JOHN A. McCLERNAND TO TILDEN
"Springfield, Ill., March 2nd, 1877.
"Dear Sir,—It is done, and the Presidential office, fairly awarded you by the voice of the people and the electoral colleges, passes to another. I sympathize with you in this your deprivation of right and official dignity. I sympathize also with the country in its consequent humiliation. A stain is cast upon its escutcheon and Republican institutions.
"The result might have been different but for a mistake, honest, doubtless, though it was. If the chairman of our national committee had not wavered and hesitated at a decisive moment, and thereby awakened doubts as to your purpose, the spirit and courage of the Democracy, then showing a bold front, would have precluded the possibility of the electoral commission and its decision, and have settled everything satisfactorily without a blow. I say this in the belief that the capital and business of the country would not have seconded the Republican leaders in an appeal to arms to uphold fraud and usurpation. Right armed with confidence is seldom vanquished.
"But regrets are now idle. Our part is to repair the past in the future. Your leadership in the late canvass regenerated and renewed the Democratic party, and brought it back to the mansion of its fathers. It revived its ancient energy and devotion. It is now capable of great achievements. This is saying much for both you and it, yet not more than the truth. You are now the acknowledged leader of the reform Democracy, and your leadership must be continued for the contest of 1880. This is the sentiment and demand of the Old Guard who never desert or surrender.
"Your ob't ser't,
"John A. McClernand."