The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, July 19, 1877, Image 1
i t
DEVOTBD TO POLITIOS, MORALITY, EDUCATION AND TO T4'B BRAL ,N'ERST OF H OQV Rt.
YV PICKENS, S. C. THU1sDAY 19, 1877 A
THEs SENTINEL
W PUBLIona. VIY. THURSDAY.
k -I ) * " L. ) 3 " I k M & C O .
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on, and 50 cents for each aubse
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imertions marked on them, will be published
until forbid and charged accordingly.
The terms are so simple any child may
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8E h 4 arge af4 incieising oir
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dj ee they Afire.
"4Tho Eleotoral Oonspiracy."
Jud eromiah $. Black, in the
Jul of the xorth American
Review, contributes an article en
titled "Ttie Electoral conspiracy,"
wt'idh isthe most complete and scath
ing expose that has yet been made
of the fraud which placed Mr. Hayes
in the Presidential chair. Our space
will only permit the reproduction of
the most striking passages. After
briefly -dertin.g to tho indignation
telt by honest men throughout the
oon4trbat the great outrage upon
the rights of the people,Judge Black
proceeds to depict the condition of
affairs in the State of Louisiana pre.
vious to the Presidential election.
iMst,ro ddecribes the carpet bagger:
WUAT THE CARPET-BAoGER Is.
ThDep0le would not have. een
wholly 4hed, either by the aoldier
or the negro, if both had not been
u 0 faston up,)n them the domi
n0jp of another class of persons
wltose rule was altogethor unendura
b.e. These we call carpet baggers,
not becanso the word is descriptive
or ouphon ions, but because they have
no other name whereby they are
S kediM%ibngd he children of men.
Teare unprincipeled adventurers,
who 'sought their fortunes ini the
Soath by plundering the disarmed
and defenseless people; some of them
were the dregs of the Federal army
ther sdeawest of the camp followers;
nssa1 were fugitives fromi Northern
4 justice; the.best of them were those
who- wont down after the peace,
red4jfor any deed of shame that
Was' safe and prfitable. These,
o$i1bining with a few treacherous
"s%inrge"and some leading ne
groe tweserve as decoys for the rest,
4a5t4elied' by the power of the gen
osal governnent, became the stron%
gl@4t.fo thieves that ever pilla
goia people. Their moral grade
Sfar lower, and yet they were
much more powerful than the robber
1e4a $hat infested Germany after
tkoueloee of the n Thirty Years" war*
'Ehefjawarmed over the States fro'm
the Dotom!ac to the Gulf, and settled
in~ hordes, not with intent to remain
thei'0 but nierely to teed on the sub
stance of a prostrate and defenseless
phplb. They took whatever came
witbIuytheir reach, intruded them
soWffd}1o, all privato corporations,
assumed the funictions of all offices,
iifEddng'the courts of justice, and
in mbny plabot they even "run the
cherohd1es." l3y ford~e and fraud they
oftbreabutrolled all elections or else
proet elections from being held.
.. Tid jrnedsixty of'themselves to
oneOi gross, and ten or twelve of
tig iarn and venal among
thememsre at the same time thrust
izft$ Thd Ben ate. Thia false repre
sentatidlst ot a people by strangers
andjalgties who had not even a bona
y fderresidenco.smong them was the
bitterest of all mockeries. Thee w.
no show of truth or honor abo%t it-..,
The pretended representative was
always ready tb vote for any -mess.
ure that would oppress anud enslave
his so%called constituents; his hostility
was unconcealed, and he lost no op
portunity to do them injury.
HIS DESoENT UPON LOUISIANA.
The agricultural and commercial
wealth of Louisiana made here a
strong temptation to the carpet-bag
gers. Those vultures snuffed the
prey from afar; and, as soon. as the
war was over, they swooped down
upon her in floaks that darkened. the
air. The State was delivered into
their hands by the military authori
ties; but the officers imposed some
restraints upon their lawless cupidity
They hailed with delight the advent
of negro suflrage, because to them it
was merely a legalized method of
stuffing the ballot box, and they stuf
fed it. Thenceforth, and down to a
very recent period, they gorged
themselves without let or hindrance.
The depredations they committed
were frightful. They appropriated,
on one pretense and another, what
ever they could lay their hands on
and then pledged to themselves the
credit of the State for unaccounted
millioni more. The public securities
ran down to half price, and still they
put their frauduleut bonds on the
market and sold them for what they
would fetch. Tiro owners of the beat
real estate in town or country were
utterly impoverished, because the
burdens upon it were heavier than
the rents would discharge. During
the last ton years the city of New
Orleans paid in the form of direct
taxes more than the estimated valuo
of all the property within her limits,
and still has a debt of equal amount
unpaid. It is not likely that other
parts of the State sufforod less. The
extent of their spoliations can hardly
be calculated, but the testimony of
the carpet baggers tbensolves against
one another, the reports of commit
tees sent by Congress to investigate
the subject, and other informnation
from sources entirely authentic, make
it safe to say that a general confla
gration, sweeping over all the State
from one end to the other, and doe
stroying every building and every
article of personal property, would
have been a visitation of mercy in
comparison to the curse of such a
government.
THE INVENTIVENESS OF SOOUNDRELISM
This may seem at first blush like
groes exagg'ration, because it is
worse tihan anything that misrule ev
er did before. The, greediest of Ro
man proconsul. left something to the
country they wasted; the Norman did
not strip the Saxon quite to the skin g
the Puritans under Cromwell did not
utterly desolate Ireland. Their ra
pacity was confined to the visible
things which they could handle and
use. They could not take what did
not exist. But the American carpet
bagger has an invention unknown to
those old fashioned robbers, whid~h
increased his stealing power as much
as the steam engine adds to the me
chanical force of more natural mus
eles, Hie makes negotiable bonds of
the State, signs and seals them "ac
cording to the forms of the law," sells
them, converts the pceeds to his
own use, and then defles justice "to
.go behind the returns." By this dle,
vice his felonious fingers are made
long enough to reach into the pock
ets of posterity; he lays his lien on
property yet uncreated; he anticis
pates the labor of comning ages and
appropriates the fruits of it in ad,
vance; he coins the industry of future
generations into cash, and snatches
thte mnberitance from children whose
fathers are unborn. Projecting his
cheat forward by his contrivance and
opern tng laterally at the same time,
he gathers an amount of plunder
which no country in the world would
i ave fielded to the Goth or the Van
TR GWs Ov tr PmEuantamo uoAaD.
The wretched system of.; carpetp
bag government could not possibly
last. From the first it had no ral
support. The native people and the
honest immigrants, who went there
for the purpose of legitimate business,
held it in abhorrence, and the ne
groes were not long in finding out,
that it was a sham and a snare. As
early as 1870, and before that, the
handwriting was seen on the wall,
which announced that a large and de
cisive majority of all the votes, black
and white, had determined to break
up this den of thieves. They must.
therefore, prepare for flight or pun
ishment, unless they could contrive
a way of defeating the popular will
whenever and however it should be
expressed. Then the returning board
was invented.
This was a machine entirely new,
with powers never before given to
any tribunal in any State. Its obs
ject was not to return, but to sup,
press the votes of the qualified elecs
tore, or to change them to - suit the
occasion. By the terms of the law it
can exclude, suppress, annihilate all
the votes of a parish for violence, iu
tinidation or fraud, which it finds to
have been committed and adjudges
to have materially, influenced the
result of the polls. This is judicial
authority so broad that no court
would consont to exercise it-inflict
ing the fearful penalty of disfran
chiseMent upon thousands at onco,
without hearing and without legal
evidence, not for any offouse of their
own, but for the supposod sin of oth.
ers over whom they confessedly have
no control. Of course it is in direct
conflict with the State constitution,
which declares that all judiciall pow
er shall be vested in certain ordained
and established courts, and forbids
it to be used even by them except
upon trial beforo a jury, and convia
tion on the testimony of credible
witnosses confronted by the accned
and cross-examined by cousl. It is
besides, a most insolent affront to the
fundamental princi pies of all elective
governm~ent, for it makes the poll of
the people a mere mockery, which
decides that nothing except what the
returning board is pleased to approve
and elects nobody whom the return.
ing board does not graciously favor.
Its power to veto a popular vote ex..
tends to all elections, for evary class
of officers, judicial legislative, minis
terial executive, including electors of
President and Vice President.
11OW IT AMU ITS WORK.
Tke board consisted of five persons
ThIey were originally appointed by a
carpet-bag Senate, without end of
their tenure and with power to fill
vacancies, which made them a close
corporation an)d gave them p)erpetual
succession. To put on some show of
fairness, the law. required that all
parties should be represented. This
was at first thought to be met by the
appoitmont of one Demiocrat, but
when a deed of more than common
baseness was to be done, the Demo
crat was got rid of, and the other four,
desiring to work in secret, refused to
fill his place.
APPLIED TO THlE PRIEsDENTIA L ELE(TioN.
The election camoe off on the prop0l
er day, supervised and controlled at
every p)ollig laico by oflicers of the
carpet-bag interest. According to
their own count' tho result was a
majority of 7,639 for th'e Tilden eloc
tors. It hL. never yet been denied
that this majority was made up of
ballots cast by citizens logally quiali,
fled. The vote was regularly taken
and proper'ly counted, and a true res
cord of it maide in perpetuam roi me
moriamn. These facts being undis
puted, it follows that the Tilden ee.
tore wore duly appointed, if the peo
pie of the State have the appointing
power, which they certainly have,
unless the constitution and the statuto
books are not to he relied on.
But the. opp9pents.of Tilden, #nd
Hoadricks determined tbt the req
cord of the appointmnt. *a4e. by
the people should be muutilated a4d
changed so as: t make it appear as it
electors for Hayes and Wheeler had
been chosen. They pretended to be.
lieve that violence and Intimidation
had frightened the African Hayti
men from the polls, and that their
cowardice onght to be visited, in the
form of disfranchisement, on the
heads of those who had Intrepidity
enough to perform their politiqal
duty. The allegations were utterly
fae. It was made not only without
evidence to sustain it, but in the face
of overwhelming proof to the contram
ry. All the places of registration and
voting were garded by the creatures
of the Federal and State administra
tions, superintendents, commissioners
deputy marshals and soldiers, and all
of these with one voice said that the
election was peaceable and free. In
deed, it is literally impossible that
any intimidation or violence could
have been practiced. No sensible
person ever gave credit to it for
a momeng. Notwithstanding such
mental anxiety about the result, va
rious reasone combined to make the
election of Louisiana probably the
most quiet and undisturbed in the.
Union.
THE 0HARACTER OF MTS MEMBERS.
The person.nel of the board jasti
fled the faith of the carpet baggers
and their allies.- If the evidence
concerning its members be rightly
reported by the investigating com
mittee, they were marked out by the
history of their previous lives, noted
and signed to do any deed ot shame
which might be required at their
hands. Wells was a custom house
offices at New Orleans, and one of
the worst of that bad lot; a defaulter
to the State of loig standilg, without
charactor for integrity or varacity,
and for thirty years regarded as un-.
worthy te be trusted. A nderson's
character for honesty was equally
bad; he had earned it in par't by aid
ing, while he was a Senator, to put
up a fraudulent job upon the State,
and taking the iniqnitous proceeds
to himself. Of the two mnullattoes,
one was indicted for larceny, and,
after admitting hia'guilt, was allowed
to escape punishmient, and proamptly
taken into the board. The other was
too ignoront to know his duty, but
his testimony showed stuch indiffer
ance to the obligation of an oath:that
he was deemed as safe for the carpet
baggers as either of his colleagues.
T1hoy comprehended the situation,
saw the difficulty of the work before
them, and resolved to make it pay in
something bettor than mere promises
of "recognition," however "generous
and ample." Wellb,, who was their
spokesman in private as in public,
wrote in strict confidence to a carpet.
bag Senator then at Washingten a
letter whick, being condensed into
plain English, means thie: "There's
millions in it. See our friends and
act promptly. Buy us immediately
or we will sell out to the other side.
Talk freely to the gentleman who
presents this; he knows the moves."
To the bearer of the letter he ex
phiied that it was very hard work
to count in the Republican candidate
- the Democratic majority wvas too
large to handle-he wanted to servo
his party, but he would not take this
job without comipensation; i;e must
have "$200,000 apiece for himself
and Anderson, and a smaller sum
for the niggers." Oni this basis he
authorized his amibassador at Wash
ington to negotiate with the Repubs
lican managers. At the same time
he was offering himself at N ew Or.
leans to the Democra's, at first for a
half a million, but atteward proposed
that he would leave in enough votes
to elect Mr. Nicholls (Democratic
candidate tor Gouvernor) if $200,000
ah wore first inend in hin ha~
THEIR VIOLAIONs Ot THE STATtft.
ThQ action 'of te raturning officers
this. wbole business was unSup
ported by legal authority. The Le,
gislature of. the State did not, because
it could not, give them.power to die.
tranohise qualified electors. They
lacked, therefore, the general jurie
diction which they assumed. But
that is not all; they proceeded in the
very teeth even of the void statute
which they professed to follow. That
statute pretends to give them no such
authority as they exercised over any
return to which a protest or sfatement
or charge of intimidation ls not at
tached when it is sent in by the Su.
pervisor of Registration or Commis
sioner of Election, and the charge so
attached to the return must be sup
ported by the affidavits of three citi..
Zens of tho propor.parish.
Wanting this, the board was abso..
lutely without the pretense of power
to touch the return from any parish
or polling place, except for the pur
poses ot compiling it and adding it
as true to the others. By the olec.
tion law of Louisiana the board has
no more authority to examine or de
cide a quastion of intimidation which
is not raised by the election officers
than a private individual would have
to steal it from the records and burn
it. So stands the law. The fact is
established by conclusive evidence
that from every one of the Demo
cratic parishes the returns came up
without any ebarge, statement, or
protest. In ali those cases they were
therefore without color of jurisdic
tion.
FORGING AFFIDATUS AND RETURNS.
But the conspirators could not af..
ford to be balked of their game by
the failure of the local officers to
make a false charge of intimidation.
Those votes must b>d excluded per fas
ant n0fas, and the returning board
must do it; that was what the board
was made for. The returning offi
core went upon the principle aut in
veniam at facum. They made the
protests which they could not find;
affidavits which no creature in
the parishes was base enough to
back with his oat ha were fabricated
in the custom house, and used by the
board with a full knowledge that
they were more counterfeits. The
exclusion of returns on the groun.d of
intimidation was ini every case dis
honest, for in none was there a par..
ticle of evidence to justity it. When
nothing else would serve the purpose
they did not scruple to resort to plain
forgery. Of the return fromt Vernon
parish every figure on the whole
broad sheet was altered wvith elabo..
rate pamns under the speOcial direc
tion of Wells. Perjury and subor
nation of perjury entered largely into
the business. There is hardly any
species of the crimen falsi for which
the law line a punishment that did
not become an elementary part of
the great fraud which was commit%a
ted when the defonted electors and
State oflicera of Louisiana were fa.
sely certified as chosen by tho peo
pIe.
THEI CRECATION OF? TUIC CoMMIssioN.
But how was the object of the conk
spiracy to be accomplished? The
Liouse of Representatives was .De
muocratic, and without its consent, ex
pressed or implied in some formi or
another, the Senate could not give
effect to a false count. The first in
ettion was to claim that the Presi
(dent of the Senate had power to de
termine absolutely and arbitrarily
what electoral votes should be count
od and what not. This was the great
rallying lioint unti[ Mr. (onkling
Look it up, and, in ai spee~ch of sur
passing ability, utterly doWli.shed
and reduced it to invisible atomsi. It
becamo settled, therefore, that the
two houses must count the votes, and
this clearly implied the powera to in,
q uire and determine what were votes.
ft could not be denied that the voic
of the IoUse of Representatives was'
at least as potential as that of the'
Senator.; and i was not saped
that the House would suffer a rmnd
so glaring as this to be thrust down'
the throat of the country "agatnst t1e
stomach of its sens." But if the two'
bodies would deciare ihdoonshtert re.
sults of the count, and proclaim the
election of different Presidents, a
state of things might come which
would subject our institutions tq a
strain severe enough to endaDger
them greatly. It was in these diffi'
cult circumstances that a mixed c1m.s
mission of fifteen was proposed, con
sisting of the five Senators, five Re'.
presentatives, and five Judges of the
Supreme Court. The mode of ap
pointing them made it certain that'
fourteen would be equally dividedi
between the parties; and as the fifth
Judge would be named by the con
Bent of his brethren on both sides, he
naight be expected to stand between
them, like a daystan, with hand, as
heavy on one head as the other.-.
The Demoerats consented to tMh id
the belief that no seven Repub
licans could be taken- from the court
or Congress who woul'd swear &i f'r.,
cide the truth and then uphold a
known fraud; if mistaken in that
opinion of their adversaries' hones(.
they felt sure, at all events, that the
umpire would be a fair-minded man.
They were bitterly disappointed; the:
commission went eight to seven for
the great fraud and all its branches;
for fraud in the detail and in the- ag
gregate; for every Item of fraud that
was necessary to make the sum total
big enongh-eight to seven all the
time.
IT REFUMEs TO Do iTn 9Tr.
We must look at the state of the
case as it went before the commis
sion. Tilden an,d Hendricks had 184
electoral votes 61osr and free of all
dispute, one less than a majurity of
the whole number. They also had
in Louisiana eight and th Florida
four, appointed by the people, bidt
falsely certified to IHayes and Wheel'
or by the Governors. JIn Oregon
they had one certified by the Gov
ernor, but' against whom a popular
majority had beena east for an Inoligi
ble candidate. T~o elect Bayes it was
necessary that cacti aad every oar. of
these thirteen votes should be taked~
from Tildeu and given to Hayes. As
this required ma,ny diastinc$ rulings
based upon contradictory grounds,
the path of the comrmissi9n was noe
only steep but crooked.
The groat and important duty cast
upon the commission by a special
law and by a special oath of each
member was to decide, in the case of
contested votes from a8State, "whethur
er any and what votes from such
8tate are the votes prrovided for by
the constitution of the United States,
and how many and what persons
were duly asppointed electors in such
State." It is not denied that the solo
power of appointing electors for the
States of ILouisiana and Florida is ini
the people, It was then and still is
an admitted fact that the people had
exercised the power of appointment
in the prescribed and proper way;
they did duly make an appointment
af electors, and their act was duly
recorded, and so made a perpe'tual
memory. This thing was not "done
in a corner;" it was "seen and known
of all men." That each of the two
States named had duly appoinated
rilden electors at a regular electioni
:alled for that purpose on the 7th of
N'ovember, in pursuance of law, was
a part of their history as muchi as the
tact that they were States of the
Union. All the members of the comn
mision knew it as well as they knebir
the geographical position ot Tal1la
bassee or New Orleans. It needd
no proof; but if specific evidence had
been required, there was the record,
from which the truth glared upon
[SEE FOUTH PAGiI-j