Part 26

═════════════════════════════════╤════════╤════════ │ First. │ Second. ─────────────────────────────────┼────────┼──────── E. M. Chamberlain, Massachusetts │ 72 │ 57 Joel Parker, New Jersey │ 70 │ 112 Allanson M. West, Mississippi │ 18 │ ―― Thomas Ewing, Ohio │ 31 │ 22 W. G. Bryan, Tennessee │ 10 │ ―― ═════════════════════════════════╧════════╧════════

Davis and Parker were unanimously declared the candidates of the party for President and Vice-President.

Although Judge Davis had responded by telegraph to the notification of his nomination from the convention, expressing his gratitude for the honor conferred, he did not definitely accept. Had Judge Davis been nominated by the Liberal Republicans at Cincinnati in May, he would doubtless have remained as the candidate of the Labor Reformers, but in June, when there was no possibility of him being a candidate of any other organization, Davis and Parker both declined and retired from the contest. A small portion of the delegates were reconvened, and Charles O’Conor, of New York, was nominated for President, without naming any candidate for Vice-President. Thus, the Labor Reform organization was practically out of the battle of 1872.

A Prohibition National Convention was also held at Columbus on the 22d of February, with representatives from nine States, and Samuel Chase, of Ohio, was made permanent president. An elaborate platform was adopted, but the party does not seem to have been of sufficient importance to command the publication of its platform in full in the newspapers, and it is lost to history, as I have not been able to find it. James Black, of Pennsylvania, was nominated for President, and John Russell, of Michigan, for Vice-President by a unanimous vote, after having been presented by a committee on nominations.

The Liberal Republican National Convention met at Cincinnati on the 1st of May. The organized Republican opposition to Grant had its origin in the State contest in Missouri, where the Democrats and the Liberals united to efface a most proscriptive Constitution and laws, denying all rights of citizenship to those who had been engaged in rebellion. A number of meetings were held in the Western cities to organize the Liberal Republican party, and it was a mass-meeting of the Liberals of Missouri in Jefferson City, in January, 1872, that first decided to call a national convention of Liberal Republicans, and fixed Cincinnati and the 1st of May as the place and time for it to assemble.

It seemed evident to all who had intelligently and dispassionately observed the political situation that the majority of the people of the country would vote against the re-election of Grant if they could be heartily united, but the elements were strangely incongruous, as Greeley, Sumner, Trumbull, and many others of the Liberal leaders had been among the most earnest champions of radical Republicanism, and had antagonized the Democratic party so fiercely and persistently as to make unity between them apparently impossible. It was only the utterly helpless condition of the Democrats that made them entertain the question of fusing with the Liberals by taking their ticket and platform.

Strange as it may seem, Mr. Vallandigham, one of the most aggressive of all the Northern “Copperheads” during the war, and who had been arrested by Burnside and banished into the Southern lines, was one of the first of the leading Democrats to propose a union of all the elements opposed to Grant and unite in fully accepting the results of the war, the reconstruction policy, and the amendments to the Constitution. I attended this convention as a delegate and acted as chairman of the delegation. Of the prominent men named for the nomination, I greatly preferred David Davis, the executor of Abraham Lincoln, and a man so conservative and liberal in his political views and so thoroughly identified with the substantial interests of the country that he would have provoked no antagonism whatever from the financial and business interests of the nation, but Horace Greeley was his competitor for the place, and there was no man in the country for whom I cherished stronger affection. I had known Greeley for many years.

When the Liberal agitation began, the prominent candidates discussed were Horace Greeley, Charles Francis Adams, David Davis, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri. Greeley became intensely interested in his own nomination. He felt that he had devoted his life to the best efforts for his country, and especially for the lowly. He was the foremost of all in the great battle for the overthrow of slavery, and he craved the recognition of his work by an election to the Presidency. Before the convention met he made an appointment to meet me at the Colonnade Hotel in Philadelphia. He felt that he could speak with entire freedom to me, and he opened his heart to the full extent of saying how much he desired the nomination and what it meant to him.

Could I have made him President, I would gladly have done so, but I knew that he could not be elected, and told him so with frankness that he appreciated. He yielded to my judgment as to his availability, and accepted the suggestion that had then been made generally by the more conservative of the Liberal Republicans that David Davis would be the only candidate who could certainly defeat Grant. He was conservative, able, and clear-headed, and the business interests of the country would have had entire confidence in him. In answer to my statement that the Democrats certainly could not be united in Greeley’s favor, and without which an election could not be accomplished, he said: “Well, if they won’t take me head foremost, they might take me boots foremost,” meaning for Vice-President. I said I did not doubt that his nomination for the second place could be accomplished with every prospect of success at the election. We parted with the distinct understanding that his friends should move unitedly to nominate David Davis for President and Greeley for Vice-President.

When we reached Cincinnati a conference of the leading friends of Davis and Greeley was held the night before the convention met, Senator Fenton being present as the leader of the Greeley forces. Leonard Swett, the immediate representative of Davis, was present, along with John D. Defrees, of Indiana, and a number of others. The plan of operation was agreed upon, and when we adjourned to enjoy a late supper we regarded it as settled that Davis and Greeley would be nominated on the next day.

About midnight it was whispered that General Frank P. Blair, as the representative of B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, and others had held a secret conference to unite the Greeley and Brown forces to make Greeley the candidate for President and Brown second on the ticket. We soon discovered that the movement had been thoroughly organized, and many Greeley men who were much more zealous than discreet at once accepted the new situation, and forced even Fenton to fall back to the support of Greeley. Fenton was one of Greeley’s most sincere and devoted friends, and it was with great reluctance that he joined in the effort to nominate Greeley when he felt that it could result only in crucifying him. The withdrawal of the Greeley men from the Davis-Greeley combination left Davis a hopeless candidate, as the convention was largely radical and little inclined to consider questions of expediency.

The Liberal Republican National Convention was simply a huge mass-meeting, with nearly all of the States of the Union represented, and it was boiling over with go-as-you-please independence in politics. Stanley Matthews, afterward made Supreme Judge, was temporary president, and although he denounced the Grant administration in his opening speech as a monument of corruption, he soon thereafter bolted Greeley and supported Grant. Carl Schurz was made permanent president. The contest for President was evidently narrowed down to Adams and Greeley. I voted on every ballot for Adams, with whom I had little sympathy, and three-fourths of the Pennsylvania delegation voted with me. On the 6th ballot Greeley was nominated by changes of votes after the ballot had been announced, but I did not change the vote of Pennsylvania until he had received a majority of the votes of the convention. The following are the ballots for President:

══════════════════════════════╤═══════╤═══════╤══════╤═══════╤══════╤══════ │First. │Second.│Third.│Fourth.│Fifth.│Sixth. ──────────────────────────────┼───────┼───────┼──────┼───────┼──────┼────── Charles Francis Adams, Mass. │203 │ 243 │ 264 │ 279 │ 258 │ 324 Horace Greeley, New York │147 │ 245 │ 258 │ 251 │ 309 │ 332 Lyman Trumbull, Illinois │110 │ 148 │ 156 │ 141 │ 81 │ 19 B. Gratz Brown, Missouri │ 95 │ 2 │ 2 │ 2 │ 2 │ ―― David Davis, Illinois │ 92-1/2│ 75 │ 41 │ 51 │ 30 │ 6 Andrew G. Curtin, Pennsylvania│ 62 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Salmon P. Chase, Ohio │ 2-1/2│ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ 24 │ 32 ══════════════════════════════╧═══════╧═══════╧══════╧═══════╧══════╧══════

Mr. Greeley’s nomination was made unanimous, and the convention proceeded to ballot for Vice-President as follows:

═════════════════════════════╤═════════╤═════════ │ First. │ Second. ─────────────────────────────┼─────────┼───────── B. Gratz Brown, Missouri │ 237 │ 435 Lyman Trumbull, Illinois │ 158 │ 175 George W. Julian, Indiana │ 134-1/2│ ―― Gilbert C. Walker, Virginia │ 84-1/2│ 75 Cassius M. Clay, Kentucky │ 34 │ ―― Jacob D. Cox, Ohio │ 25 │ ―― John M. Scoville, New Jersey │ 12 │ ―― Thomas W. Tipton, Nebraska │ 8 │ 3 John M. Palmer, Illinois │ ―― │ 8 ─────────────────────────────┴─────────┴─────────

The following platform was unanimously adopted:

The administration now in power has rendered itself guilty of wanton disregard of the laws of the land, and of usurping powers not granted by the Constitution; it has acted as if the laws had binding force only for those who were governed, and not for those who govern. It has thus struck a blow at the fundamental principles of constitutional government and the liberties of the citizen.

The President of the United States has openly used the powers and opportunities of his high office for the promotion of personal ends.

He has kept notoriously corrupt and unworthy men in places of power and responsibility, to the detriment of the public interest.

He has used the public service of the Government as a machinery of corruption and personal influence, and has interfered with tyrannical arrogance in the political affairs of States and municipalities.

He has rewarded with influential and lucrative offices men who had acquired his favor by valuable presents, thus stimulating the demoralization of our political life by his conspicuous example.

He has shown himself deplorably unequal to the task imposed upon him by the necessities of the country, and culpably careless of the responsibilities of his high office.

The partisans of the administration, assuming to be the Republican party and controlling its organization, have attempted to justify such wrongs and palliate such abuses to the end of maintaining partisan ascendancy.

They have stood in the way of necessary investigations and indispensable reforms, pretending that no serious fault could be found with the present administration of public affairs, thus seeking to blind the eyes of the people.

They have kept alive the passions and resentments of the late civil war, to use them for their own advantage; they have resorted to arbitrary measures in direct conflict with the organic law, instead of appealing to the better instincts and latent patriotism of the Southern people by restoring to them those rights the enjoyment of which is indispensable to a successful administration of their local affairs, and would tend to revive a patriotic and hopeful national feeling.

They have degraded themselves and the name of their party, once justly entitled to the confidence of the nation, by a base sycophancy to the dispenser of executive power and patronage, unworthy of republican freemen; they have sought to silence the voice of just criticism, and stifle the moral sense of the people, and to subjugate public opinion by tyrannical party discipline.

They are striving to maintain themselves in authority for selfish ends by an unscrupulous use of the power which rightfully belongs to the people, and should be employed only in the service of the country.

Believing that an organization thus led and controlled can no longer be of service to the best interests of the Republic, we have resolved to make an independent appeal to the sober judgment, conscience, and patriotism of the American people.

We, the Liberal Republicans of the United States, in national convention assembled at Cincinnati; proclaim the following principles as essential to just government:

1. We recognize the equality of all men before the law, and hold that it is the duty of government, in its dealings with the people, to mete out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever nativity, race, color, or persuasion, religious or political.

2. We pledge ourselves to maintain the union of these States, emancipation and enfranchisement, and to oppose any reopening of the questions settled by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution.

3. We demand the immediate and absolute removal of all disabilities imposed on account of the Rebellion, which was finally subdued seven years ago, believing that universal amnesty will result in complete pacification in all sections of the country.

4. Local self-government, with impartial suffrage, will guard the rights of all citizens more securely than any centralized power. The public welfare requires the supremacy of the civil over the military authority, and the freedom of the person under the protection of the _habeas corpus_. We demand for the individual the largest liberty consistent with public order, for the State self-government, and for the nation a return to the methods of peace and the constitutional limitations of power.

5. The civil service of the Government has become a mere instrument of partisan tyranny and personal ambition, and an object of selfish greed. It is a scandal and reproach upon free institutions, and breeds a demoralization dangerous to the perpetuity of republican government. We therefore regard a thorough reform of the civil service as one of the most pressing necessities of the hour; that honesty, capacity and fidelity constitute the only valid claims to public employment; that the offices of the Government cease to be a matter of arbitrary favoritism and patronage, and that public station shall become again a post of honor. To this end it is imperatively required that no President shall be a candidate for re-election.

6. We demand a system of Federal taxation which shall not unnecessarily interfere with the industry of the people, and which shall provide the means necessary to pay the expenses of the Government, economically administered, the pensions, the interest on the public debt, and a moderate reduction annually of the principal thereof; and recognizing that there are in our midst honest but irreconcilable differences of opinion with regard to the respective systems of protection and free trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the people in their congressional districts and the decision of Congress thereon, wholly free from executive interference or dictation.

7. The public credit must be sacredly maintained, and we denounce repudiation in every form and guise.

8. A speedy return to specie payments is demanded alike by the highest considerations of commercial morality and honest government.

9. We remember with gratitude the heroism and sacrifices of the soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and no act of ours shall ever detract from their justly earned fame or the full rewards of their patriotism.

10. We are opposed to all further grants of lands to railroads or other corporations. The public domain should be held sacred to actual settlers.

11. We hold that it is the duty of the Government in its intercourse with foreign nations to cultivate the friendships of peace by treating with all on fair and equal terms, regarding it alike dishonorable to demand what is not right or submit to what is wrong.

12. For the promotion and success of these vital principles, and the support of the candidates nominated by this convention, we invite and cordially welcome the co-operation of all patriotic citizens, without regard to previous political affiliations.

When the convention adjourned I regarded the opportunity to make a successful contest against Grant as wholly lost. Greeley had been hammering the Democrats in his pungent paragraphs for thirty years, and they could have little sympathy with him, and the business interests of the country could not accept a President whose financial policy was expressed in the single sentence, “The way to resume is to resume,” referring, of course, to the resumption of specie payments, then the most vital issue. There were a number of prominent Democrats at the convention as spectators, and I was surprised to learn before midnight that many of them had decided to favor the nomination of the Cincinnati ticket by the Democratic convention.

The Democrats of Tennessee led off for the endorsement of Greeley by the Democratic National Convention, as did a number of other States, but it was not until the Democratic State Convention of Indiana met and nominated Hendricks for Governor, with a positive declaration in favor of supporting the Liberal Republican national ticket, that the position of the Democratic party was finally determined. After the bold attitude assumed by Hendricks, the Democratic dispute as to the policy of the party practically ended. It was very generally accepted that the only chance the Democrats had was to fall in as part of the Liberal Republican procession.

The Republican National Convention met in Philadelphia on the 5th of June, and as all the disturbing anti-administration elements had been eliminated by the organization of the Liberal Republicans, there was entire harmony in the renomination of General Grant. Morton McMichael, of Pennsylvania, was temporary chairman, and Judge Settle, of North Carolina, permanent presiding officer. The nomination of Grant was made by acclamation and with great enthusiasm, but there was a spirited and, indeed, a desperate contest for the Vice-Presidency. Colfax had been in ill-health some months before the meeting of the convention, and publicly announced his purpose not to be a candidate for re-election. Until then he had been an almost universal favorite with the newspaper correspondents of Washington, who had then become a very formidable political power, but after the announcement of his retirement his fellowship with them gradually diminished, and when later he announced that, notwithstanding his public declination, he would be a candidate for renomination, the Washington newspaper men organized and made an aggressive battle against him. It is not disputed that they accomplished his defeat, as Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, was nominated on the 1st ballot, receiving 364-1/2 votes to 321-1/2 for Colfax.

The campaign literature of this contest presented the singular fact that neither of the Republican candidates for the two highest offices of the Government bore his own proper name. Grant’s name was Hiram Ulysses, but when he was appointed a cadet to West Point he was erroneously entered as Ulysses S. Grant, and he accepted that name until his death. Another campaign story told how Henry Wilson’s true name was Jeremiah Colbath, and that when known as the “Natick Cobbler” he studied night and day to advance himself. He was very much charmed with the eloquence of Representative Wilson, of New Hampshire, and he finally adopted the name of Henry Wilson, by which he was known throughout his entire public career. The following platform was unanimously adopted:

The Republican party of the United States, assembled in national convention in the city of Philadelphia, on the 5th and 6th days of June, 1872, again declares its faith, appeals to its history, and announces its position upon the questions before the country.

During eleven years of supremacy it has accepted with grand courage the solemn duties of the time. It suppressed a gigantic rebellion, emancipated four millions of slaves, decreed the equal citizenship of all, and established universal suffrage. Exhibiting unparalleled magnanimity, it criminally punished no man for political offences, and warmly welcomed all who proved loyalty by obeying the laws and dealing justly with their neighbors. It has steadily decreased with firm hand the resultant disorders of a great war, and initiated a wise and humane policy toward the Indians. The Pacific Railroad and similar vast enterprises have been generously aided and successfully conducted, the public lands freely given to actual settlers, immigration protected and encouraged, and a full acknowledgment of the naturalized citizens’ rights secured from European powers. A uniform national currency has been provided, repudiation frowned down, the national credit sustained under the most extraordinary burdens, and new bonds negotiated at lower rates. The revenues have been carefully collected and honestly applied. Despite annual large reductions of the rates of taxation, the public debt has been reduced during General Grant’s Presidency at the rate of a hundred millions a year. Great financial crises have been avoided, and peace and plenty prevail throughout the land. Menacing foreign difficulties have been peacefully and honorably composed, and the honor and power of the nation kept in high respect throughout the world. This glorious record of the past is the party’s best pledge for the future. We believe the people will not intrust the Government to any party or combination of men composed chiefly of those who have resisted every step of this beneficent progress.

2. The recent amendments to the national Constitution should be cordially sustained because they are right, not merely tolerated because they are law, and should be carried out according to their spirit by appropriate legislation, the enforcement of which can safely be intrusted only to the party that secured these amendments.

3. Complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, political, and public rights should be established and effectually maintained throughout the Union by efficient and appropriate State and Federal legislation. Neither the law nor its administration should admit any discrimination in respect of citizens by reason of race, creed, color, or previous condition of servitude.

4. The National Government should seek to maintain honorable peace with all nations, protecting its citizens everywhere, and sympathizing with all peoples who strive for greater liberty.

5. Any system of the civil service under which the subordinate positions of the Government are considered rewards for mere party zeal is fatally demoralizing, and we therefore favor a reform of the system by laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage and make honesty, efficiency, and fidelity the essential qualifications for public positions, without practically creating a life-tenure of office.