NEWS OF 150 YEARS AGO
May/June 1860
From The Missouri Democrat, Saturday, June 9, 1860.
JUSTICE DONE—THE CONTESTED SEAT AWARDED TO MR. BLAIR.
Our dispatches this morning contain the highly gratifying announcement that Mr. Blair has been sworn in a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Barrett having been declared not entitled to the seat which he occupied up to yesterday afternoon. The rights of the electoral body of St. Louis are thus vindicated at last. Fraud, terrorism, and all the illicit appliances and contrivances of corrupt electioneering, stand rebuked and humiliated before the nation. It was not a mere personal triumph that Mr. Blair sought in prosecuting his rightful claims before Congress. It was the integrity of the outraged ballot-box, and the supremacy of legal suffrage that he labored to restore; and now that success has crowned his efforts, he and the tribunal whose justice he invoked against foul wrong and gross corruption, deserve the gratitude of all good citizens, whatever their personal or political predilections may be. As a fit accompaniment to the news proclaiming the triumph of his cause, and as an irrefutable argument in support of its justice, we publish the majority report. We are satisfied that whoever peruses this report, will unhesitatingly indorse the action of the House of Representatives. Probably no case of a contested election, before Congress, has received a more thorough investigation than this. The data before the committee were abundant beyond comparison. The case of the late member was conducted by able lawyers; and it was not until after long deliberation and the fullest consideration of the subject, that a decision was rendered by the committee.
Shortly after the news was received here, Mr. Blair’s personal and political friends began to evince their joy at the result, by kindling bonfires, firing guns, making speeches, and parading the streets with transparencies and bands of music. The DEMOCRAT office was the object of some very flattering demonstrations, including a serenade from the procession. Mr. Blair’s residence was then visited, and his lady and family serenaded in the most enthusiastic style, the vocal music of cheers predominating over the instrumental strains. Mayor Filley and Hon. John How were also called upon at their residences, and the latter gentleman acknowledged the compliment in a brief speech appropriate to the occasion. The [illegible] and gaily festooned. Indeed, the burst of rejoicing with which the news was hailed, was not less complimentary to Mr. Blair than auspicious as an indication of the approaching struggle.
We trust the moral of this remarkable episode of party strife will not be lost on the National Democracy, and that henceforth that party will pay some regard to legality and honesty in conducting their warfare on the principles of freedom and the organization which represents those principles. In politics as in life, wrong doing encounters retribution at least. Honesty is the best policy.
