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Terms of Subscription : One Copy, one year 00 One-Copy , six months 1 00 CLUB KATES: Six Copies, one year $lO 00 Ten Copies, one year 1750 twenty Copies, one year 30 On iiT Addrera all orders to McMICHAEL & MEANS, Publishers. J A<lv<Jising Hates, The following are the rates to which we adhere in *ll contracts for advertising, or where advertise ments are handed in without instructions . One square, ten lines or less, ( Non pari m tvpe) f 1.00 for the first and 50 cents for each subsequent insertion. ,jrLiberal rates to contract advertisers. SQUAItKH. ilT.|lM.|3 M. 16 M (JiM I S “*•“ I U 7- '*o if 7 III) | $lO 00 I sls >.Squares 1 200 I 500 | 1000 j 15 00 1 2T 1 Squares 1 .TOO | 7(K)|ls 90 | 20 00 1 30 I Squares | 400 j 1000 [2O 00 | 30 00 I 40 i’olumii ...f. | 500 1200 130 00 30 00 150 v, iluluinii ..1000 2O"0 |35 IM) 65 00 30 l i olmna •• 115 IN) 25 00 |4O 00 70 00 | 130 u: VL ADVERTISING RATES. As hero to I -if, siuoe the war, the following are the prices for notices of Ordinaries, &c.—to be paid in *uvance : l'nirty UayH Notices 00 ion y bays Notices g 25 ri ,|,-a ui Lands persqr. often lines 6 00 j(ixiy Days notices 700 .lontlis’ Notices 10 00 I'en dais’ uotk-.es of Sales per sqr 2 00 Shkhikks’ Sai.es.— For these gales,for every tl la f;: , .i). Mortgage sales per apuare $5 00 Hunt & Taylor, ATTORNEYSATLAW BARNESVILLE, Ga. \ practice in the countie VV comprising the Flint .Indicia Ciicuit, and in the Supreme Court of the State. &&T Office over Drug Store of J. W. Hightower. dec2-ly wm. & 'wmmAwm, ATTORNEY AT LAW, | VUNESVIIiI.E, GA. Will practice in the 1 > counties of the Flint Circuit, and In the Su preme-court of the State. sep2B-3m J. S. POPE, ATTORNEY AT LAW, ZEBULON, GA. BriT Prompt attention given to business. B. L. BERNER. C. A. TURNER. BERNER & TURNER, A TTO RN E Y S AT LA IV, Fornyt li, Ga. WILL practice in all the Courts, and give spe cial attention to the collection of claims, lie fer to Win. It. Head, Banker, Forsyth, Ga., Dumas & Alien, Cotton Factors, Forsyth, Ga. mcbß-tf Cabaniss & Peeples, A TTOJi NE Y S A T I, A W, Foi’\y(li, 4Hi WILL practice in all the counties of the Flint Circuit. James M. Smith* AT T O li N E Y A T I, A W, CJA. iir~ prompt attention given to business. VEGETINE Strikes at the root of disease by purifying the blood, restoring the liver aud kidneys to healthy action, in vigorating the nervous system. VEGETINE Is not a vile, nauseous compound which simply pur gt s the bowels, but a safe, pleasant remedy which is sure to purify the blood, aud thereby restore the health. VEGETINE Is now prescribed in scrofula and other diseases of the blood, by many of the best physicians, owing to its great success in curing all diseases of this na ture. VEGETINE Does not deceive invalids into false hopes l>y purg ing and creating a fictitious appetite, but assists nature in clearing and purifying the whole system, leading the patient gradually to perfect health. VEGETINE Was looked upon as an experiment for some time by some of our best physicians, hut those most in credulous in regard to its merit are now its most ardent friends aud supporters. VEGETINE, Instead of being a puffed-up medicine, has worked its way up to its present astonishing success by act ual merit in curing all diseases of the blood, what ever nature. VEGETINE, trays a Boston physician, “Has no equal as a blood purifier. Hearing of its many wonderful cures, af ter all other remedies had failed, I visited the labo ratory, aud convinced myself of its genuine merit, it is prepared from barks, roots, and herbs, each of which is highly effective ; and they are compounded m such a manner as to produce astonishing results.’ VEGETINE Is acknowledged and recommended by physicians and aootheearies to be the best purifier and cleans er of the blood yet discovered, aud thousands speak iu its piaise who have been restored to health. i* HOOF. WHAT IS HEEDED. Boston, Feb. 3, 1871. Mr. 11. K. Stavens. Dear Sir, —About one year since, I found myself in a feeble condition from general debility. Vege tine was strongly recommended to me by a friend who had been much beuefifted by its use. I pro cured the article,, and after using several botlcts was restored to health, and discontinued its use. I feel quite confident that there is no medicine supe rior to it for those complaints for which it is espe cially prepared, and would would cheerfully recom mend it to those who feel that they need something to restore tlu-in to perfect health. ltespeotfully yours, r. l. pettingill. Firm of S M. Pettingill & Cos., 10 State St., Boston. I HAVE FOUND the hh;iit medicixe. Boston, Mass Mr. H. R. Stlvkss. IVar Sir,—My ouly object in giving you this tes timonial is to spread valuable information. Hav ing been badly afflicted with salt rheum, and the whole surface of my skin being covered with pim ples and eruptions, many of which caused me great Pain and annoyance, and knowing it to be a blood disease, I took many of the advertised blood prepa • lations, among which was any quantity of Sarsapa nila, without any benefit until I commenced taking tiie Vegetine; and before I had completed the first t ottle 1 saw that I had got the right medicine - con sc-quenlly I followed on with it until I had taken seven bottles, when I was pronounced a well man ; and my skin is smooth, and entirely free from pim ples and eruptions, 1 have never enjoyed so good health before, and I attribute it all to the use of Vegetine. To benefit those afflicted with rheuraa lism, I will make mention also of the Vegetine’s Wonderful power of curing me of this aeute’com plaint, of which 1 have suffered so intensely. C. H. TIICKEK, Pass. Ag’t Mich. C. R. R., No. 69 Washington street, Boston \ i:<; e r JL' lin i : Prepared by H. R. Stevens, Boston, Mass. VEUETiNE IS SOLD BY ALL DRUGGISTS. *2 e & e. s e v # ivs%'y y y * % i * o t Ii- Working t'lass.-We are Uuw piepii ed to furnish all cla,se* with constant employment at home, the whole of their time, or for Ui.ur spare moments. Business new, light and prof itable. Pei-aons of either sex easily earn from 60 cents to per evening, and a piroportioxal sum by devo-.imr their whole time to the business. Boys ai *d fills earn nearly as much as men. That all who see this notice may send their address, and test the unparalleled offer: To such as are not well satis fied we will send one dollar to pay for the trouble of writing. Full particulars, samples worth several dollars to commence work on, and a copy of Home ami Ku-eside, one of the aargest and besi Illustrated Publications, all sent free by mail. Reader if you want permanent, p roll tabic work, address, oeougf. tinson ic Cos., Portland, Maine. 'il VOL. VIII. Medical Dispensary. I>r. Geo. W. Marvin again ten tiers his professional service to his old friends and the public. Dispone sary and consultation rooms, No. 1 White hall street, in Centennial lmil <bng, Atlanta, Ga., where patients can get reliable treatment for all diseases of the Throat, Lungs and Catarrh. The above diseases treated by inhalation. 1 lie Doctor treats all diseases of long standing, such as Eruptions, Gravel, Paralysis, Rheumatism, Go* itr y* Biopsy, Biliousness Diseases of the Kidneys, Erysipelas, Nervous Depression, Dyspepsia, Liver Com plaint, all Diseases peculiar to Wo men, oil Private Diseases, Heart Dis case Swollen Joints, Coughs, Gout, M Lite swelling, St, Vitus Dance, etc. Electricity in cases whore it is required. The Doctor is per manently located, and persons who ha\e been under the treatment of oth er physicians and have not been cur ed, are invited to call, as lie treats all curable diseases, and cures guarnteed or no pay. Call and see the Doctor without delay. His charges are mo derate, and consultation free. Otlice hours from 9 a.m. to 4 pm feb22-ly THE ELECTORAL FRAUD. Jihlrc J. S. ((lack JBxcoriulc* llie liil'nmoiiM Coitunissioii. THE CAR BET-BAGGERS—THE LOUISI ANA RETURNING BOARD—ITS IM PUDENT FORGERIES PRESIDENT GRANT AN ACCOMPLI CE —PETTI FOG - * GINO OF THE ELECTORAL EIGHT— THIMBLE-RIGGING IN THE FLORIDA CASE —THE NATION BETRAYED. In the North American Review for July Judge Jeremiah S. Black appears as the contributor of an ar ticle entitled “ The Electoral Con spiracy, wlo’ch is by all odds the most complete, eloquent and scath ing exposure that lias yet been made of the fraud by which Rutherford B. Hayes was foisted into the Presi dential chair. \Ye regret that our space will not permit uf to reprint it in full, and that we must confine ourselves to tlie most striking pussa* gcs. After brielly adverting to the in dignation felt by honest men thro ughout the country at the great out rage upon the people, Judge Black proceeds to depict the condition of affairs m flic JStatc of Louisiana pre vious to the Presidential election.— First, he describes the carpet-bag ger: WIIAT TIIE CARPET-BAGGER IS. The people would not have been wholly crushed, either by the soldier or negro, if both had not been used to fasten upon them the domination of another class of persons whose rule was altogether unendurable.— These we call carpet-baggers, not because the word is descriptive or euphonious, but because they have no other name whereby they are known among the children of men. They were unprincipled adventurers who sought their fortunes in the, South by plundering the disarmed and defenceless people; some of! them were the dregs of the Federal army—the meanest of the camp fol lowers; fugitives from Northern jus tice; the best of them were those who went down after the peace, ready for any deed of shame that was safe and profitable. These, combining with a few treacherous “scalawags*’ and some leading ne groes to serve as decoys for the rest, and backed by the power of the gen eral government, became the strong est body of thieves that ever pillaged a people. Their moral grade was far lower, and yet they were much more powerful,*the robber bands than in fested Germany after the close of the Thirty Years’ war. They swarmed over all the States from the Potomac to the Gulf, and settled in hordes, not with intent to remain there, but merely to feed on the substance of a prostrate and defenceless people.— They took whatever came within their reach, intruded ihemselves in to all private corporations, assumed the functions of all otlices, including the Courts of Justice, and in many places they “run the churches.” By force or fraud they either controlled all elections or else prevented elec tions from being held. They return ed sixty of themselves to one Con gress, and ten or twelve of the most ignorant or venal among them were at the same time thrust into the Senate. This false representation of a people by strangers and enemies who had not even a bona fide resi dence among them was the bitterest of all mockeries. There was no show of honor or truth about it. The pre tended representative was always ready to vote for any measure that would oppress and enslave liis socall cd constituents; life hostility # was unconcealed, and ho lost no oppor tunity to do them injury. HIS DESCENT UPON LOUISIANA. The agricultural and commercial weal h of Louisiana made her a strong temptation to the carpet-baggers. — Those vultures snuffed the air from afar; and, as soon as the war was over IheV swooped down upon her in Hooks that darkenened the air.— The State was delivered into their hands by the military authorities; hut the officers imposed some res traint upon their lawless cupidity.— Thev hailed with delight the advent of nogro suffrage, because to them a legalized method of stuffing the ballot box,' and they stuffed it.— Thenceforth, and down to a very THOMASTON. GA.. SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 14. 1877. recent period, they gorged them selves without let or hindrance. The depredations they committed were frightful. They appropriated, on one pretense and another, what ever t hey could lay their hands on, and then pledged to themselves the credit erf the Slate for uncounted millions more. The public securi ties rundown to half price, and still they put their fraudulent bonds on tne market and sold them for what they would fetch. The owners of the best real estate in town or coun try were utterly impoverished, be cause the burdens upon it were heav ier than the rents would discharge. During the last ten years the city of New Orleans paid in the form of di ’cct taxes more than the estimated value 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 suffered less. The extent of their spoliations can hardly be calculated, but the tes timony of the carpet-baggers them selves against one another, the re ports of committees sent by Con gress to investigate the subject, and other information from sources en tirely authentic, make it safe to say that a general conllagrution, sweep ing all over the State from one end to the other, and destroying every building and every article of person al property, would have been a visi tation of mercy in comparison to the course of such a government. THE INVESTHIASION OF SCOUNDREL ISM. This may seem at first blush like gross exaggeration, because it is worse than anything that misrule ever did before. The greediest of Roman proconsuls left something to the provinces they wasted; the Nor man did not strip the Saxon quite to the skin; the Puritans under Cromwell did not utterly desolate Ireland. Their rapacity was confin ed to the visible things which they could presently 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, which increases lus stealing power as much as the steam engine adds to the me chanical force of mere natural mus cles. He makes negotiable bonds of the State, signs and seals them “ac cording to the forms of law,” sells them, converts the proceeds to his own use, and then defies justice “to go behind the returns.” By this de 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 antici pates the labor of coming ages and appropriates the fruit of it in ad vance; he coins the industry of fu ture generations into cash, and snatches the inheritance from chil dren whose fathers are unborn. Pro jecting his cln’at forward by this contrivance and operating laterally at the same time, he gathers an amount of plunder which no coun try in the world would have yielded to the Goth or Vandal. TIIE REIGN OF ANARCHY, Security of life can never he coun ted on where property is not protec ted. When the public authorities wink upon theft the people are driv en by stress of sheer necessity to de fend themselves the best way they can, and that defense is apt to be aggressively violent. Justice, infu riated by popular passion, often comes to its victims in a fearful shape. Disorders, therefore, there must have been, and bloodshed and violence, and loss of life, though they are not enumerated, or clearly described in the reports. It is known that bands of •'•’regulators” traversed many parts of the State, and the fact is established that sev en of the storehouses used as places of stolen goods were burnt to the ground in one night. The officers of the carpet-bag government “car ed for none of these things.” They saw the struggle between larceny and the lynch law with as much in difference as Gallio looked upon the controversy between the Jewish Syn agogue and the Christian church at Ephesus. This horrible condition of society was caused solely by the want of an honest government. But this is not nearly the worst of it, if carpet baggers themselves and their special friends are worthy of any credence at all. They* testify to numerous other murders, wanton, unprovoked, atrocious, committed with impunity under the very eyes of their Government. General Sher idan says he collected a list of 4,000 assassinations perpetrated within three years. Senator Sherman and his associates of the visiting commit tee swell this number greatly, and add “half the State was overrun with violence.” no effort was made to repress these <b -orders or punish the criminals N 'body was hung, nobody tried, nobody arrested. The murderers ran at large ; the victims fell at the awful average of about four every day, and the public offi cers quietly assented to let “the ri fle, the knife, the pistol and the rope do their horrid woik” without inter ruption. Are such men fit to gov ern a free State ? Fit to govern 1 No. not to live.” The genesis of tiie returning BOARD. The wretched system of carpet bag government could not possibly last. From the first it had no real support. The native people and the immigrants, who went there fo.’ pur poses of legitimate business, held it in abhorrence, and the negroes were not long in finding out that it was a sham and a snare. As early as IB* 0, and lie fore that, the hand writing was seen on the wall which announced that a large and decisive 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 he addressed. Then the Returning Board was invented. * This was a machine entirely new, with powers never before given to any tribunal iu any State. Its ob ject was not to return, but to sup press the yotcsAf the qualified elec tors, or change them to suit the oc casion. By the terms of the law it can exclude, suppress, annihilate all the voles of a parish for violence, intimidation of fraud, which it finds to have been committed and adjudg es to have materially influenced the result of the poll. This is judicial authority so broad that no Court would consent to exercise it—inflict ing the fearful penalty of disfran chisement upon thousands at once, without a hearing and without a le gal evidence, not for any offence of their own, but for the supposed sin of others, over whom they confessed ly have no control. Of course it is in direct conflict with the State Con stitution, which declares that all ju dicial power shall be vested in cer tain ordained and established courts, and forbids it to be used even by them, except upon trial before a ju ry, and conviction on the testimony of creditable witnesses confronted by the accused and cross-examined bv counsel. It is, besides, a most insolent affront to the fundamental principles of an elective government, for it makes the poll of all people a mere mockery, which decides nothing except what the Returning Board does not graciously favor. Its power to veto a popular vote extends to all elections, for every class of of ficers, judicial, legislative, ministe rial and executive, including elec tors of President and Vice-Presi dent. IIOW IT DID ITS WORK. The board consisted of five per sons. They were originally appoin ted by a carpet-bag Senate, without end of their tenure and with power to fill vacancies, which made them a close corporation and gave them per** petual succession. To put on some show of fairness, the law required that nil parties should'he represen ted. This was at first thought to be met by the appointment of one Dem ocrat, but when a deed of more than common business was to be done, the Democrat was got rid of, and the other four, desiring to work in secret, refused to fill his place. This suppressing Board did its work thoroughly from the start. It, was never known to falter. Since irs first organization in 18T0 the majori ty of the whole people has been de cidedly against tbe carpet-baggers at every election. But the Board al ways intercepted the returns, and so altered them as to make a majority the other way. Kellogg was a can didate for Govornor ; he was large ly defeated, but the Board certified him elected. The certificate was so glaringly false that the carpet-bag gers themselves would not help to install him, and Democrats deter.* mined to assert their rights. It was then that Gen. Grant, to the un speakable shame of the nation, lifted him into office on the bayonets of the army. Afterward the outraged people rose in revolutionary wrath, drove him to shelter in the Custom House, and inaugurated the man they had lawfully elected. Again the President made war on the State, and restored the usurper to the place which did not belong to him. The Democrats regularly elected a major ity of the Legislature ; as regularly the Returning Board certified a ma jority of llicir scats to carpet-bag gers or scalawags or negroes not cho sen ; and when the true members met to organize for business the army was punctually on hand to tumble them out of their hall. APPLIED TO THE PRESIDENTIAL ELEC TION. The election came off on the prop er day, supervised and controlled at every polling place by officers of the carpet-bag interest. According to tbeir own count, the result was a majority of 7,039 for the Tilden electors! It lias never yet been de nied that this majority was made up of ballots cast by citizens legally qualified. The vote was regularly taken and properly counted, and a true record of it made in perpet • uam rei memoriam. These facts are being undisputed, it follows that the Tilden electors were duly appoin ted, if the people of the State have the appointing power, which they certainly have, unless the constitu tion and the statute book are not to be relied on But the opponents of Tilden and Hendricks determined that the rec ord of the appointment made by the people should be mutilated and changed so as to make it appear as if electors for Hayes and Wheeler had been chosen. They pretended to believe that violence and iutimida* tion frightened the African Hayes men from the polls, and that their cowardice ought to be visitted, in form of disfranchisement, on the heads of others who had intrepidity enough to perform their political duty. The allegation was utterly false. It was made not only with out evidence to sustain it, but in the face of overwhelming proof to the contrary. -All the places of reg istration and voting were guarded by the creatures of the Federal and State administrations, superinten dent.-, commissioners, deputy mar shals and soldiers, and all of these with one voice said that tneelections were peaceable and free. Indeed, it is literally impossible that any inti midation or violence could have been practiced. No sensible person ever gave credit to it for a moment. Notwithstanding much mental anx iety about the resuh, various rea sons combined to make the election in Louisiana probably the most qui et and undisturbed in the Union. THE CHARACTER OF ITS MEVp.KRS. The personnel of the Board jus tified tiie faith of the carpet-bag gers and their allies. If the evi dence concerning its members be rightly reported by the investigation committee, they were marked out by the history of their previous lives noted and signed to do any deed of shame which might be required at their hands. Wells was a Custom House officer at New Orleans, and one of the worst of that bad lot ; a defaulter to tlie State of long stand ing, without diameter for integrity or veracity, and for honesty was equally bad ; lie had earned it in part by aiding while he was a Sena*’- tor to put up a fraudulent job upon the State, and taking the iniquitous proceeds to himself. Of the two niulattoes, one was indicted for lar ceny, and, after admitting his guilt was allowed tu escape punishment, and promptly taken into the Board. The other was too ignorant to know his duty, but his testimony showed such indifference to the obligations of an oath that he was deemed as safe for the carpet-baggers as either of his colleagues. They comprehended the situation saw the difficulty of the work before them, and resolved to make it pay in something better than mere promises of “recognition,” however “gene** rous and ample.” Wells, who was their spokesman in private as in pub lie, wrote in strict confidence to a carpet bag Senator then at Wash ington a letter which, being conden sed into plain English, means, this : “There’s millions in it. See our friends and act promptly. Buy us immediately or we will s3ll out to the other side. Talk freely to the gentleman who presents this; he knows the moves.” To the bearer of the letter he explained that it was very hard work to count in the Republican candidate—the Demo-* cratic majority was too large to han dle—he wanted to serve his party, but he would imt take this job with out compensation ; lie must have “8200,000 apiece for himself and An derson, and a smaller sum for the niggers.” On this basis lie author ized his ambassador at Washington to negotiate with the Republican managers. At the same time he offering himself at New Orleans to the Democrats, at first for half a million hut afterward proposed that he would leave in enough votes to elect Mr. Nicholls (Democratic can didate for Governor) if $200,000 cash were first placed in his hands. THEIR VIOLATIONS OF TIIF STATUTE. The ac ion of the returning offi cers in this whole business was un supported by legal authority. The Legislature of the State did not, be cause it could not, give them power to disfranchise qualified electors.— They lacked, therefore, the general jurisdiction which they assumed.— But that is not all ; they proceeded in the very teeth even of the void statute which they professed to fol low. That statute pretends to give them no such authority as they exercised over any return to which a protest or statement or charge of in timidation is not attached when it is sent in by the Supervisor of Reg istration or the Commissioner Elec tion, and the charge so attached to the return must be supported by the affidavits of three citizens of the pro per parish. Wanting this, the Board was abso lutely without the pretence of 'pow er to touch the return from anv parish or polling place, except for the purpose of compiling it and ad ding it as true to the others. By the election law* of Louisiana the Board has no more authority to exa mine or decide a question of intimi dation which is not raised by the elcc tion officers than a private individual would have to steal it from the re. cords and burn it. So stands the law. The fact is established by con clusive evidence that from every one one of of the Democratic parishes the returns came up without any charge, statement, or protest. In all those cases they were therefore without color of jurisdiction. FORGING AFFIDAVITS AND RETURNS. But the conspirators could not af ford to he balked of tbeir game by the failure of the local officers to make a false charge of intimidation. These votes must be excluded per fas aut nefas, and the Returning Board must do it ; that was what the Board was made for. The re turning officers went upon the prin ciple aut inveniam aut faciam.— They made tiie protests which they could not find ; affidavits which no creature in the parishes was base enough to back with his oath were fabricated in the Custom House, and used by the Board with a fnllknowl edge that they were mere counter feits. The exclusion of returns on the ground of intimidation was in every case dishonest, for in none was there a particle of evidence to justi fy it. When nothing else would serve the purpose, they did not scru ple a resort to plain forgery. Of the return from Vernon parish every figure on the whole broad sheet was altered with elaborate pains under the special direction of Wells. Per jury and subornation of perjury en tered largely into the business.— There is hardly any species of the crimen falsi for which the law has a punishment that did not become an elementary part of the great fraud which was committed when the de feated electors and State otlicers of Louisiana were falsely certified as chosen bv the people. PRESIDENT grant’s COMPLICITY. Another question arises which the Muse of History may answer at her leisure : Is there any justification of General Grant’s conduct in this business ? Within two or three days after the election it became perfectly well known to the whole country that in Louisiana there had been a full poll, and a large majority fori the Tilden electors. No reason was suggested by anybody for falsifying this result. The apprehension that it would be falsified m the return arose solely out of the fact that the election machinery of the State was in the hands of mere knaves who were just base enough to do it ; and these were General Grant's own knaves, whom for years he had kept in their places by lawless force. It was then that he said no man could afford to be President by a fraud, and sent a committee to see that a true count was made. This was fair seeming enough, but he did not row the way he was looking. Every one of his committee favored the fraud, and their report, which been* dorsed and sent to Congress, was a defense of it from beginning to end, lie had supported and enforced frauds of the same kind several times before, and now his troops were at New Orleans avowedly to protect the carpet-baggers while they were re peating them on a large scale. Be sides, when Chandler promised the fraudulent Governor of Florida to send troops and money to that State after the election—troops and mon ey to count the votes he declared in one of his dispatches that the President had been consulted. Still further, while his party in Congress were holding up the fraud, he an swered the arguments in favor of Tilden’s right by ordering to the capital all the cavalry, artillery and infantry within reach. Whether these circumstances be suflicient or not to convict him of participation in the fraud, let the world judge. THE CREATION OF THE COMMISSION. But how was the object of the conspiracy to be accomplished ? The House of Representatives was Demo cratic, and without its consent, ex pressed or implied in some form or another, tho Senate could not give effect to a false count. The first in tention was to claim that the Presi dent of the Senate had power to de termine absolutely and arbitrarily what electoral votes should he coun ted and what not. This was the great rallying point until Mr. Conk ling took it up, and, in a speech of surpassing ability, utterly demolish ed and reduced it to invisible atoms. It became settled, therefore, that the two Houses must count the votes, and this clearly implied die power to inquire and determine what were votes. It could not be denied that the voice of the House of Rcp rcsentatives was at least as potential as that of the Senators ; and it was not supposed that the House would suffer a fraud so glaring as this to be thrust down the throat of the country, “against the stomach of its sense.” But if the two bodies would declare inconsistent results of die count and proclaim the election of different Presidents, a state of things might come which would sub ject our institutions to a strain se vere enough to endanger them great ly., It was in these difficult circum stances that a mixed Commission of fifteen was proposed, consisting of five Senators, five Representatives, and five Judges of the Supreme Court. The mode of appointing them made it certain that fourteen would be equally divided among the parties ; and as the fifth Judge would be named by the consent of his brethren on both sides, ho might be expected to stand between them, like a daysman, with a hand as heavy on one head as the other. The Democrats consented to this in the belief that no seven Republicans could be taken from the Court or from Congress who would swear to Heckle the truth and then up hold a known fraud ; if mistaken in that opinion of their adversaries’ honest ly, they felt sure, at all events, that the umpire would be a fair minded man. They were bitterly disap pointed ; the Commission went eight to seven for the great fraud and all its branches ; for fraud in the detail and in the aggregate ; for every item of fraud that was neces sary to make the sum total big enough—eight to seven all the time. IT REFUSES TO DO ITS DUTY. We must look at the state of the case as it went before the Commis sion. Tilden and Hendricks had 184 electoral votes clear and free of all dispute, one less than a majority of the whole number. They also had in Louisiana eight, and in Flor ida four, appointed by the people but falsely certified to Hayes and Wheeler by the Governors, In Or egon they had one certified by the Governor, but against whom a pop ular majority had been cast for an ineligible candidate. To elect Hayes it was necessary that each and every one of these thirteen votes should be taken from Tilden ami given to Hayes. As this required many dis- r pUF. GREAT HARD TIMES I’Ari:i> 1 The Best, the Che*prut and the mont popu- I * lar. You can’t afford to be without it. CRICKET HEARTH. It U a mammoth 16-p*?e illustrated i*per (Hire of Har/>ei’ Weekly) tilled with the choicest rcadin* for old *ud jrouug. Serial and abort atorlea, aketeli ea, poems, useful knowledge, wit au humor, “an swers to coraespoudenta," puzzles, games, “popntar Bongs.” tte. lively, entertaining, amusing and in* structive. The largest, handsomest, heat and cluap est paper of it* class published. Only fl per year, with choice of ihree premiums ; the beautiful nt-w ohromo, “Yes or No?" size 15*1ihches; any one c.| the celebrate,! novels by Charles Dickens, or an ele gant tioi of sationery. Paper without premium only 75 cts. per year. Or we will send it four months on trial for oniy 25 cents. B?*S|Mcimeii copy sent on’reeeipt of stamp. Agents wanted. Address V Y M. LUPTON k CO., Publishers, 37 Faik Row, N. Y no. ao. tinct rulings based upon contradicto ry grounds, the path of the Commis sion was not only steep but crooked. The great and important duty cast upon the commission bv a spe cial law and by a spociai ituth of each member was to decide, in the case of contested votes from a State, “whether any and what votes from State are the votes provided, for by the Constitution of the Uni ted States, and how many and what persons were duly appointed electors in such State.” It is not denied that the sole power of appointing electors for the States of l/ouisiami and Florida is in the people. It was then and still is an admitted fact that the people had exercised the power of appointment in the pre scribed and proper way ; they did du ly make an appointment of electors, and their act was duly recorded, ami Sv. made a i>erpetual 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 appointed Tilden electors at a regular election called for that purpose on the 7th of November, in pursuance of law was a part of their history as much as the fact that they were States of the Union. All the members of the Commission know it as well as they knew thegeograph ical position of Tallahasse or New Orleans. It needed no proof ; but it specific evidence had been requir ed, there was the record, from which the truth glared upon them as clear as the sun. They shut tli#ir eves upon the record and refused to see “how many and what persons were duly appointed electors” by the peo ple, hut listened eagerly to the evi dence (aliunde though it was) which snowed “how many and what per sons’’ had been designated by the re turning officers. It was ultimately held (eight to seven) that the ap pointees of the Roturnin g Board were duly appointed, and 1 he appoin tees of the people were unduly ap pointed. Did the eight suppose that the legal power to make such an np* pointment was vested by law in tho Returning Boards ? Did they think it was not vested in the people ? No, that is impossible. But they may have conscientiously believed that the interest of their faction would ho well served by Hayes’ election. They may have been prompted by a virtuous admiration of carpet-bag government, and when sincerely anxious to save it from Tildcn’s re. form. ITS PETTIFOGGING. \ But this decision in favor of fraud which so shocked the common sense and common honesty of the nation was not made without some attempt to justify it. The eight gave rea sons so many and so plausablc that Kellogg and Wells must have chuck led with delight when they heard them. One argument very seriously urged was that it would be trouble some, and require a great deal of time, to ascertain who was duly ap pointed by the people, It was much easier to accept the false vote and say no more about it. To decide how many and what persons got cer tificates from the Returning Board was a short and simpb process; but to push the inquiry behind that, to inquire whether the certificate was honest, to look for the evidence which would show who were duly appointed— liic labor hoc opus esl. Tho seven reminded the eight, but reminded them in vain, that the due appointment which nobody in tin* world, except the people, "had the least right to make, was the verv thing which they were there to find out ; and they could not be excu-ed from a duty to which they were pledged and sworn by the mere in convenience of performing it. Be sides, the eight knew very well that there were no difficulty in it; it was but looking at the record of the ao pointmentas the people made it up ; they could read it as they ran ; the truth was plainer than the lie ; the honesty of the case was as easily seen as the fraud. But no pursua sion could influence them to ca t even a glance at the actual appoint ment. What did they think this Commission was made for? Why was this great combination of learn ing and statecraft set up ? Accord ing to the eight its sole purpose was, not to determine any matter in dis pute between the parties, nut merely to declare that the Returning Boards had certified for the Hayes electors; which everybody knew already, and nobody ever denied. If it3 object was what the law said—to decide who were duly appointed—then tin eight succeeded in making it merely a splendid abortion, because among other reasons, it was too much troub lesome to make it anything else. HEDGING FOR OREGON. But the Commission, following the lead of counsel for Mr. Haves, insis ted that the certificate of the proper State officer ought to be regarded as conclusive evidence of the appoint ment made by the people. It is un doubtedly true that the State has a right to speak on this subject through her own organs, and'when she docs so speak, her voice should be regard ed as true. But what officer is her proper organ ? The Governor being her political chief, and his certifi cate being requirt#by act of Con gress, it would not have been unrea sonable to hold that it was conclu sive unless tainted with fraud. The Haves electors had the Executive certificate in Louisiana and Florida, and this, in regard to those States, gave theeight a great legal advan tage. (Concluded next week, )