the obstacle il was stipulated in
eject that the incumbent should treat
the returns as fraudulent 80 FAR as they
affected The local governments Of said
States by Withdrawing the United States
troops, the presence Of which alone it
was known gave them any force; that
It thus appears that the constitutional
question 80 gravely and eIaborateiy de-
baled in Congress before the Electoral
Commissios and il the public press as
the queskinn on which the Presidential
contest hinged and with which the pub
lie mind was 30 long exercised had no
part whatever in determining the con-
test, but that il was, in fact, determined
by body of men elected by one party,
but openly acting with their opponents
in the interest Of certain railroad corpo-
raiions at the decisive moment; that
every interest Of the country 10 greatly
preiudiced and its most vital interests
are put in jeopardy by suffering the peo-
pie to be superseded IS the political
power and substituting for them such
moneyed organizations as will pay for
defraiding them: that in the opinion OF
your memorialists, the continued pros
tration Of the business Of the country is
largely due to the fact that the conf
dence Of the people in the conduct OF
public affairs is shaken; that an irre-
sponsible executive administration has
been installed which has not the sup
port of the country, or either ofits great


political parties; that this conflicts. with
The whole theory OF our institutions and
OF those Of the mother country, whence
they were derived; that to carry on as
10 get possession of the Government,
the incumbent must seek support from
those elected as his opponents; that this
relation is in itself corrupting is shown
by reason as well as all experience: that
no useful public service can be rendered
by an Administration whose title to
power rests upon fraudulent election re-
turns, manufactured by its own parti-
sans and made ef5ectual by an agree
ment with the subsidy and jobbing men
Of the opposing party; that the indis-
pensable first step to any reform of the
public service is to restore the Govern
ment to the people; that it is only by
men who have been elected by the peo-
pie and who are free from all entang-
ling alliances with the jobbing interests,
from which all the great abuses have
sprung, that any reform can be effected.
Your memorIslists therefore pray that
the needful Legislation may be adopted
TO ascertain judicially who was cleo
ted President at the recent election, and
to give effect to the will Of the people,
and will ever pray, &c.


Mr.. Blair spoke at some length on
the memorial. He urged the import
ance to the country of obtaining a right
ful solution to the question involved,
and continued as follows:


Every man knows that the man who
now holds the Presidential chair does
so in defiance Of public opinion. His
title was obtained, as his partisan fol-
lowers now acknowledge, by bargain
ing with the Returning Board of LOUIS
lana and his political opponents. II is,
therefore, Of the first importance that
the country should be aroused to the
true situation ofits affairs, and that those
who are siding with its plunderers, by
whatever name they call themselves,
should be seen in their true character.
Our politics no longer turn upon South
ern affairs. That issue has been kept
up BY the jobbery classes, for the pur-
pose OF Soncealing their schemes, till il
has resulted in prostraiing all business.
Now, when the wolf is at the door, the
people of the Northern States see that
they have been misled, and that all TINT
is wanting to array them with the hon-
est men OF every section is that the rep
resentatives of the South should show
their readiness to put down corruption.
This some Of our representatives are NOT
doing. They are in open alliance with
the Administration which owes its pow
eS to the jobbers. The Presidents mes
sage. in striking contrast with the re-
port Of bis Secretary Of the Interior,
manifests bis purpose to cooperate with
them, and he is doling out appointments
to the Southern leaders IN Congress,
having put one in the Post-OfFice De-
partment, one of those by whose defec-
'tion the President elected by the peo-
pie was deposed. Thus while the
Northern people have been made to be-
lieve that the South was solidiy Demo-
cratic in order to make the election
question Of sectional domination. We
find that the real question was whether
the rapaeious corporations which have
brought the country to its ruinous con-
dition should be continued in power.
1t is vain TO hope for business recuper-
alton while our public councils are 50
consolidated that notwithstanding the
undisputed bankruptcy upon US, we
have Senate and House of Represen-
tives voting an increase ofthe army and
an appropriation for st service in the
Post Office Department. Committees
of both houses organized 10 rob the
country OF hundreds oi millions in the
way, Of subsidies to railroads are not
wanting, and President elected by the
fraud of these great interests is ready
to cooperate IN carrying out their
schemes. II may be said that we ought
not to agitate the Presidential contest
again. because by doing so we NAV dis
turb the country. These are the coun-
sels Of timidity, not of wisdom. II the
fact recited in the memorial be trde, the
agitation IS demanded, not only by what