Part 31

The Senate was carefully canvassed, and enough Republican votes were marshalled to throw the vote of the Senate in favor of Tilden on the Louisiana issue if Conkling would lead in support of that policy, and it was understood that he had agreed to do so. When the crucial time came Conkling did not appear at all, and the anti-Hayes Republicans, being without a leader, fell back to their party lines and gave the vote of the State and the Presidential certificate to Hayes. It is an open secret that Conkling resolved his doubts as urged by Mrs. Sprague, who thereby avenged the defeat of her father in the Democratic nomination of 1868, that had been accomplished by Tilden; and thus Tilden lost the Presidency, to which he had been elected by a popular majority of over 250,000.

THE GARFIELD-HANCOCK CONTEST

1880

The greatest battle ever fought in a national convention was witnessed at Chicago where the Republican National Convention met on June 2, 1880. Grant had made his journey around the world, received the homage of the highest rulers of every clime, and returned to be greeted with a degree of popular enthusiasm that had never before been given to any citizen of the Republic. During Grant’s absence his friends had made tireless efforts to organize his forces in all the States, and the friends of Blaine, who fought this battle royal with the friends of Grant, had been equally earnest and ceaseless to give Blaine the victory. It was indeed a battle of giants, and the auditorium in which the convention was held was the most impressive picture I have ever witnessed. There were not less than ten thousand spectators in addition to the full delegations and alternates from the States. Neither of the opposing chieftains ever had a majority in the body, but for a week they stood up face to face with unbroken lines and belligerent leaders in hand-to-hand conflict.

Among the delegates were Conkling, Garfield, Harrison, Logan, and many other conspicuous and able leaders of the opposing factions. Blaine’s people, with the aid of the field, weakened Grant’s lines by preventing the unit rule in any delegation, whereby Grant lost a considerable number of votes in New York, Pennsylvania, and other States. That was a test of the distinctive Grant strength in the body. Conkling opened the nominations by presenting the name of Grant, and he did it in imperial grandeur and with a degree of eloquence that was most impressive. Next to the speech of Ingersoll, who nominated Blaine in 1876, Conkling’s appeal for the nomination of Grant will stand as the ablest of all the many able deliverances in the history of American politics. I sat quite close to him on the platform when he delivered it, and he was a most interesting study. Had he been as discreet as he was eloquent, it would have been a perfect exhibition of impressive oratory; but Conkling was inspired not only by his love of Grant, but more influenced than he confessed to himself by an intense hatred of Blaine, that he cherished until his death.

He mortally offended every friend of Blaine, and thereby made it impossible even to win the hesitating men in the Blaine ranks by his keen and pungent fling at the delegates who disregarded their instructions to vote as a unit for Grant, and by his aggressive assault upon Blaine when he referred to Grant as a candidate “without patronage, without emissaries, without committees, without bureaus, without telegraph wires running from his house to this convention or running from his house anywhere.” Unlike the Ingersoll speech nominating Blaine in 1876, the speech of Conkling, able, eloquent, and grand as it was, left Grant weaker, instead of stronger.

Very general interest centred in General Garfield, who was at the head of the Ohio delegation, that was instructed for Senator Sherman for President. Garfield knew the situation; he knew that a third candidate must eventually be accepted, and he illy concealed his efforts to advance himself, while ostensibly struggling for Sherman. His speech nominating Sherman was a plea for peace rather than an aggressive presentation of Sherman’s claims, and it was well understood that his plea for peace was, in fact, a plea for himself. At various stages of the balloting tidal waves of enthusiasm would start for Garfield, and he narrowly escaped a spontaneous nomination. He was personally very popular, of imposing presence, a most accomplished speaker, and he was finally accepted by the friends of Blaine because he was not the partisan of either Blaine or Grant, and also because they could certainly win with him, and thus defeat Grant.

The convention became weary of what was evidently an equal contest between the Grant and Blaine forces, and all who were not intensely enlisted in the factional fight were glad to end the bitter struggle by accepting Garfield. Grant’s memorable 306 stood by him and never lowered their flag until they were defeated and fell with their faces to the foe.

Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, was the permanent president of the convention, and it was a battle of giants, lasting well in to the second week. Mr. Joy, who presented the name of Blaine to the convention, grievously disappointed the friends of the Plumed Knight. His advocacy of his chief was tame compared with the masterly orations of Conkling and Garfield, but his friends were in admirable fighting trim, and no such heroic struggle as that between Blaine and Grant has ever been recorded in the history of American politics. Conkling was chairman of his delegation, and was offensively imperious in every announcement that he made to the convention. His delegation had been instructed to vote a unit for Grant, but the convention had unshackled the delegates by allowing each one to cast his vote according to his choice, and Conkling in announcing the vote for Blaine in New York always did it with a sneer, and often with offensive expression. A ballot was not reached until Monday of the second week in the convention, and for two days the extraordinary spectacle was presented of Grant and Blaine holding their forces with but little variation, until the Blaine column finally broke for Garfield. The following table presents the ballots in detail:

════════╤═════════╤═════════╤════════╤════════╤══════════╤═════════╤═══════╤══════════╤═════════╤═════════╤══════════╤═════════╤═════════╤═════════╤══════╤════════════ BALLOTS.│ James A.│ Ulysses │James G.│ John │ Elihu B. │George F.│William│Rutherford│George W.│ Roscoe │ John F. │ Edmund │Philip H.│Benjamin │Total.│ Necessary │Garfield.│S. Grant.│Blaine. │Sherman.│Washburne.│Edmunds. │Windom.│B. Hayes. │McCrary. │Conkling.│Hartranft.│J. Davis.│Sheridan.│Harrison.│ │to a choice. ────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼─────────┼───────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────┼──────────── 1st │ ―― │ 304 │ 284 │ 93 │ 31 │ 34 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 2d │ 1 │ 305 │ 282 │ 94 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 3d │ 1 │ 305 │ 282 │ 93 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 755 │ 378 4th │ 1 │ 305 │ 281 │ 95 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 755 │ 378 5th │ 1 │ 305 │ 281 │ 95 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 755 │ 378 6th │ 2 │ 305 │ 280 │ 95 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 7th │ 2 │ 305 │ 281 │ 94 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 8th │ 1 │ 306 │ 284 │ 91 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 9th │ 2 │ 308 │ 282 │ 90 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 10th │ 2 │ 305 │ 282 │ 92 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 11th │ 2 │ 305 │ 281 │ 93 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 12th │ 1 │ 304 │ 283 │ 92 │ 33 │ 31 │ 10 │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 13th │ 1 │ 305 │ 285 │ 89 │ 33 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 14th │ ―― │ 305 │ 285 │ 89 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 15th │ ―― │ 309 │ 281 │ 88 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 16th │ ―― │ 306 │ 283 │ 88 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 754 │ 378 17th │ ―― │ 303 │ 284 │ 90 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 18th │ ―― │ 305 │ 283 │ 91 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 19th │ 1 │ 305 │ 279 │ 96 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 20th │ 1 │ 308 │ 276 │ 93 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 21st │ 1 │ 305 │ 276 │ 96 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 22d │ 1 │ 305 │ 275 │ 97 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 23d │ 2 │ 304 │ 275 │ 97 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 24th │ 2 │ 305 │ 279 │ 93 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 25th │ 2 │ 302 │ 281 │ 94 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 26th │ 2 │ 303 │ 280 │ 93 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 27th │ 2 │ 306 │ 277 │ 93 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 28th │ 2 │ 307 │ 279 │ 91 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 29th │ 2 │ 305 │ 278 │ 116 │ 35 │ 12 │ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 30th │ 2 │ 306 │ 279 │ 120 │ 33 │ 11 │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 31st │ 1 │ 308 │ 276 │ 118 │ 37 │ 11 │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 32d │ 1 │ 309 │ 270 │ 117 │ 44 │ 11 │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 33d │ 1 │ 309 │ 276 │ 110 │ 44 │ 11 │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 34th │ 17 │ 312 │ 275 │ 107 │ 30 │ 11 │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 756 │ 379 35th │ 50 │ 313 │ 257 │ 99 │ 23 │ 11 │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 756 │ 379 36th │ 399 │ 306 │ 42 │ 3 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378 ════════╧═════════╧═════════╧════════╧════════╧══════════╧═════════╧═══════╧══════════╧═════════╧═════════╧══════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═════════╧══════╧════════════

While it was generally expected that the convention would eventually stampede to Garfield, the movement was given vitality and form by the Wisconsin delegation. The only name prominently discussed as a compromise candidate in addition to that of Garfield was the name of Senator Windom, of Minnesota, who had received the vote of his State from the start. In a caucus of the delegation a small majority of the Wisconsin delegation voted to prefer Garfield to Windom, and that movement started the tide that gave the victory to Garfield. It is quite possible that if Wisconsin had declared for Windom, instead of Garfield, as it failed to do by only a very few votes, Windom might have been made the candidate, as he occupied a very strong position in the party, was free from factional alliances, and probably would have been quite as strong a candidate with the people as Garfield. When the Wisconsin delegation decided to break the deadlock by accepting Garfield, it opened the door for the wearied anti-Grant gladiators to find speedy and gratifying refuge. Grant’s column stood to him with marvellous fidelity. He started with 304 votes, never fell below 302, never rose above 313, and ended on the final ballot with 306. The nomination of Garfield was made unanimous amidst the wildest enthusiasm.

Senator Conkling was in violent temper over the defeat of Grant, and when he was asked to name a candidate for Vice-President he at first petulantly refused to do so, but some of his more deliberate friends suggested the name of Chester A. Arthur, who was in the delegation. Arthur had acted as chairman during part of the balloting when Conkling was absent, and his dignified and manly manner of announcing the vote of his State contrasted very favorably with the offensive manner of Conkling. Conkling assented to rather than dictated the nomination of Arthur, and the 1st ballot for Vice-President was as follows:

Chester A. Arthur, N. Y. 468 Elihu B. Washburne, Ill. 199 Marshall Jewell, Conn. 43 Horace Maynard, Tenn. 30 Edmund J. Davis, Texas 20 Blanche K. Bruce (Col.), Miss. 8 James L. Alcorn, Miss. 4 Thomas Settle, Fla. 2 Stewart L. Woodford, N. Y. 1

The nomination was promptly made unanimous. The following platform was unanimously adopted:

The Republican party in national convention assembled, at the end of twenty years since the Federal Government was first committed to its charge, submits to the people of the United States this brief report of its administration. It suppressed the Rebellion which had armed nearly a million of men to subvert the national authority. It reconstructed the Union of the States with freedom instead of slavery as its corner-stone. It transformed four millions of human beings from the likeness of things to the rank of citizens. It relieved Congress from the infamous work of hunting fugitive slaves, and charged it to see that slavery does not exist. It has raised the value of our paper currency from thirty-eight per cent. to the par of gold. It has restored upon a solid basis payment in coin for all the national obligations, and has given us a currency absolutely good and equal in every part of our extended country. It has lifted the credit of the nation from the point where six per cent. bonds sold at eighty-six per cent. to that where four per cent. bonds are eagerly sought at a premium. Under its administration railways have increased from thirty-one thousand miles in 1860 to more than eighty-two thousand miles in 1879. Our foreign trade has increased from seven hundred million dollars to one billion, one hundred and fifty million dollars in the same time, and our exports, which were twenty million dollars less than our imports in 1860, were two hundred and sixty-four million more than our imports in 1879. Without resorting to loans, it has, since the war closed, defrayed the ordinary expenses of government besides the accruing interest on the public debt, and has annually disbursed more than thirty million dollars for soldiers’ pensions. It has paid eight hundred and eighty-eight million dollars of the public debt, and, by refunding the balance at lower rates, has reduced the annual interest charge from nearly one hundred and fifty-one million dollars to less than eighty-nine million dollars. All the industries of the country have revived, labor is in demand, wages have increased, and throughout the entire country there is evidence of a coming prosperity greater than we have ever enjoyed.

Upon this record the Republican party asks for the continued confidence and support of the people, and this convention submits for their approval the following statement of the principles and purposes which will continue to guide and inspire its efforts:

1. We affirm that the work of the last twenty-one years has been such as to commend itself to the favor of the nation, and that the fruits of the costly victories which we have achieved through immense difficulties should be preserved; that the peace regained should be cherished; that the dissevered Union, now happily restored, should be perpetuated, and that the liberties secured to this generation should be transmitted undiminished to future generations; that the order established and the credit acquired should never be impaired; that the pensions promised should be extinguished by the full payment of every dollar thereof; that the reviving industries should be further promoted, and that the commerce, already so great, should be steadily encouraged.

2. The Constitution of the United States is a supreme law, and not a mere contract; out of confederated States it made a sovereign nation. Some powers are denied to the nation, while others are denied to the States; but the boundary between the powers delegated and those reserved is to be determined by the national, and not by the State tribunals.

3. The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several States, but it is the duty of the National Government to aid that work to the extent of its constitutional duty. The intelligence of the nation is but the aggregate of the intelligence in the several States, and the destiny of the nation must be guided, not by the genius of any one State, but by the average genius of all.

4. The Constitution wisely forbids Congress to make any law respecting an establishment of religion, but it is idle to hope that the nation can be protected against the influences of sectarianism while each State is exposed to its domination. We therefore recommend that the Constitution be so amended as to lay the same prohibition upon the Legislature of each State, and to forbid the appropriation of public funds to the support of sectarian schools.

5. We affirm the belief avowed in 1876, that the duties levied for the purpose of revenue should so discriminate as to favor American labor; that no further grant of the public domain should be made to any railway or other corporation; that, slavery having perished in the States, its twin barbarity, polygamy, must die in the Territories; that everywhere the protection accorded to citizens of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption; and that we esteem it the duty of Congress to develop and improve our watercourses and harbors, but insist that further subsidies to private persons or corporations must cease; that the obligations of the Republic to the men who preserved its integrity in the hour of battle are undiminished by the lapse of the fifteen years since their final victory—to do them perpetual honor is, and shall forever be, the grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people.

6. Since the authority to regulate immigration and intercourse between the United States and foreign nations rests with Congress, or with the United States and its treaty-making powers, the Republican party, regarding the unrestricted immigration of the Chinese as an evil of great magnitude, invoke the exercise of those powers to restrain and limit that immigration by the enactment of such just, humane and reasonable provisions as will produce that result.

7. That the purity and patriotism which characterized the earlier career of Rutherford B. Hayes in peace and war, and which guided the thoughts of our immediate predecessors to him for a Presidential candidate, have continued to inspire him in his career as Chief Executive, and that history will accord to his administration the honors which are due to an efficient, just, and courteous discharge of the public business, and will honor his interposition between the people and proposed partisan laws.

We charge upon the Democratic party the habitual sacrifice of patriotism and justice to a supreme and insatiable lust of office and patronage; that to obtain possession of the national and State Governments and the control of place and position they have obstructed all efforts to promote the purity and to conserve the freedom of suffrage, and have devised fraudulent certifications and returns; have labored to unseat lawfully elected members of Congress, to secure at all hazards the vote of a majority of the States in the House of Representatives; have endeavored to occupy by force and fraud the places of trust given to others by the people of Maine, and rescued by the courageous action of Maine’s patriotic sons; have, by methods vicious in principle and tyrannical in practice, attached partisan legislation to appropriation bills, upon whose passage the very movements of the Government depend, and have crushed the rights of individuals; have advocated the principles and sought the favor of rebellion against the nation, and have endeavored to obliterate the sacred memories of the war, and to overcome its inestimably valuable results of nationality, personal freedom, and individual equality.