Part 15

"Under cover of law--justice has no part in it--a great wrong has been committed, and you are deprived of a position to which all honest-minded men believe you were fairly elected.

"Knowing you as I have had good opportunity of doing, and the earnestness and truthfulness of purpose which were the incentives to your every action, and your courage to carry out what you deemed to be the path of duty irrespective of consequences to party or persons, I am led to deplore the finding of the electoral commission as a national misfortune--an injustice done to the whole country in greater measure, if possible, than to yourself.

"The good seed of reform which you have sown has not fallen on stony places; it has taken deep root in the hearts of the people, and will bring forth its fruit in due season. Time will show you that you are loved, trusted, and appreciated, and although the people have at this time been denied the pleasure of seeing you enjoy the noble gift they had bestowed upon you, depend upon it, my dear sir, this pleasure on their part has only been postponed for a season.

"With unswerving confidence and sincere friendship,

"Believe me very respectfully, "A. E. ORR.

"_Thirty-seven Tompkins Pl., Brooklyn._"

HOWARD POTTER TO TILDEN

"_March 3d, '77._

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I avail of the leave which you gave me, when we met the other afternoon in the street-car, to urge you, now that the campaign is ended in which the Democratic party has 'lost all but honor,' to give them a few valedictory words of counsel and encouragement, and the country some words of admonition and warning.

"You have been the leader of that party, and it seems to me that you owe it--at least to its 'rank and file'--some such acknowledgment of a support which was in the main everywhere honest, devoted, and given upon grounds such as must be just those upon which such a man as you are would desire to be supported.

"And what an opportunity this is to say something which the country may ponder!

"What to say no one knows so well as yourself--who have been one of the keepers of the true Democratic 'sacred fire'; and you may be sure that everywhere throughout the land whatever you may say will be read attentively by men of all parties.

"But I won't enlarge. It seems to me that it is a great opportunity to do your party and the country a lasting service, and I have not known how to refrain from urging you again to avail of it. I am, with sentiments of the highest esteem and regard,

Yours faithfully, "HOWARD POTTER.

"_Hon. S. J. Tilden, &c., &c._"

GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN TO TILDEN

"ST. JAMES HOTEL, BALTIMORE, _March 5, 1877_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I do not doubt that you are overwhelmed with letters just now from your many friends; but I cannot refrain from adding one to the number, to express my intense disappointment that you are not to-day the '_de facto_,' as you truly are the '_de jure_' President of our country. I _did_ believe that the justices of the Supreme Court would, in a case of such vital interest, rise high above all party trammels, carefully ascertain the facts of the case, administer the law with equity and consistency, and hold to the doctrine that fraud must vitiate the acts it was employed to accomplish. I am deeply grieved to find that these justices can, after all, be mere politicians--no better than the least patriotic of the tribe. I regret sincerely that your labor of the last four months has met with such a result, but my confidence in your patriotism is such that I am very sure that, so far as personal considerations are concerned, you will feel the disappointment far less than your friends do for you.

"You will not consider it a liberty if I congratulate you--or rather the party--upon the dignified and high-toned course you have pursued in the midst of the difficulties surrounding you.

"I am sure that we agree in the belief that the worst feature of this memorable business is that open fraud should be triumphant, and that through such means the control of a corrupt party should again be fastened upon our country. I do not know that I am capable of judging dispassionately of the future, but it now appears to me that that future is black indeed, when another than yourself--the honestly elected--holds to-day the name and powers of President.

"Under you I thought the future of my country would be bright and happy: now, I do not care to look beyond the evils of the day--for they are sufficient.

"With sentiments of the highest respect,

"I am, sincerely, your friend, "GEO. B. MCCLELLAN."

HON. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS TO TILDEN

(THE STAMP OF FRAUD FIRST TRIUMPHANT IN AMERICAN HISTORY)

"BOSTON, _5th March, 1877_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--On this day when you _ought_ to have been the President of these United States, I seize the opportunity to bear my testimony to the calm and dignified manner in which you have passed through this great trial.

"It is many years since I ceased to be a party man. Hence I have endeavored to judge of public affairs and men rather by their merits than by the names they take. It is a source of gratification to me to think that I made the right choice in the late election. I could never have been reconciled to the elevation by the smallest aid of mine of a person, however respectable in private life, who must forever carry upon his brow the stamp of fraud first triumphant in American history.

"No subsequent action, however meritorious, can wash away the letters of that record.

"Very respectfully yours, "CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS."

HON. ABRAM S. HEWITT TO THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE

(HIS MOTIVES IN SUPPORTING THE ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL)

"WASHINGTON, D. C., _March 3_.

"GENTLEMEN,--The last act of the executive committee was the announcement to the people of the United States that Samuel J. Tilden was elected President, and Thomas A. Hendricks Vice-President.

"This announcement was followed by a scurrilous pronunciamento from the national Republican committee, claiming the election of Hayes and Wheeler. The power to determine the result resided in Congress; but grave differences of opinion, threatening the peace of the country, existed as to the lawful methods of procedure, and the constitutional rights, and the duties of the two Houses in the premises. Committees were therefore raised in both Houses to consider the question, and to confer with each other as to legislation proper to be adopted in order to secure a declaration of the result without confusion and public disorder. The Senate committee had practically perfected a bill for this purpose before the House committee met with them in conference. This bill had received the assent and approval of the three Democratic Senators serving on the committee.

"To have rejected this settlement would, necessarily, have produced division in the Democratic party, and been fatal to its immediate and future success. On the other hand, the bill itself seemed to be so wisely framed in its main features, that the judgment of the Democratic members of the House committee gradually confirmed the action of the Senate committee, and, with some changes which were deemed favorable to the Democratic position, the Electoral bill was approved by all the Democratic members of both committees, and was duly reported and became a law by the vote of a large majority of the Democratic members of both Houses, and was approved by the general judgment of the country.

"The result has disappointed the hopes of every lover of his country. By decisions abhorrent to the natural senses of justice, all proof of fraud was ruled out, and the States of Louisiana and Florida have been counted for Hayes, although all fair-minded men concede that they voted for Tilden. This grievous wrong and its authors I have denounced on the floor of the House, and I have no hesitancy in declaring that, for the first time in our history, the Presidency has been awarded to a candidate who has no just title to its honors.

"But he comes into office as the result of the operation of a law which received the support of the Democratic party, and any attempt to resist its operation would, it seems to me, only deprive us of the support and sympathy of all conservative and fair-minded citizens.

"Inasmuch as difference of opinion exist in regard to the policy which has been pursued by the Democratic party since the election, and prior to the meeting of Congress, I have only to say that so far as my action is concerned, whatever has been done has received the approval of the executive committee and of the only persons outside of their number who had any right to be consulted.

"An absurd statement has been widely circulated that had declared that 'I preferred the inauguration of Hayes to the shedding of a single drop of blood.' A leading Democratic journalist, who could at any time from his position as a member of the House of Representatives, have ascertained the truth, has circulated this false statement in a letter over his own initials, although it ought to have been known to him that I had contradicted it in a card, widely copied, immediately after its publication. The only remark which I ever made on this subject was in private conversation, not intended to be repeated, and was to the effect that 'I would prefer four years of Hayes' administration to four years of civil war'; and upon this declaration I am willing to stand, because four years of civil war would, in my opinion, utterly destroy constitutional government for this generation at least.

"It has also been insinuated that my course has been affected by the ownership of a large amount of United States bonds. It is enough for me to express the regret that I am not so fortunate as to own any of these desirable securities, and to state that all my means are, as they always have been, used in giving employment to the working-men of this land, suffering so severely from the maladministration of its public affairs.

"I have also been censured for assenting to the completion of the count in accordance with the provisions of the law which I helped to frame, and which received my cordial approval and my vote. As an honorable man, I do not see that any other course was open to me, but if honor had permitted otherwise, my judgment is that it was the wisest course for the country, as well as for the Democratic party, to proceed in accordance with the law to the orderly completion of the count, although we knew that it would result in the installation of Hayes into an office to which he had no honest right, except such as might be deprived from the unjust decisions of a tribunal which we had helped to create. My reasons for this conclusion are as follows: If the count had been defeated, and the bill to provide for a vacancy in the office of President had become a law, a new election would have taken place in November next: meanwhile the office of President would have been filled by a Republican chosen by the Senate. The whole power of the administration would therefore be under the control of the Republican managers. In order to succeed they must hold on to South Carolina and Louisiana, which would necessarily involve sustaining by force the usurping governments of Chamberlain and Packard, with all their unlawful excrescences in the way of unscrupulous returning boards. The patience of the people of these two unhappy States is utterly exhausted. They would break out in open rebellion against a government thus forced on them, and continued in power by the armed forces of the United States. Civil war would result. The Federal government would re-enforce itself with all the troops at its command; the other Southern States would naturally rush to the aid of their suffering sister States; the safety of the colored as well as the white population would be endangered; and a call would be made for volunteers and militia from the Northern States to suppress the rebellion, and thus the flames of civil war would be lighted all over the Union, in the midst of which a free election would be impossible, and a military despotism take the place of civil government. This generation would pass away before the country would recover from the disastrous consequences of such a fratricidal strife.

"In comparison with the evils of anarchy, or of a government of force, which alone could prevent anarchy, four years of usurpation--but usurpation in accordance with the forms of law--seemed to me by far the lesser evil. Besides, we have not yet tested the judgment of the people as to the great outrage upon all justice and right which has been perpetrated. There is no reason to suppose that it will be sanctioned by the popular voice, but if it should be we could not hope to save them from usurpation and despotism by force used against the judgment of a majority of the people.

"To me, therefore, on the one side was anarchy and civil war, inevitable and disastrous of all the hopes of free government; on the other side was peace and order, with free speech, a free press, and the ballot-box still preserved to us.

"Under the circumstances, I could not hesitate as to my course. I felt that, as a patriot and a trusted servant of the Democracy, no other course was left open to me, and I feel sure that its wisdom will be indicated by the early and triumphant success of the Democratic party, standing, as it does, upon the rock of justice and patriotism, from which no amount of passion or provocation has been able to move it.

"For myself, I feel that I have now completed the duty which was assigned to me at St. Louis. The result of the campaign was the unquestionable election of our candidates. That they and the people have been defrauded of their rights is true, but for this result I do not hold myself any more responsible than any other member of Congress upon whom rested the duty of counting and declaring the votes.

"In the course of my very brief public experience, I have already found that my usefulness as a Representative in Congress has been seriously impaired by my position as chairman of this committee, and I had long since determined to ask to be permitted to retire from it as soon as the result of the election was definitely ascertained. The unforeseen complications which arose have necessarily compelled me to postpone the execution of this intention until the present time. Now, however, that all impediments to my retirement are removed, I beg to be released from further service as your chairman, and, thanking you for the honor you have conferred and for the confidence which you have uniformly manifested in my efforts to promote the success of Democratic principles, I have the honor to be,

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "ABRAM S. HEWITT.

"_To the National Democratic Committee._"

WHAT GRANT THOUGHT OF IT

[_From the New York "Sun," March 7, 1877._]

"There are some interesting facts connected with the Louisiana election which it does not seem necessary to keep secret any longer.

"When Mr. Hewitt had his celebrated interview with President Grant on the 3d of December last, just before the beginning of the recent session of Congress and before the Returning Board of Louisiana made its final declaration, the President said that in his opinion there had been no fair election in that State, and that the electoral votes of Louisiana ought not to be counted at all upon either side.

"'But,' asked the President, 'are you going to buy the Returning Board?' Mr. Hewitt assured him that the Democrats had no such purpose; that they would not buy the Presidency.

"Grant knew that the Returning Board and the Presidential election were for sale because Wells' agent had told him so; and it was natural for a man of his cast of mind to suppose that where the office of President was to be sold for money there would be an active competition for the purchase."

SENATOR FRANCIS KERNAN TO TILDEN

"WASHINGTON, _March 12th, 1877_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I expected to get over to New York and have a chat with you last week, and hence did not write you. Moreover, I was not in a frame of mind to write, and am not yet. We have been wronged out of the fruits of the last Presidential election. You were clearly and fairly elected by the people, and Hayes has been counted in. This is hard to bear patiently, and the mass of our party feel deeply aggrieved--indeed, they are so disappointed and irritated that a great many of them are disposed to find fault with what was done, and to believe that something more successful could have been devised. Notwithstanding my disappointment at the decisions of the commission, I am of the opinion that from the standpoint we judged and voted when we supported the bill creating the commission, we acted patriotically and wisely--unless the two Houses came to some arrangement as to 'counting' the electoral votes; it looked then as though they would disagree and come to a dead-lock; and the result would have been that the Senate would, under some form of proceeding, have declared Hayes and Wheeler elected; the House would have declared there was no election by electoral votes, and would have elected you President, and opponents were in possession and would have sustained Hayes and Wheeler, and civil war would probably have been the result. This would have entailed great evils on the mass of the people, and might have destroyed the government it was intended to preserve. My judgment was and is that what seemed then a reasonably fair tribunal to decide the question involved, was better than the risk of evil to our people and our system of government. Civil war is the last remedy of a people for political wrongs, and should not be inaugurated till every peaceful remedy has failed. But I will write no more on this subject; when we meet, I shall want to talk the matter over fully.

"I think we shall get away from here the last of this week or early next. The new administration will try to win popular favor and turn attention from the title by which it came to power by good conduct. I believe it means to reform some of the graver abuses which marked the administration under General Grant. I hope it will succeed in doing so. The country needs peace, and to end self-government at the South, and honesty and economy everywhere. I am not very sanguine, but I hope for the best.

"Very truly yours, "FRANCIS KERNAN."

LOUISE LIVINGSTON HUNT TO TILDEN

"MONTGOMERY PLACE, _May 4th, 1877_.

"DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I did not go to New Orleans after all, but I have just had a letter from there of which I think I must copy a few lines to send you, because they are so full of genuine heart-felt enthusiasm for yourself. They are from my brother--who, I think I told you, first mentioned at our own table here his conviction that you would and ought to be candidate for the Presidency. I had written him recently an account of the three cheers for Louisiana given by Mr. Hewitt's guests in New York on the day of the withdrawal of the troops. Mr. Bayard told me all about it, and I was touched to the heart at the generous feeling that prompted the cheers from the defeated Democrats--and their _great leader_. I mentioned the circumstance in writing to my brother, and here is his answer. 'I read with much pleasure your account of the entertainment where Mr. Tilden was present. The fact is I have felt so strongly his merit, his services, and his patriotism that I want him to be next President. I was, in the beginning, of the first among his friends, and I remain, after the dread experience of the past, where I commenced. Sometimes I am puzzled to think he did not favor an uprising of the people to seat him. _I did!_ Was it because he was wiser that he did not speak when he might have said, _"Vous qui m'aimez suivez moi!"_ I hope so.' 'Yes,' he goes on to say, 'God be praised--the men who have so long oppressed Louisiana are gone. Once more the State breathes free, and, filled with hope of the future, trusts to be again happy and prosperous.'

"I know that these sentiments will not be read by you with indifference, although from one you know not at all.

"I am, as you see by my date, in this spot, which I have loved so dearly from infancy. The snow-storm in the far West has made it cold, but the air is sweet with the fragrance of early spring. The events of each day is the newspaper, and how dull the papers seem after the excitement of the past year. Can't you stir up the elements again? If I dared I could point the way, but perhaps you think women know nothing of politics and would not heed the Sybil!

"With great regard, believe me,

"Very truly yours, "LOUISE LIVINGSTON HUNT."

W. B. LAWRENCE TO TILDEN

"OCHRE POINT, NEWPORT, _May 26, 1877_.

"DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I write to remind you, before you contract any engagements elsewhere, of your promise to pass here so much of the summer as may be agreeable to you. I have only my two unmarried sons with me; and I shall be most happy to place my house at the disposition of yourself and friends. If the ladies are willing to encounter the inconvenience of a bachelor's establishment, it would give me great pleasure to receive them. I shall be ready for you at any time that you may name.

"I was glad to learn from a long letter, which I had a few days ago from Judge Field, that the suggestion of which you spoke to Judge Clifford of a submission of the electoral vote to a more impartial tribunal than the Supreme Court, after the recent action of some of its members present, is seriously entertained with a hope of success, and I cannot but flatter myself that Blaine and his adherents, in order to divert the patronage from Hayes to be used against him in 1880, may be willing for such a change in the law of _Quo Warranto_ as, through the action of Florida and Louisiana, may enable you to assume the title, with which I have ventured to address you, before the period named by Judge Clifford for the vindication of popular rights.

"I am, yours very truly, "W. B. LAWRENCE."

THE NEW YORK "WORLD" AND JOHN BIGELOW (1877)

"A correspondent of the _World_ called upon Mr. Bigelow at his residence at Highland Falls yesterday, and in the course of his visit the following conversation took place:

"REPORTER. Mr. Bigelow, I understand that you prepared the volume published by the Appletons, in December, 1877, called the _Presidential Counts_, and particularly the analytical introduction prefixed to it, containing what was deemed to be at the time a semi-official Democratic view of the precedents and practice of the government applicable to the counting of the Presidential vote. Also that you were in frequent communication with Mr. Tilden, and in complete possession of his views and purposes during that crisis.

"MR. BIGELOW. You are correctly informed, so far as that publication is concerned.

"REPORTER. You doubtless read the story related recently by Mr. Mines in the _World_, and derived by him from General Woodford.

"MR. BIGELOW. I saw that publication, and glanced over its contents.

"REPORTER. The _World_ would like to know whether at any time under the then existing facts of the case, Mr. Tilden entertained any purpose of taking the oath of office as President of the United States?