Year: 1879




Possibly before this letter can reach the
public through your columns the questions
which form its subject matter will have been
decided; but the probabilities are that they
will remain open until the very last hours of
the session. OF course refer to the proposed


REPEAL OF THE FEDERAL ELECTION LAWS
by amendment to the appropriation bills yet
to be passed. Other subjects have indeed en-
gagged the public attention OF Congress during
the past ten days, but nothing else has been
or is talked about among members privately
or under the seal of the caucus. / venture to
say that at no time since the tendency OF the
force bill has public attention been so riveted
upon single point in advance Of formal con-
sideration by Congress as upon the proposition
which Mr. Southard, OF Ohio, has been keeping
In his desk ready for introduction as an amend.
ment to the legislative, executive and judicial
bill. The friends of honest government and
OF the freedom of the ballot have selected Mr..
Southard for the grave duty Of offering and
standing sponsor to this amendment repeal
ing the election laws for three reasons First,
because he Is a Northern Democrat and was
| pronounced Unionist during the war; Sec
ond, because he is a bold, alert and able
debater, and, might say without prejudice
to any OF his colleagues, the best and most
learned constitutional lawyer on the Demo-
cratic side, In the sense of being a student
and thinker; and third, because he was not
| q candidate at the last election, has no per-
| sonal interests at stake In the next
House and is nobody's partisan in any sense.
| Moreover he Is one of Senator Thurman's
most trusted and best advised lieutenants;
and 1t is simple fairness to say that in this
crisis of our institutions the grand voice and
the sturdy courage of the noble old Senator
have been and are the chief influences to
steady and nerve the at first wavering and
hesitating lines of the party. 1t is not to be
doubted that, had the question of repeating
the election laws been brought to O vote last
Tuesday or Wednesday, or even Thursday,
there would have been break In the Demo


cratic ranks in the House sufficient to have
, defeated the measure. But as members have
discussed the matter among themselves and,
above ALL as


THE WILL OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
in the country at large has been signified
from day to day through the press and by
3 private communications from constituents to
3 their representatives, there has been con-


slant recruitment, both In numbers and in


spirit, of those favoring repeal, until at this
time / am assured by men like Blackburn,


Southard, Rice, John B. Clark and others,


who have made canvass OF the House, that
bEbE6 Will U6 u0 uOuRtuR hIft IO CpLupEOlllSe,
I irrespective OF extra session or any other
bugbear


AS II to taunt and defy the Democrats In
: the House, the Infamous Bond, now holding
1 his mockery OF q court In Baltimore, has
been issuing LettreS de cncItet at the rate OF
about two per diem under this internal law
. ever since the agitation bpgan. His Jury" is
3 composed mainly OF custom rouse employees,
his witnesses are exclusively negroes, or the
1 very vileSt class OF white men, and his vic


tins without one solitary exception DEM


OeratS.


Under these circumstances I don't know


that the Democratic party In the House de-
i serves any particular credit for Its patriotic
: resentment. Even q rat will fight when
o driven into corner; and it would be strange
+ IL body OF men constituting majority In
/ the national House OF Representatives would


not fight after they had been not only driven
y into corner, but kicked, spit upon, and sub
8 indignlties too vile Tor priut by such a


wretched creature OF iDfamy as Judge Bond


To me the only strange or inexplicable


thing In the premises Is that there should


have been one voice of dissent raised In the
Democratic party in Congress agai st repeal.
T And that that one voice should have been
9 Bayard's caps


! ! THE. CLIMAX OF AsToNIsHMENT AND oHAeRIN.
: From the time when there were only eleven
y Democrats In the Senate and less thar one
y third minority In the House; when the iron
hoof of the Federal dragoon WAS sound az


familiar In the South as the growing OF the


cock or the signing of the wind; when State


governments and legislatures were as pup
= pets In the hands OF a brutal, half-Stupefed
= soldier In the White House; from that day to
: the hour of the caucus on this question
2 . Bayard had been the friend of the South and
70 the champion OF the oppressed. could un-
. derstand his attitude on financial questions.
y could even comprehend his reasons for


flying In the face Of the party In the last


campaign and lifting up his voice % 2


favor OF the national banks, thougn
did not nat hiZp With him. But why
e he should, az this time above all others, exert
e his influence to defeat measure whlcn can 81.
r only be described as the final stroEe OF no
)f GRAFTON to the oppressed dragooned lnsuitea,
la outraged tortured aud bedeyiled Soutn Is


something that utterly passes my capacity TO


even guess at.


which, though it would seem .preposteroEs,


NAV he the true one. Meeting Ben Lee
/ fevre member elect from the tIfth Ohio Dis
= trict, at the Riggs. House to-day, | asked
a him in the course OF conversation, ii he had


anv theory as to the raisOn detre Of Bayard's


unique behavior in these premises.


He said he could Judge only from circum-


stances "Bayard, said he, 'has the presi-
- DENTAL itch to a degree amounting to mono
r. mania He Is infatuated enough to regard
= + himself as a formidable rival Of Thurman for
= the nomination. And he has latterly fallen
into the habit of antagonizing every imDort-


ant attitude OF policy Or even principle that
Thurman assumes. Last summ.r his nation


al bank speech was a reply to Thurman. On


several minor matters hat have recently en-
: gagged the attention of


. THE DEMOCRAT CAUCUS IN THE SENATE
: his studied antagonism to Thurman has been


noted and commented on by Senators. /


Judge from these Indications that his present


position on the repeal Of the election law Is


due to the same cause


But, said /, sit appears to me that, what
) ever ne might do Ia ninoI matters for the
= ;. sake OF antagoniziug rival, no sensible man
! like Bayard would butt his bead against such
an immovable wall as the sentiment Of the


Democratic party ON this question


WELL was the reply, 1T is probable that
g Bayard did not fully gr sp the length, breadth
8 and depth OF this question when he took his
t stand"


0 give these views for what they are worth


They are undoubtedly in part col rect, though


lrAIrAa niface