An Extraordinary Confession

T wo years and a half ago Mr. Justice Miller carne down from his place on the bench of the United States Supreme Court and took this oath : "I do solemnly swear that I will impartially examine and consider all questions submitted to the Commission of which I am a member, and a trae judgment give thereon, agreeably to the Constitution and the laws, so help me God." „ _ The Commission to which Mr. .) ustice Miller belonged was a tribunal appointed to decide whether Mr. Tilden or Mr. Ilayes had been lawfully elected President of the United States. Thai question turned upon the electoral vote of Louisiana. Two sets of returns from Louisiana were submitted to Mr. Justice Miller in order that he I might eonsider which was the true and lawf ui vote of the State and give judgment thereon, according to hi ' Tlie lifw creating the Electoral Coin mission provided that in cases wher there were doublé returns the tribuna 3houlcl proceeü to consiuei au uic y pers, certiücates, and votes, and decide "how many and what persons were duly appointed eHetors in such State. It f urtherinore empowered Mr. Justice Müler'to takeinto view such petitions, depositions, and other papers as shall by the Constitution and now existing laws be competent and pertinent to such consideration." So Mr. Justice Miller's duty was plain and lie had sworn to perform it. Evidence was brought before Mr Justice Miller showing thatthe lawiul ivote of Louisiana belonged to Mr. Tilden and Mr. Hendricks by a tv, on the popular vote oi tne aiaie, ui j more than eight thousand ; that a conspiracy had been f ormed at New ürleans to def raud the people oí Louisiana of their voice in the election ot a l President ; and that the so-called Hayes electora had no title to represent Louisiana in the Electoral College save what they derived f rom forged certilicates, pefjured affldavits, and shauieless violations of the law-that their claims rested upon a fabric of trauü without a parallel in the expenence of the nation. , On the evening of Friday, February 16 1877, the Electoral Commission, by its infamously memorable vote of TOfriit t.n Sfvf!Ti. cave the vote oí isiana to Rutherford B. Hayes. Mr. Justice Miller voted with the Eight, not with the Seven. With all the evidence before him, with the solenin laneuage of his oath still fresh upon his lipsf he voted nine times in succession to exelude the f acts, the right, the truth f rom consideration, and to give effect to the fiauds oí the conspirators. His vote put Hayes in the office that belonged to Tilden. The one excuse that could be offered for Mr. Justice Müler's share in that ! great iniquity was that he voted under a mistake, under the delusion that Hayes was really entitled to the vote of Louisiana. Even the polilicians whosat with him in judgment,the unscrupulous partisans like Morton and Hoar, sought to the end to keep up the pretence of acting under conviction. But on Friday last, at Block Island, in speaking of Mr. Tilden in the presence of several gentlemen well known to the country, Mr. Justice Miller said : "He was elected in Louisiana; that i_ i.„ ïrriif rt taTi thonsand more actual votes there than Hayes." The vote of Louisiana belonged to Tilden ; Tilden was legally elected President of the United States m 1870 ; Hayes has no riglit to be in the White House; the decisión of the Electoral Commission was fraudulent and false, and in the face of the facts- all this is truth that has already passed into history. But. as f ar as we know, no one of the Eight who consuinmated the Fraud has ever confessed this truth until Judge Miller confessed it at Block Island last Friday. It is a most extraordinary and a most humiliating confession to come fromthe lips of a man who has been honored and irusted by the people of +i, TT„ifori efiitos as Mr. .Tustice