Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2 / From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860

by James Gillespie Blaine

CHAPTER XXV.

Between 1860 and 1876 the Presidential nominations of the Republican party had been predetermined and practically unopposed. The second nomination of Mr. Lincoln and the two nominations of General Grant were so unmistakably dictated by public opinion that they came without a contest. In 1876, for the first time since the Republican party had acquired National power, the candidate was not selected in advance, and the National Convention met to make a choice, not simply to register a popular decree. This freedom of action imparted a personal interest to the preliminary canvass and a struggle in the Convention itself, which previous nominations had lacked. The public excitement was enhanced by the close and doubtful balance between the two parties. For the first time since its original success, the power of the Republican party had been seriously broken in 1874. The war and reconstruction periods were receding, and with the lessening stress of their demands, the popular conviction of the necessity of Republican rule was losing much of its force. New questions were pressing forward, and parties were largely judged by these later tests.

The open field and free choice on the Republican side developed several competitors for the nomination.—Senator Morton of Indiana naturally held a prominent place. His ability, his party devotion, his fearless services as the War Governor of a State which was disturbed with tumult and sedition, his conspicuous part in the Reconstruction contests in the Senate, all marked him as entitled to great consideration.

—Senator Conkling was earnestly sustained by the Republican organization of New York, of which he was then the undisputed chief. His friends went to the National Convention with the power of the largest delegation and with the influence of the most important State. He had the additional aid of the good will and good wishes of President Grant.

—Mr. Bristow of Kentucky was also a candidate. As Secretary of the Treasury he had been zealous in pushing investigation and prosecution of the whiskey frauds then rife. His mode of procedure created the impression that he was acting independently of the Administration of which he was a part, if not in studied conflict with it, and this demonstration, while objectionable to many, commended him to a considerable body of Republicans who were inclined on that account to associate him with the growing cry for administrative reform. He had the advantage also of strong local influence. He came from a State adjoining the city where the Convention was to be held, and through the newspapers the surrounding atmosphere was colored in his favor.

—But Ohio, which has long held a prominent part in shaping the National counsels, had a candidate more distinctively her own. Rutherford B. Hayes had been chosen Governor the preceding year under circumstances which attested his popular strength. In 1873 the Democrats had elected the venerable William Allen, and had won a still more emphatic victory the following year in choosing members of the House of Representatives. In 1875 the Republicans put forward General Hayes to defeat Mr. Allen and reclaim the State, and his success vindicated the wisdom of their choice. He had already served two terms as Governor, and was regarded as a safe and judicious executive. He was entirely free from factional entanglements, and was considered by many wise political leaders to be a peculiarly available candidate.

—The delegates from Pennsylvania, like those from Ohio, presented their Governor as a candidate. But worthy as General Hartranft was conceded to be, the circumstances surrounding the movement for him inspired the general belief that he was brought forward less with the expectation of a serious effort on his behalf than for the purpose of making his candidacy the means of holding the delegation in hand.

—The only other candidate who had an active support was Mr. Blaine of
Maine.

The National Convention met at Cincinnati on the 14th of June and became at once the centre of popular attention. Among the delegates were many men of position and influence in their respective States, and some with national reputation. Massachusetts sent E. Rockwood Hoar, George F. Hoar, Richard A. Dana, jun., and James Russell Lowell. Among the Maine delegates were Eugene Hale, William P. Frye, Nelson Dingley, jun., Charles A. Boutelle, and Seth L. Milliken. General Hawley and Samuel Fessenden came from Connecticut, and Governor Van Zandt and Nelson W. Aldrich from Rhode Island. New York had a strong representation, including Alonzo B. Cornell, Theodore M. Pomeroy, James N. Matthews of the Buffalo Express, George William Curtis, Stewart L. Woodford, Clarence A. Seward, William H. Robertson, Charles Emory Smith, then editor of the Albany Journal, Frank Hiscock, and Thomas C. Platt. The Ohio delegation was led by the venerable Senator Wade and by Governor Noyes. J. Donald Cameron, then Secretary of War, Henry M. Hoyt, afterward Governor, General Bingham, John Cessna, and Edward McPherson, appeared at the head of the Pennsylvania forces.

Among other notable delegates were Robert G. Ingersoll and Charles B. Farwell of Illinois; Richard W. Thompson of Indiana; Judge Harlan, later of the Supreme Court, and Ex-Attorney-General Speed of Kentucky; Governor Packard and Senator Kellogg of Louisiana; Henry P. Baldwin and William A. Howard of Michigan; William J. Sewell, George A. Halsey, Garrett A. Hobart, and Frederick Potts of New Jersey; Alexander Ramsey and Dwight M. Sabin of Minnesota; John P. Jones of Nevada; Nathan Goff, jun., of West Virginia; Philetus Sawyer of Wisconsin; Jerome B. Chaffee and Henry M. Teller of Colorado,—all of whom were then or at a later period prominent in the public councils. Theodore M. Pomeroy of New York was made temporary chairman of the Convention, and Edward McPherson of Pennsylvania permanent president. The first day was chiefly occupied with political addresses.

The report of the committee on resolutions was looked for with especial interest. The exigent political issue of the hour was the Currency question. Congress had the year before passed the Resumption Act providing for a return to specie payments in 1879. While there was no serious conflict among Republicans over the general policy, there were differences of opinion as to the wisdom of explicitly indorsing the act with its designation of time and its obligation of immediate preparatory measures. A long struggle took place in the committee on these points and on cognate questions. After a protracted debate the whole subject of framing the platform was entrusted to a sub-committee, composed of General Hawley, Ex-Attorney-General Speed, Governor Dingley of Maine, Governor Chamberlain of South Carolina, James H. Howe of Wisconsin, Governor C. C. Waters of Arkansas, and Charles Emory Smith of New York. Several of these gentlemen possessed experience in the line of duty to which they were assigned. The youngest man of the list, Mr. Emory Smith, then editor of the Albany Journal, had for years taken part in preparing the platforms for Republican conventions in New York, and had become distinguished for the skill and felicity of his language, the aptness with which he embodied the popular thought, and the precision with which he described the issue at stake.

The platform reported to the Convention was clear and emphatic upon the leading issues. It improved the occasion of the Centennial year to repeat the cardinal truths and principles of the Declaration of Independence; it recognized the pacification of the South and the protection of all its citizens as a sacred duty; the enforcement of the Constitutional Amendments was enjoined; and the obligation of removing any just cause of discontent was coupled with that of securing to every American citizen complete liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political, and public rights; the Public Credit Act, the measure first signed by President Grant, was referred to with the declaration that its "pledge must be fulfilled by a continuous and steady progress to specie payments." The platform also embraced a distinct declaration for a radical reform of the civil service, making a broader and more precise enunciation than was contained in the Liberal platform of 1872, though the assigned reason for that revolt, as given by its champions, was the alleged hostility of the Republican party to improvement in the Government service. The Protective policy was upheld; the extirpation of polygamy was demanded; and an investigation into the Chinese question, then beginning to distract California, was recommended.

With the platform adopted, the Convention proceeded at once to the task of nominating candidates. Mr. Thompson of Indiana presented Senator Morton. The name of Mr. Bristow was submitted by Judge Harlan, and supported by Mr. Curtis and Richard H. Dana, jun. Colonel Ingersoll followed in advocacy of Mr. Blaine, with a speech which placed him at once in the front rank of popular orators. He was seconded by Mr. Frye of Maine, and by Mr. Turner, a well known colored preacher from Georgia. Senator Conkling was eloquently presented by Mr. Stewart L. Woodford; and Governor Hayes by Ex-Governor Noyes, with a few words of approval from Ex-Senator Wade. Marshall Jewell was nominated by Mr. Kellogg of Connecticut; and General Hartranft by Lynn Bartholomew of Pennsylvania. The speeches, as a whole, were pointed and inspiring. Under their stimulating influence the Convention was eager to begin the balloting, but the gathering shades of evening compelled an adjournment to the next morning.

With the opening of the third day the Convention immediately proceeded to the first ballot. The result was: Blaine 285, Morton 124, Bristow 113, Conkling 99, Hayes 61, Hartranft 58, Jewell 11, William A. Wheeler 3. Hartranft's 58 was the solid vote of Pennsylvania; Hayes had the solid 44 of Ohio and a few scattering votes from other States; Conkling had all but one of New York's 70, with 8 from Georgia, 7 from North Carolina, and the remainder scattering; Morton's vote, apart from the 30 of Indiana, came wholly from the South; Bristow's support was divided among nineteen States and one Territory; and Blaine's vote came from twenty-eight States and seven Territories.

The second ballot, taken after the Convention had decided against the unit rule and allowed each delegate to vote as he chose, showed a gain of 11 votes for Blaine, 1 for Bristow, 3 for Hayes, and 5 for Hartranft, with a loss of 4 for Morton and of 6 for Conkling. Jewell had dropped out. The third and fourth ballots proceeded without any material change. On the fifth ballot the solid vote of Michigan was cast for Governor Hayes, and other changes were made which carried his aggregate to 104; while Morton fell to 95. On the sixth ballot the vote for Blaine rose to 308, and that for Hayes to 113, while other candidates lost. When the seventh ballot opened New York retired for consultation on one side of the hall, and Pennsylvania on the other. It was evident that the decisive moment had come. As the roll-call advanced, other candidates were withdrawn and it became a contest between Hayes and Blaine. A large majority of the supporters of Morton, Conkling and Bristow went to Hayes. Pennsylvania gave 28 votes for Hayes and 30 for Blaine. The ballot as concluded stood, Hayes 384, Blaine 351, and Bristow 21. The last named all favored Governor Hayes and his nomination was thereupon made unanimous. For the Vice-Presidency William A. Wheeler and Stewart L. Woodford of New York, Marshall Jewell and Joseph R. Hawley of Connecticut, and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, were indicated; but before the close of the first ballot Mr. Wheeler was nominated by acclamation.

The ticket thus presented was a surprise to the country. The candidates like all who are nominated against public expectation, failed to excite enthusiasm in the earlier part of the canvass. But both were regarded as able, judicious, and prudent men, and they steadily grew in public favor as the contest waxed warm. Governor Hayes had not been prominent during his brief service in Congress, but his repeated election over the strongest Democrats of Ohio, and his three terms as Governor, had made an excellent impression on the country. He was especially respected for the firmness and fidelity with which he waged battle for honest money against the financial heresies which had at that time taken deep root in his State. Mr. Wheeler had achieved reputation in Congress as a discreet legislator and a practical man of affairs, and was cordially received by the different factions which at that time divided the Republican party of New York.

The Democratic National convention assembled at St. Louis two weeks after the nomination of Hayes and Wheeler. The party leaders and managers came together with more hope of success than they had dared to entertain at any period since the beginning of the civil war. The Democratic victories of 1874 had encouraged them with a confidence which the partial re-action of 1875 had not diminished. They were recovering possession of the South; they were profiting from political discontent in the North which they strove in every way to develop; they were gaining in assurance just in proportion as the war feeling was dying out; and they were reaping the usual advantage of the opposition party in a period of financial depression. Learning wisdom from the blundering course of 1868 and the disastrous experiment of 1872, they were now to uplift the banner of pure Democracy under Democracy's most skillful leadership.

Interest in the movement was deepened by the organized and irresistible force with which Mr. Samuel J. Tilden had assumed leadership and was advancing to the Presidential nomination. Mr. Tilden was in some respects the most striking figure in the Democratic party since Andrew Jackson. Though more than threescore, he had been a conspicuous party chief only three or four years. He had moved forward to unchallenged personal supremacy with a vigor and rapidity which in the political life of the United States have seldom been equaled. His sudden elevation was not the result of accidental circumstances of which he was the fortunate beneficiary. He was the conscious and masterful creator of his position. The sceptre of power in the Democratic party did not drop into his hands; he seized it, and wielded it at his own will. He moulded the conditions which suited his designs, and when the hour was come he assumed the command as of divine right.

But though he thus blazed forth with unexpected brilliancy, his whole life had in fact been a school of preparation. His public career in official position had it is true been limited. He served in the Legislature of 1846 and in the Constitutional Conventions of 1846 and 1867. In both he bestowed especial attention upon the canal policy of the States. He bore a prominent part with Mr. Van Buren in the Barnburners' Revolt of 1848, in which he and some of his associates departed for a brief period from a lifelong pro-slavery record, and rode Free-soil as the stalking-horse of personal resentments and factional designs. He professed devotion to the Wilmot Proviso as earnestly as one of the old Abolitionists, and turned from it as if its advocacy had been the amusement of a summer vacation. He occasionally appeared in National Conventions, and he acted for some years as chairman of the Democratic State Committee of New York. This was the total of his public service until he set forth upon what was the immediate preliminary movement to his Presidential campaign.

But from his earliest manhood he had been a close student of political affairs. He was a devotee of Jackson in his youth, and became one of the ardent disciples of Van Buren, whom he adopted as mentor and model. His earlier political papers are dignified and elevated in tone beyond his years, and show a strong intellect and careful reflection; but they are in the stately and turgid style of the period and lack the decisive and original force of his later productions.

Even when he followed the vigorous Dean Richmond as chairman of the Democratic State Committee, he did not suggest the creative political power which he afterwards revealed. He was regarded rather as a respectable figure-head. It was on this assumption that he escaped completely in the notorious election frauds of New York in 1868. His name was appended to the private call for the earliest possible approximate returns from the interior, a call which meant that the authors only wanted a clue to determine how large a majority must be counted in the metropolis to secure the State. Mr. Tilden denied all knowledge of the letter. Without even consulting him, his authority had been appropriated by the "Tweed Ring," just then rising to its colossal power. During the entire period of its profligate ascendency, Mr. Tilden continued as chairman of the State Committee, but he did not share its corrupt counsels or sanction its audacious schemes. The worst reproach which lies against him is that of remaining too long a passive witness. There was no bond of affiliation between him and the vulgar adventurers who had taken the Democratic party and the city of New York by the throat. He had no sympathy with their coarse and reckless measures. Aside from his abhorrence of their riotous corruption every instinct of self-preservation impelled him to desire their overthrow, for while they ruled he had little hope of influence or preferment. When the exposure of their monstrous robberies had opened the way to their downfall, Mr. Tilden grappled with the menaced Ring and helped to complete its destruction. He labored to capture its intrenchments in the Legislature, fought the conspiracy with a non-partisan combination, went to the Assembly himself, co-operated in the legal prosecution, promoted the impeachment of the corrupt judges, and proved a powerful and capable ally in rescuing the State from this shameful domination.

The extermination of the "Tweed Ring" was Mr. Tilden's opportunity. His hour had come; he promptly grasped the party leadership thus left open. Starting out deliberately for the Presidential nomination, his plan embraced three leading features: his stepping stone was the governorship, his shibboleth was administrative reform, his method was organization to a degree which has never been surpassed. He was swept into the Governor's chair on the crest of the Democratic tidal wave in 1874, and once there every effort was directed to the Presidential succession. He had the sagacity to perceive that in order to gain any solid foothold in the country the Democratic party needed to cut loose from its discredited past and secure a new rallying-cry. It was loaded down with its odious war record; it was divided on fiscal questions; it had fought a losing battle for twelve years on the defensive; and if it was to struggle with any hope it must discover a line on which it could boldly take the aggressive.

Mr. Tilden fancied that he found this pathway to a new career in the resounding demand for a radical reform of administrative methods, and from the hour of his accession to the governorship he sought to give it effect in reality or in semblance. He had received applause and secured promotion from his aid in the overthrow of the "Tweed Ring," and he now declared war against the affiliated "Canal Ring," whose destruction had already been made sure. The circumstances were peculiarly propitious for his whole movement. The extinguishment of the war debt of the State, already nearly accomplished, would bring an immediate and large reduction of taxes. The amendment to the State Constitution (already passed and just producing its effect) prohibiting any taxation or any appropriation for expenditures on the canals, beyond their revenues, would starve the Canal Ring by cutting off its supply. Mr. Tilden became Governor at the right hour to reap the harvest which others had sown. It is seldom that any administration is signalized by two events so impressive and far-reaching as the crumbling of a formidable and long-intrenched foe to honest administration like the Tweed Ring, and a decrease of the tax budge by nearly one-half. It was Mr. Tilden's rare fortune that his Governorship was coincident with these predetermined and assured results. It would be unjust to deny to him the merit of resisting the canal extortionists and hastening their extinction, but it would be equally untrue not to say that in the work of the reformer he did not forget the shrewd calculations of the partisan. He understood better than any other man the art of appropriating to himself the credit of events which would have come to pass without his agency, and of reforms already planned by his political opponents.

By a fortunate concurrence of conditions which he partly made, and which with signal ability he wholly turned to account, Mr. Tilden thus gained the one commanding position in the Democratic party. He held the most vital State of the North in his grasp. He embodied the one thought which expressed the discontent with Republicanism and the hope of the Democracy. He evinced a power of leadership which no man in his party could rival. The Democracy before his day could count but four chiefs of the first rank—Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, and Van Buren. Mr. Tilden was not indeed a leader of the same class with these masters who so long a period shaped the whole thought and policy of their party, but he displayed political capacity of a very high order. He was trained in the school of the famous Albany Regency, and had exhibited much of its ingenuity and power. He placed his reliance both upon ideas and organization. He sought to captivate the popular imagination with a striking thought, and he supported it with the most minute and systematic work. In his own State he discarded all leaders of equal rank with himself, and selected active young men or mere personal followers as his lieutenants. He bore no brother near the throne. In other States he secured strong alliances to promote his interests, and called into existence a National force which was as potent as it was compact.

His political observations covered nearly half a century, and spanned the successive epoches which stretched from the struggle over Nullification to the war of secession and the work of Reconstruction. But through most of this long and stirring era he was engaged in the practice of his profession and the acquisition of wealth. In this work he was peculiarly successful. To the subtlety of an acute legal mind he added the sagacity of a keen business man. He attained especial, indeed almost unrivaled eminence as a corporation lawyer, and thus gained a practice which leads to larger rewards than can be found in other legal fields. While acquiring great reputation he amassed a great fortune, and when at last he entered upon his political career he combined the resources of a full treasury with the arts of an unrivalled manager.

Mr. Tilden has been the subject of vehement and contradictory judgments. His friends have well-nigh canonized him as representing the highest type of public virtue; his foes have painted him as an adept in craft and intrigue. His partisans have held him up as the evangel of a new and purer dispensation; his opponents declare that his ability is marred by selfishness and characterized by cunning. His followers have exalted him as the ablest and most high-minded statesman of the times; his critics have described him as a most artful, astute, and unscrupulous politician. The truth doubtless lies between the two extremes. Adroit, ingenious and wary, skillful to plan and strong to execute, cautious in judgment and vigorous in action, taciturn and mysterious as a rule and yet singularly open and frank on occasions, resting on the old traditions yet leading in new pathways, surprising in the force of his blows and yet leaving a sense of reserved power, Mr. Tilden unquestionably ranks among the greatest masters of political management that our day has seen. Certain it is that his extraordinary success and his exceptional position had inspired the Democratic party with the conviction that he was the one man to command victory, and he moved forward to the Presidential nomination with a confidence which discouraged his opponents and inspired his supporters with a sense of irresistible strength.

When the Convention assembled a futile attempt was made to organize a movement against Mr. Tilden. His undisguised autocracy in New York had provoked jealousies and enmities which were more imposing in name than in numbers. John Kelly, now the master-spirit of reconstructed Tammany, and esteemed as a man of personal integrity, led an implacable warfare, openly proclaiming that Mr. Tilden's nomination would prove fatal to Democratic success in New York. In this pronounced hostility Mr. Kelly had the avowed approval or the secret sanction of conspicuous Democrats whom Mr. Tilden's absorption of power had thrust into the background. Augustus Schell, chairman of the National committee, encouraged the opposition; Erastus Corning was on the ground sustaining it; Chief Justice Church and his friends were known to be in sympathy with it. Attempts were made to secure support for Governor Allen of Ohio, for Governor Hendricks of Indiana, and for General Hancock; but no one of these demonstrations, nor all of them combined, could resist the steady set of the current towards Mr. Tilden, and the organization and all the action of the Convention were clearly in the hands of his friends.

The interests of Mr. Tilden were committed to the care of Mr. Dorsheimer, who had left the Republican ranks but four years before. His chief associate was Senator Kernan. The most prominent delegates from other States were William A. Wallace and Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania, James R. Doolittle and William F. Vilas of Wisconsin, Judge Abbott of Massachusetts, Daniel W. Voorhees and Governor Williams of Indiana, Leon Abbott of New Jersey, General Thomas Ewing of Ohio, Robert M. McLane of Maryland, John A. McClernand of Illinois, and Henry Watterson of Kentucky. The opening speech of Mr. Augustus Schell, as chairman of the National Committee, was notable only in demanding the repeal of the Resumption Act, a demand which expressed the prevailing Democratic sentiment, and which was the more significant as coming from one of the most conservative of the Democratic leaders—one who had large financial interest in New York. Mr. Henry Watterson was made temporary chairman, and General John A. McClernand of Illinois permanent president of the Convention.

The platform, reported from the Committee on Resolutions, was believed to have been prepared under the eye of Mr. Tilden, and was clothed, as general rumor had it, in the rhetoric of Mr. Manton Marble. It was the most elaborate paper of the kind ever put forth by a National Convention. It was marked by the language of an indictment, and contained the extended argument of a stump speech. Its one pervading thought, emphasized in resonant phrase, iterating and reiterating, "that reform is necessary," was an additional proof of its origin. But with all its effusiveness of expression, it lacked definiteness in the enunciation of principles. Only two or three propositions upon pending issues were explicitly set forth. It accepted the Constitutional Amendments; denounced "the present tariff levied upon nearly four thousand articles as a masterpiece of injustice, inequality, and false pretense;" demanded that "all custom-house taxation should be only for revenue;" and then addressed itself to a somewhat vituperative arraignment of the Republican party. On the vital question of the currency it charged that party with "enacting hindrances to the resumption of specie payments," adding: "As such a hindrance we denounce the resumption clause of the Act of 1875, and we here demand its repeal." A controversy arose as to whether simply the resumption clause should be repealed or the entire policy condemned; and a discussion upon that question, led by General Ewing on the one side and by Mr. Dorsheimer on the other, was one of the interesting features of the Convention. General Ewing had made a minority report embodying his views, but at the close of the discussion it was defeated by a vote of 550 to 210, and the platform as it had been arranged under Mr. Tilden's eye was adopted.

The presentation of candidates followed. No one entertained a doubt of the result, but Governor Hendricks, Senator Bayard, General Hancock, Joel Parker, and Governor Allen, were formally named by their respective States. Mr. Tilden was effectively presented by Senator Kernan. The first ballot practically decided the contest. Mr. Tilden received 404½, Mr. Hendricks 140½, General Hancock 75, Governor Allen 34, Senator Bayard 33, with 37 scattering. Mr. Tilden lacked but a few votes of the requisite two-thirds, and before the second ballot was concluded his nomination was declared to be unanimous. The work was complete by the choice of Mr. Hendricks of Indiana for Vice-President. The ticket thus presented was the result of political skill, as it embodied the largest measure of Democratic strength. It united the two States of the North which with a solid vote from the South would control the country. One candidate suited the hard-money element; the other the soft-money element. One aimed to draw recruits; the other to hold the old-time Democrats.

Mr. Tilden's letter of acceptance was directed chiefly to the state of the currency and to the conditions and methods of resuming specie payments. He had no sympathy with the soft-money ideas which dominated so large a section of his party, but he was constrained to support the demand of his own platform for the repeal of the Resumption clause, and he undertook to do it by urging that a system of preparation was all-important, and that the promise of a specific day was of no importance,—forgetting that the Act and the date contemplated and provided preparation. Though the letter was of unusual length it was almost exclusively devoted to these financial questions, and only briefly referred to civil service reform at the conclusion. On that subject his utterances had the same defect of indefiniteness. He described recognized evils, without indicating any practical remedy. Mr. Hayes had been more specific. He had positively declared against the use of official patronage in elections and removed himself from all temptation by giving the voluntary pledge that if elected he would not be a candidate for a second term. Mr. Tilden did not bind himself by any personal pledge, but expressed the "conviction that no reform of the civil service in this country will be complete and permanent until the Chief Magistrate is Constitutionally disqualified for re-election."

The canvass was not marked by striking incidents. Mr. Hayes, who had no inclination for political management, left the conduct of the campaign in the hands of party leaders. It was throughout practically directed by one of the most resolute and competent of men—Zachariah Chandler of Michigan. Mr. Tilden was not an orator, and did not follow the example of Mr. Seymour or Mr. Greeley in going before the people, but skillfully and quietly directed all the movements of the canvass. In spite of his personal fidelity to hard money, the equivocal position of his party was used against him with great effect. The fact that the Republicans had passed the Resumption measure, and that the Democrats had demanded the repeal of its most important feature, made a clear and sharp issue, and the pronounced record of Mr. Hayes as the leader of the fight against the inflationists in Ohio, emphasized the Republican attitude.

The Southern question, though treated as secondary, came into marked prominence. It was brought forward by the course of events. If the solid South was to constitute the chief pillar of Democratic strength, it would exercise a dominant influence in Democratic councils, and the North might naturally regard the possible consequences of its ascendency with misgiving and alarm. So strong did this feeling grow, that Mr. Tilden was compelled, before the close of the campaign, to put forth a letter pledging himself, in the event of his election, to enforce the Constitutional Amendments and resist Southern claims. But every one understood at the same time that the vote of the recent slave States entered into Mr. Tilden's calculations as necessary to his election. The solid South, New York, Indiana, Connecticut, and New Jersey, and possibly Oregon, was the political power embraced in his calculations.

The October States, Ohio and Indiana (Pennsylvania having ceased to vote in that month), did not indicate a decisive result. Ohio went Republican by 9,000; Indiana went Democratic by 5,000 majority. Benjamin Harrison led the Republican forces in the latter State, and but for some troubles which preceded his nomination, and with which he was in no way connected, would probably have carried the State. Both parties therefore came to the Presidential election in November without confidence as to the result. The reports during the night after the polls had closed led to the general belief that Mr. Tilden had been chosen. He had carried New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Indiana, exactly according to his calculations. Had he secured a solid vote in the South? It was widely feared that he had; but very late in the night, or rather very early the next morning, Mr. Chandler, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, received information which convinced him that the Republicans had triumphed in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, and with great confidence he sent over the wires of the Associated Press, too late for many of the morning papers, a telegram which became historic: "Rutherford B. Hayes has received one hundred and eighty-five electoral votes, and is elected."

The Democratic party, and especially its chief, Mr. Tilden, had calculated so confidently upon a solid South that the possible loss of three States was not to be calmly tolerated; yet the States in doubt were those in which Republican victory was from the first possible if not probable. In South Carolina and Louisiana, not only was there a considerable number of white Republicans, but in each State the colored men (who were unanimously Republican) outnumbered all the white men. The disparity in South Carolina was so great that the white population was but 289,000, while the colored population was 415,000. In Florida the two races were nearly equal in number, and owing to a large influx of white settlers from the North the Republicans were in a decided majority. Upon an honest vote a Republican majority in each of the three States was indisputably assured.

Both Republicans and Democrats persisted in claiming a victory in the three States, and as the leaders were positive in their conclusions the masses of each party became greatly excited. Partisan papers were full of threats, and from the South constant rumors indicated a danger of mob violence. The first step toward checking the excitement was the proposition that each party should send a certain number of prominent men to the disputed States to see "a fair count." This was accepted and representative men of both parties were soon present in New Orleans, in Columbia, and in Tallahassee, the capitals of the three disputed States. The Committee of Republicans sent to Louisiana was appointed by the President. Their investigation was very thorough, and their report, made in due form, was transmitted with the accompanying testimony by the President to Congress.

President Grant took precautions against disturbance by strengthening the military forces at the points in the South where violence was most feared; and on the 10th of November, three days after the Presidential election, he sent to General Sherman, commanding the Army, the following memorable dispatch: "Instruct General Auger in Louisiana and General Ruger in Florida to be vigilant with the force at their command to preserve peace and good order, and to see that the proper and legal boards of canvassers are unmolested in the performance of their duties. Should there be any grounds of suspicion of a fraudulent count on either side it should be reported and denounced at once. No man worthy of the office of President should be willing to hold it if counted in or placed there by fraud. Either party can afford to be disappointed in the result. The country cannot afford to have the result tainted by the suspicion of illegal or false returns."

The result of the contests in the three States, as determined by the legal canvassing boards, gave the electoral votes in each of them to Hayes and Wheeler; and on the 6th day of December, when the electors met in the several states, the result of the count from all the States of the Union showed 185 electors for Hayes and Wheeler, 184 for Tilden and Hendricks. The Democrats had hoped to the last that at least one of the States, or at least one of the electors in the three States, would be returned for Tilden and Hendricks, and when they found that every vote of the three States was counted for Hayes and Wheeler their anger knew no bounds. Threats were openly made that Hayes should never be inaugurated. One fiery editor promised that a hundred thousand Democrats would march to Washington and take possession of the Government in the name of the President whom they claimed to have been duly elected.

President Grant, noticing the condition of the public mind and giving full heed to the possibility of danger, quietly strengthened the military forces in and about Washington, with the intention simply of suppressing disorder, but as excited Democrats declared, with the design of installing Hayes by the aid of the Army of the United States. At no time in General Grant's career did his good judgment, his cool temperament, and his known courage prove more valuable to his countrymen. Every honest man knew that the President's intention was to preserve order and to see that the conflict in regard to the Presidency was settled according to law. To avert the reign of a mob he rightfully took care that the requisite military force should be at the Capital. No greater proof of General Grant's power to command was given, even on the battle-field, than the quieting effect of his measures upon the refractory and dangerous elements that would have been glad to disturb the public peace.

The portentous question which engaged the thoughts of all patriotic men was the count of the electoral votes when the certificates from the several States should be submitted to Congress. By a joint rule, adopted in February, 1865, by the two Houses, preliminary to counting the electoral votes cast at the Presidential election of 1864, it was directed that "no electoral vote objected to shall be counted except by the concurrent votes of the two Houses." This rule necessarily expired with the Congress which adopted it, but it was observed as a regulation (no one raising a question against it) in counting the electoral votes of 1868 and 1872. Certain Democrats now put forth the untenable claim that a joint rule adopted twelve years before and never renewed should be considered in full force. On the other hand, certain Republicans held that the Vice-President was clothed with the power to open and count the electoral votes and declare the result, the two Houses of Congress being present merely as spectators. According to the first construction it would be necessary only for the House of Representatives, which had a Democratic majority, to reject even one of the three disputed States from the count, and Mr. Tilden would be left with a majority of the electors. According to the second construction, the acting Vice-President, Mr. Ferry, who was a Republican, could count the three States in favor of Mr. Hayes, against the protest of either or both branches, and he would be President-elect.

It was soon found necessary to abandon both pretensions. On the 14th of December the House adopted a resolution (reported from the Judiciary Committee by Mr. Knott of Kentucky, and originally introduced by Mr. McCrary of Iowa) which, recognizing in a preamble that "there are differences of opinion as to the proper mode of counting the electoral votes for President and Vice-President," provided for the appointment of a "committee of seven members, to act in conjunction with any similar committee to be appointed by the Senate, to prepare and report without delay such a measure, either legislative or Constitutional, as may in their judgment be best calculated to accomplish the desired end; and that said committee have leave to report at any time." The Senate on the 18th of December appointed a similar committee empowered to confer and act with the committee of the House of Representatives. (1)

From the two committees acting as one, Mr. Edmunds on the 19th of January (1877) reported a bill "to provide for and regulate the counting of votes for President and Vice-President, and the decision of questions arising thereon, for the term commencing March 4, 1877." Under the regulations of the proposed bill it was agreed that "no electoral vote or votes from any State from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, except by the affirmative vote of the two Houses," in this respect reversing the joint rule of 1865. Where more than one return had been received a reference to an Electoral Commission was provided—the Commission to be composed of five members of the Senate, five members of the House and five justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. When the Electoral Commission should decide any question submitted to it, touching the return from any State, the bill declared that the decision should stand, unless rejected by the concurrent votes of the two Houses. Every member of the Senate and House committees, with the exception of Senator Morton of Indiana, joined in the report. After an elaborate and very able debate the bill was passed in the Senate on the 24th of January by ayes 47, noes 17. Two days later it passed the House by a large majority, ayes 194, noes 86.

The mode prescribed in this act for selecting the members of the Electoral Commission was by viva voce vote in the Senate and in the House,—it being tacitly agreed that the Senate should appoint three Republicans and two Democrats,—each political party in caucus selecting its own men. In regard to the Commissioners to be taken from the Supreme Bench, it was ordered that the "Justices assigned to the First, Third, Eighth, and Ninth circuits shall select, in such manner as a majority of them may deem fit, another Associate Justice of the said Court; which five persons shall be members of such Commission." The four Justices thus absolutely appointed were Nathan Clifford, Samuel F. Miller, Stephen J. Field, and William Strong. From the hour when the Electoral Bill was reported to the Senate the assumption was general that the fifth Justice selected for the Commission would be David Davis. It was currently believed that Mr. Abram S. Hewitt had given the assurance or at least strong intimation that Judge Davis would be selected, as one of the arguments to induce Mr. Tilden to support the Electoral Bill.

Originally a Republican, Judge Davis had for some years affiliated with the Democratic party, and had in the late election preferred Mr. Tilden to Mr. Hayes. Without any imputation of improper motives there can hardly be a doubt that the Democrats, in their almost unanimous support of the Electoral Bill, believed that Judge Davis would be selected, and by parity of reasoning the large Republican opposition to the bill might be attributed to the same cause. But an unlooked-for event disturbed all calculations and expectations. On the 26th of January the House was to vote on the Electoral Bill, and a large majority of the members were committed to its support. To the complete surprise of both parties it happened that Judge Davis was elected senator from Illinois on the preceding afternoon, January 25th. Chosen by the Democratic members of the Legislature, reckoned as a Democratic senator elect, there was an obvious impropriety, which Judge Davis saw as quickly as others, in his being selected; and the four judges unanimously agreed upon Joseph P. Bradley as the fifth judicial member of the Commission.(2)

The Electoral Commission was organized on the thirty-first day of January, 1877. Eminent counsel were in attendance on both sides,(3) and the hearing proceeded with regularity.

The case of Florida was the first adjudicated before the Commission, and the electors supporting Hayes and Wheeler were declared to have been regularly chosen. Only eight of the Commission certified the result—Justices Miller, Strong, and Bradley, Senators Edmunds, Morton, and Frelinghuysen, Representatives Garfield and Hoar—the eight Republicans. It was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 44 to 24. The House voted against confirming it; but, according to the Electoral law, the decision of the Commission could not be set aside unless both Houses united in an adverse vote. The cases of the two other States, Louisiana and South Carolina, were in like manner decided in favor of the Republican electors.

The complication in Oregon was next decided. As soon as Mr. Tilden's campaign managers began to fear that the electoral votes of the three Southern States might be given to Hayes and Wheeler, they turned their attention to securing an electoral vote elsewhere for Tilden and Hendricks. The plan devised was to find in some Northern State (with a Democratic Governor) an elector who might be disqualified under some technical disability. Oregon seemed to furnish the desired conditions. One of the Republican electors, John W. Watts, was postmaster in a small office, and was therefore declared to be ineligible; and Governor Grover gave the certificate to E. A. Cronin, who had received 1,049 fewer votes than Watts, but who had the largest number of the three Democratic candidates for electors. On the 6th of December, the day appointed for the meeting of the Electors, the two Republican Electors to whom Governor Grover had given certificates (W. H. Odell and J. C. Cartwright) refused to meet with Cronin or recognize him in any way; whereupon the officially certified list of votes and certificates of election were, by Governor Grover's order, delivered to Cronin and withheld from the Electors legally chosen by the voters of the State. The two Electors who had received certificates of their election then obtained a certified copy of the returns, met and elected Watts to fill the vacancy, and then proceeded to cast three votes for Hayes. Cronin thereupon immediately elected to fill the vacancies, two men who had not been voted for at all by the people, organized a fraudulent Electoral College, and went through the farce of casting his own vote for Tilden, while his two confederates (J. N. T. Miller and John Parker) voted for Hayes. The extraordinary and illegal action of Governor Grover had been urged through telegrams by Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and by Mr. Manton Marble, a close personal friend of Mr. Tilden. The Electoral Commission summarily condemned the fraudulent proceedings and gave the three Electoral votes of Oregon to Hayes and Wheeler. The Democratic members of the Commission united with the Republicans in rejecting the factitious votes cast by the men associated with Cronin, but at the same time they voted to deprive Hayes of Watts' vote and to give the vote of Cronin to Tilden.

The proceedings in the Commission and in Congress were not closed until the second day of March (1877). Meanwhile the capital and indeed the country, were filled with sensational and distracting rumors: First, that the Democratic majority in the House would "filibuster" and destroy the count; second, that they had agreed not to "filibuster" by reason of some arrangement made with Mr. Hayes in regard to future policies in the South. Every mischievous report was spread; and for five weeks the country was kept in a state of uneasiness and alarm, not knowing what a day might bring forth. But in the end the work of the Commission was confirmed; and Mr. Hayes was declared to have been elected by the precise vote which Mr. Chandler, on behalf of the Republican National Committee, claimed the day after the polls closed in November—185 Republican electors, 184 Democratic electors. It was the first instance in the history of the country where a succession to the Presidency had been disputed. Differences of opinion in regard to the legality and regularity of the election in single States had arisen in more than one Presidential election; but it happened in these cases that the counting of the vote of the disputed States either way would not affect the decision, and therefore no test was made.

The result was undoubtedly a great disappointment to Mr. Tilden, and even greater to his immediate friends and supporters. They at once raised the cry that they had been defrauded, that Mr. Hayes had received title to his office against the law and against the evidence, that he was to occupy a place which the people had voted to confer upon Mr. Tilden. In every form of insinuation and accusation, by almost every Democratic paper in the country, it was affirmed that Mr. Hayes was a fraudulent President. This cry was repeated until the mass of the party believed that they had been made the victims of a conspiracy, and had been entrapped by an Electoral Commission. Yet the first authoritative movement for the committee that reported the Electoral Bill was from a Southern Democrat in the House, and the Electoral Bill itself was supported by an overwhelming number of Democrats in both branches; whereas the joint vote of the Republicans was, by a large majority, against the bill.

The vote of the Democrats in favor of the Electoral bill, as compared with the Democrats who voted against it in both branches, was in the proportion of more than ten to one; whereas but two-fifths of the Republicans in the two Houses voted for the bill, and three-fifths against it. Only a single Democrat in the Senate, Mr. Eaton of Connecticut, cast a negative vote; and he acknowledged in doing it that the State Senate of Connecticut, controlled by the Democrats, had requested him to support the bill. All the leading Democrats of the Senate—Mr. Thurman, Mr. Bayard, Mr. Pinkney Whyte—made earnest speeches in favor of it. Mr. McDonald of Indiana declared that the popular sentiment of his State was overwhelmingly in favor of it, and he reproached Mr. Morton for opposing it. Other prominent Republicans in the Senate—Mr. Sherman, Mr. Cameron of Pennsylvania, Mr. Hamlin, Mr. Blaine—earnestly united with Mr. Morton in his opposition to the measure.

The division was the same in the House. Mr. Henry B. Payne of Ohio, Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, Mr. Clarkson N. Potter, Mr. Samuel S. Cox, and nearly all the influential men on the Democratic side, united in supporting the bill; while General Garfield, Mr. Frye, Mr. Kasson, Mr. Hale, Mr. Martin I. Townsend, and the leading Republicans of the House, opposed it. The House was stimulated to action by a memorial presented by Mr. Randall L. Gibson from New Orleans, demanding the passage of the bill; while Governor Vance of North Carolina, afterwards elected senator, telegraphed that the North-Carolina Legislature had almost unanimously passed resolutions in favor of it. The Democrats, therefore, had in a remarkable degree concentrated their influence and their votes in support of the measure.(4) It was fashioned precisely as they desired it. They agreed to every line and every letter. They agreed that a majority of the Commission, constituted as they ordained it should be, might decide these questions, and when the final decision was made they cried out in anger because it was not in Mr. Tilden's favor. One of the ablest judges of the Supreme Court, Joseph P. Bradley, has been made subject of unmerited censure because he decided the points of law according to his own convictions (sustained by the convictions of Justices Miller and Strong), and not according to the convictions of Justices Clifford and Field.

The Democratic dissatisfaction was instinctive and inevitable. In the very nature of things it is impossible after an election to constitute a Commission whose decisions will be accepted by both political organizations as impartial. It is, or it certainly should be, practicable to establish by law, before the election to which it may first apply, a permanent mode of adjudicating disputed points in the return of Presidential votes. Yet with the serious admonition of 1876, Congress has neglected the duty which may well be regarded as the most important and most imperative that can devolve upon it. The government of a Republic is left to all the chances of anarchy so long as there is no mode established by law for determining the election of its Chief Executive officer.

The disappointment of the Democratic masses continued after the inauguration of President Hayes, and it took the form of a demand for an investigation. It was not expected, of course, that any thing could be done to affect the decision of the Electoral Commission, but the friends of Mr. Tilden clamored for an exposure of Republican practices in the Presidential campaign. The Democrats in Congress were less eager for this course than the Democrats outside of Congress. It was understood that personal and urgent requests—one coming from Mr. Tilden himself—were necessary to induce Mr. Clarkson N. Potter to take the lead by offering on the 13th of May, 1878, a resolution for the appointment of a select committee of eleven "to inquire into the alleged false and fraudulent canvass and return of votes by State, county, parish, and precinct officers in the States of Louisiana and Florida, and into all the facts which in the judgment of said committee are connected with or are pertinent thereto." The resolution was adopted, and a committee was appointed, with power to sit during the recess of Congress.(5)

Congress adjourned on the 20th of June, and after a short vacation Mr. Potter's committee entered upon its extensive inquiries. Perhaps with the view of stimulating the Democratic members of the committee to zeal in the performance of their duty, Mr. Manton Marble early in August published a carefully prepared letter on the electoral counting of 1876. Mr. Marble was unsparing in his denunciation of the Republicans for having, as he alleged, obtained the election of Hayes and Wheeler by corruption in the Southern States. He dealt with unction upon the fact that the absolute trust of Mr. Tilden and his adherents in the Presidential contest had been in moral forces. As the accusations put forth were attributed to Mr. Tilden, and only the remarkable rhetoric of the letter to Mr. Marble, the public interest was fully aroused, and the threatened exposures impatiently awaited.

The majority of the committee reported, though perhaps with greater elaboration, substantially the same facts and assumptions that had been brought against the Republicans in the Southern States directly after the election, nearly two years before. If any thing new was produced, it was in detail rather than in substance, and undoubtedly showed some of the loose practices to which the character of Southern elections has given rise. Between the violence of the rebel organizers, and the shifts and evasions to which their opponents, both white and colored, have been subjected, the elections in many of those States have undoubtedly been irregular; but the Committee did not establish any fraudulent voting on the part of Republicans. Freely analyzed, indeed, the accusations against the colored voters were in another sense still graver accusations against the white voters. Duplicity is a weapon often employed against tyranny by its victims, and there is always danger that a popular election where law is unfairly administered and violence constantly impending, will bring into play on both sides the worst elements of society.

But all interest in the investigation as it was originally designed, was suddenly diverted by incidents which were wholly unlooked for when Mr. Potter moved his resolution and when Mr. Marble wrote his letter—giving an unexpected conclusion to the grand inquest so impressively heralded.

It happened that during an inquiry into the Oregon case by a Senate Committee, some thirty thousand political telegrams (mainly in cipher) had been brought into the custody of the committee by subpoenas to the Western Union Telegraph Company. The great mass of these telegrams were returned to the Company without translation. About seven hundred, however, had been retained by an employé of the committee. The re-opening of the Presidential controversy by the Democrats, and especially the offensive letter of Mr. Marble, led to a renewed effort to decipher the reserved telegrams. The translation was accomplished by an able and ingenious gentleman on the editorial staff of the New-York Tribune (Mr. William M. Grosvenor), and the result disclosed astonishing attempts at bribery on the part of Democratic agents in South Carolina, Florida, and Oregon. What may have been done of the same character in Louisiana can only be inferred, for no dispatches from that State were found.

The gentlemen who went to Florida in Mr. Tilden's interests were Mr. Manton Marble, Mr. C. W. Woolley, and Mr. John F. Coyle. Mr. Marble's sobriquet in the cipher dispatches was Moses. Mr. Woolley took the suggestive pseudonym of Fox, while Mr. Coyle was known as Max. Their joint mission was to secure the Electoral vote of the State, by purchase if need be, not quite as openly, but as directly as if they were negotiating for a cargo of cotton or offering money for an orange-grove. Mr. Marble was alarmed soon after his arrival by finding that the Democratic electors had "only about one hundred majority on certified copies, while the Republicans claimed the same on returns." Growing anxious, he telegraphed on November 22 to Mr. William T. Pelton (a nephew of Mr. Tilden): "Woolley asked me to say let forces be got together immediately for contingencies either here or in Louisiana." A few days later Mr. Marble telegraphed: "Have just received a proposition to hand over at any time required, Tilden decision of Board and certificate of Governor, for $200,000." Mr. Pelton thought the "proposition too high," and thereupon Mr. Marble and Mr. Woolley each found that an Elector could be secured for $50,000, and so telegraphed Mr. Pelton. Mr. Pelton, with commendable economy, warned them that he did not wish to pay twice for the same article, and with true commercial caution advised the Florida agents that "they could not draw until the vote of the Elector was received." According to Mr. Woolley the power was received too late, and on the 5th of December Mr. Marble closed the interesting correspondence with these words to Mr. Pelton: "Proposition failed. Finished responsibility as Moses. Last night Woolley found me and said he had nothing, which I knew already. Tell Tilden to saddle Blackstone."

Mr. Smith W. Weed went on a similar errand to South Carolina. He did not attempt to hide behind any disguised name, and simply telegraphed over his own initial. On the 16th of November he informed Mr. Henry Havermeyer, who seemed to be co-operating with Mr. Pelton in New York, that "the Board demand $75,000 for giving us two or three electors," and that "something beyond will be needful for the interceder, perhaps $10,000." At a later hour of the same day he thought that he had made a better bargain, and telegraphed Mr. Havermeyer that "it looks now as though the thing would work at $75,000 for all seven votes." The next day Mr. Weed began to fear the interposition of the court, and advised Mr. Havermeyer to "press otherwheres; for no certainty here, simply a hope." Twenty-four hours later Mr. Weed's confidence revived, and on the 18th he telegraphed,—"Majority of board have been secured. Cost is $80,000,—one parcel to be sent of $65,000; one of $10,000; one of $5,000; all to be in $500 or $1,000 bills, notes to be accepted as parties accept and given up upon votes of South Carolina being given to Tilden's friends. Do this at once and have cash ready to reach Baltimore Sunday night." Mr. Weed then started to Baltimore with the intention of meeting a messenger from New York with the money. Mr. Pelton was there but had not brought the money, and both went to New York to secure it.

Meanwhile the Canvassing Board of South Carolina reported the returns to the court, showing on their face the election of the Hayes Electors, and of a Democratic Legislature which would count the vote for Governor. The Board also reported that the votes of Lawrence and Edgefield Counties ought to be thrown out, which would make a Republican Legislature. On the 22d the court issued an order to the Board to certify the members of the Legislature according to the face of the returns, but to revise and correct the Electoral vote according to the precinct returns. Without receiving this order the Canvassing Board, whose powers expired by statutory limitation on that day, perceiving the purpose of the Court to prevent any count of the Electoral vote, declared and certified the election of the Republican electors, rejected the votes of Lawrence and Edgefield Counties, certified the election of a Republican Legislature, and then adjourned without day.

This result put an end to the plans of Mr. Weed and Mr. Pelton for bribing the Canvassing Board. But their resources were not yet exhausted. On the 4th of December Mr. Pelton offered to furnish $20,000 if it "would secure several electors." This plan also failing, he telegraphed, advising "that the Court under the pending quo warranto proceedings should arrest the Electors for contempt, and imprison them separately during Wednesday," the day for casting their votes for President and Vice-President; "for," as he plaintively added, "all depends on your State." Imprisoning "separately" was essential, for if they were imprisoned together they could have cast the Electoral vote.

In Oregon the attempt to bribe was quite as bold as in the two Southern States. Mr. George L. Miller of Omaha, member of the National Democratic Committee for Nebraska, had been requested by Mr. Pelton to go to Oregon, but had sent in his stead one J. N. H. Patrick, who upon his arrival at Portland began an active telegraphic correspondence with Mr. Pelton. On the 28th of November he telegraphed Mr. Pelton that Governor Grover would issue a certificate of election to one Democratic Elector (Cronin), and added, "Must purchase Republican Elector to recognize and act with the Democrat, and secure vote to prevent trouble. Deposit $10,000 to my credit." This telegram was endorsed by Senator Kelly, to whom Mr. Abram S. Hewitt had on the 17th of November telegraphed at San Francisco when on his way to Washington, that circumstances required his immediate return to Oregon to consult Governor Grover. Mr. Pelton replied to Mr. Patrick, "If you will make obligation, contingent on result in March, it will be done, and incremable slightly if necessary," to which Mr. Patrick responded that the fee could not be made contingent; whereupon the sum of $8,000 was deposited to his credit on the 1st of December, in New York, but intelligence of it reached Oregon too late to carry out any attempt to corrupt a Republican Elector.

As nothing had been known of these extraordinary facts when Mr. Potter moved for the appointment of his investigating committee, the House of Representatives, on the 20th of January, 1879, directed that committee to investigate the cipher telegrams. Before this committee the genuineness of the telegrams and the correctness of the translation by the Tribune were abundantly established. Some of the principal persons connected with them appeared before the committee to explain and to excuse. Senator Kelly had previously stated that he endorsed Mr. Patrick's dispatch without knowing its contents, a statement probable in itself and sustained by Mr. Kelly's good reputation. Mr. Marble swore that he transmitted to headquarters information of the opportunities for corruption merely "as danger signals." Mr. Weed admitted and tried to justify his efforts to bribe the South Carolina Canvassing Board. Mr. Pelton admitted all his attempts and took upon himself the full responsibility, saying that if money became actually necessary, he intended to call for it upon Mr. Edward Cooper and the members of the National Democratic Committee. Mr. Cooper swore that he first knew that Mr. Pelton was conducting such negotiations when he went to Baltimore; and that when on the next day he received from Mr. Pelton a cipher telegram requesting that the $80,000 should be sent to him at Baltimore, he informed Mr. Tilden what Pelton was doing, whereupon he was recalled and "the thing was stopped." Under cross-examination by Mr. Reed of Maine, Mr. Tilden swore that he knew nothing of any of the telegrams; that the first he knew of the Florida transactions was when they were mentioned to him by Mr. Marble after his return from Florida; that he was informed by Mr. Cooper of the South Carolina negotiations and stopped them; that he scorned to defend his title by such means as were employed to acquire a felonious possession. Neither Mr. Patrick nor Mr. Woolley appeared before the committee.

Two general conclusions may safely be drawn from the voluminous evidence: first, that the Democratic agents in the contested States of Florida, South Carolina, and Oregon earnestly and persistently endeavored to change the result from Hayes to Tilden by the use of large sums of money as bribes to official persons to violate their duty; second, that the negotiations for that purpose do not show that any member of any Canvassing Board or any Presidential Elector ever contemplated betraying his trust for such inducement. The interest throughout the investigation centred upon Mr. Tilden, and concerning him and his course there followed general discussion—angry accusation and warm defense. There is nothing in the testimony to contradict the oath taken by Mr. Tilden and there has been no desire to fasten a guilty responsibility upon him. But the simple fact remains that a Presidential canvass which began with a ponderous manifesto in favor of "reform" in every department of the Government, and which accused those who had been entrusted with power for sixteen years of every form of dishonesty and corruption, ended with a persistent and shameless effort to bribe the electors of three States!

[(1) The joint committee respecting the mode of counting the electoral votes consisted of the following members:—

SENATORS: George F. Edmunds of Vermont, F. T. Frelinghuysen of New
Jersey, John A. Logan of Illinois, Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Allen
G. Thurman of Ohio, Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, and Matt W.
Ransom of North Carolina.

General Logan was detained in Illinois, and Mr. Conkling was substituted on the committee.

REPRESENTATIVES: Henry B. Payne of Ohio, Eppa Hunton of Virginia,
Abram S. Hewitt of New York, William M. Springer of Illinois,
George W. McCrary of Iowa, George F. Hoar of Massachusetts, and George
Willard of Michigan.]

[(2) The Commission as organized was as follows:—

JUSTICES of the Supreme Court: Nathan Clifford, Samuel F. Miller,
Stephen J. Field, William Strong, Joseph P. Bradley.

SENATORS: George F. Edmunds, Oliver P. Morton, Frederick T.
Frelinghuysen, Thomas F. Bayard, Allen G. Thurman.

REPRESENTATIVES: Henry B. Payne, Eppa Hunton, Josiah G. Abbott, James
A. Garfield, George F. Hoar.]

[(3) The following counsel attended:—

On the Democratic side: Judge Jeremiah S. Black, Charles O'Connor,
John A. Campbell, formerly of the Supreme Court, Lyman Trumbull,
Montgomery Blair, Matthew H. Carpenter, Ashbel Green, George Hoadly,
Richard T. Merrick, William C. Whitney, Alexander Porter Morse.

On the Republican side: William M. Evarts, Stanley Matthews, E. W. Stoughton, Samuel Shellabarger. In addition to regular counsel the objectors to any certificate or vote were allowed to be heard by two of their number. Senators Howe, Christiancy, Sherman, McDonald, Sargent, Mitchell, C. W. Jones, Conover and Cooper, together with Representatives Kasson, William Lawrence, David Dudley Field, Tucker, Hunt, McCrary, Hurlbut, Dunnell, Cochrane, Thompson and Woodburn were appointed to this duty.]

[(4) The following is an exact statement of the vote on the Electoral Bill in both branches:—

In the Senate 26 Democrats voted for the Bill and 1 against it. " " " 21 Republicans " " " " " 16 " " In the House 160 Democrats " " " " " 17 " " " " " 31 Republicans " " " " " 69 " "

In the two Houses jointly, 186 Democrats voted for the Electoral Bill and 18 against it, while 52 Republicans voted for the Bill and 75 against it.]

[(5) The following were the members composing the committee:—

Clarkson N. Potter of New York, William R. Morrison of Illinois, Eppa Hunton of Virginia, William S. Stenger of Pennsylvania, John A. McMahon of Ohio, J. C. S. Blackburn of Kentucky, William M. Springer of Illinois, Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts, Jacob D. Cox of Ohio, Thomas B. Reed of Maine, Frank Hiscock of New York.]