The Cairo Bulletin

The Republican Dilemma - A Democratic Statement of It
(St. Louis Republican.)

Let it be borne in mind that the same returning boards which gave Florida and Louisiana to Hayes, gave the former to Stearns and the latter to Packard; and that the electoral commission, which furnished Hayes with his credentials, accepted and endorsed the returning boards' action. Yet Stearns and Packard are out and Hayes is in. The Democracy have double cause for self-congratulation on the event that transpired in New Orleans Tuesday. The Republican party, through its president, not only confesses the complete and final failure of its reconstruction policy, but at the same time acknowledges that the Democracy carried Louisiana at the election last November. For if Packard - who ran several hundred votes ahead of the Hayes electoral ticket - was fairly elected, why does a Republican administration refuse to support him, and thereby recognize Nicholls? And if Packard was beaten, how could Hayes have been victorious - and what becomes of his title to the office he holds? So in Florida. If Stearns was fairly elected, why is Drew in possession of the governorship? And if Stearns was not elected, how could Hayes get a majority in Florida. We leave the Republican party to find its way out of this most awkward dilemma as best it can. The Democracy are quiet content with the situation, and well they may be. They have, indeed, lost their president, but gained everything else. The Republicans gained their president but lost everything else. Hayes has adopted and enforced the Democratic policy in the South, and by so doing admits that the decision of the electoral commission was based on falsehood, and that he has not a shadow of legal or moral right to be where he is. When Stearns stepped out and Packard was kicked out, Tilden's claim to the presidency was ratified by the very party which repudiated it.