"I beg to assure you of an abiding confidence in your election to the Chief Executive office of our government, and to promote this great 'reform' the intelligence, the property, and the integrity of the South is solid and zealous in this great work, believing and trusting in your known and tried integrity to the principles of justice and right to all.
"In the matter of the 'cotton tax,' from June, 1865, to September, 1868, after peace was restored and promised, it was not an element of the 'war,' nor was it 'an incident to military operations for maintaining its existence.' The compiled record of H. H. Smith, Esqr., clerk of the committee on war claims of the 43d Congress, may be official facts, and are no doubt the truth, so far as the guilty persons are concerned that have rendered infamous and odious the offices they have prostituted to embezzlements, thefts, and wickedness. The facts connected with that 'cotton tax' have not come to the surface. Those that have made haste to buy and sell, and to bribe and lobby their way through a most foul administration, are not the standard or measure for honest claimants that have patiently waited, with the evidence of the money paid into the United States Treasury, against the day of 'reform' and the return to honesty, and a just discrimination on the merits and facts of the case; nor should it be ruthlessly set aside without a fair investigation and examination by discreet, honest men.
"Your 'veto' and your integrity will be accepted together, trusting in the latter all the time, and the use of the former on all suitable occasions, and for the good of the nation.
"With sentiments of highest esteem and admiration, I am,
"Respectfully yours,
"C. K Foote."
THE ELECTION OF 1876
On the 7th of November, 1876, the people of the State of New York, and the people of the United States, expressed their preferences among the several Presidential candidates to succeed President Grant, as follows, according to the Albany Evening Journal Almanac:
| For Tilden in New York State | 522,043 |
| For Hayes | 489,225 |
| Tilden's majority | 32,818 |