This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you.

Usage guidelines

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.

We also ask that you:

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for personal, non-commercial purposes.

+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.

+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.

About Google Book Search

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web

at|http : //books . google . com/

us \3.^0. '-^'^

HARVARD COLLEGE L I B R A R Y

.^^

^

^ ^^^^^ €_

1... i V

; t

i ^ •■ " \ . ■-;

\ \

Livingstone's History

OF THE

Republican Party

A HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN I>AR T Y FROM ITS FOUNDATION TO THE CLOSE OF THE CAM- PAIGN OF 1900, INCLUDING INCIDENTS OF MICHIGAN CAMPAIGNS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

VOL. I.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN:

Wm. Livingstone, Pi-blisher.

'J S.I St-.^S^^

COPTaiOHT, i©oo.

Bt WM. LIVINGSTONE. DETROIT. MICHIGAN.

IVei Dttroii

PREFACE.

Tiiere have been iimny histories written recounting portions of the life and activities of the Kepublican party, but none that cover the wliole p(»rio(l of its existence from its foundation in 1854 to the elosing campaign of the Nineteenth Century. No account of the Jack- son (\mventi(m, wliich first gav(» form and utterance to the convictions out of wliich tlie Kepublican j»arty gr(»w, lias ever before been set forth in book form. It seemed to the publisher particularly appro- priate that su<h a history should be prepared in the State in which the Party was founded, in which it has won some of its most noted triumphs, and which has furnished to the Party councils and to the Nation's history some of the most distinguished names. The History includes an account of every National Convention and Campaign from 1856 to 1900, the text of every National Kepublican platform adopted, and the principal events occurring during each Administration. Local interest is added by a brief statement of the results of each camxiaign in Michigan, and by a number of chapters that relate exclusively to political movements in this State. Tlie publisher considers himself fortunate in having secured for the preparation of the general history the a^isistance of Mr. William Stocking, who during almost his whole adult life has been at the newspaper end of political campaigns, and who has attended nearly all of the State Ccmventions held in Michigan since 1808.

It would be impossible, without extending the work far beyond reasonable limits, to sketch, biographically, all the men whose politi- cal prominence or party services des^n've mention. Their acts are in man}' cases, interwoven with the text of the history. So far as sep- arate sketches and portraiture have been employed it has been the aim to select men who were of State prominence, as well as repre- sentative in their respective localities. The artistic excellence of the portraiture will be apparent to everyone who opens the volumes, and needs no word of commendation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

1. ACTS OF PKO-SLAVEUY AGGRESSION 1-18

Adoption of the Missouri Compromise — Purpose of tiie Mexican War — Actiuisition of Slave TeiTitory — The Wilmot Proviso — Its Defeat and the Confidence of the South— The Campaign of 1848— Non-Committal Policy of the Whigs — President Taylor and the Admission of California — The Fugitive Slave l^aw and Other Compromise Measures— Intense Feeling at the North— The Campaign of 1852— Kenewal of the Agita- tion and Repeal of the Missouri Compromise — The Day of Compro- mises at an End.

II. THE WORK OF PREPARATION 19-34

The Situation in Michigan in 1854— The Breaking Down of Old Party Lines- Strong Anti-Slavery Sentiment in the State — The Underground Railway Line — Correspondence of Whig Editors — An Important Pre- liminary Meeting — Statements from Some of the I^eaders— Free Democratic Mass Convention — It Nominates a Ticket and Makes Over- tures for a T'nion— Rousing Anti-Nebraska Meetings — Valuable Work by Whig and Free Democratic Editors— Encouragement From the Early Elect i<ms — A Long Step Towards Union— Strong Resolutions and a Rousing Call.

III. THE FIRST REPUBLK^AN CONVENTION 35-55

A Quick Response to a Rousing Call— The Great Convention "Under th«» Oaks'* at Jackson— An Immense Gathering of Strong and Repre- s»*ntative Men— A Series of Patriotic and Stirring Resolutions — Business Transacted by Democratic Methofls — A Body Harmonious in l*urpose and Results— The Most Noted Gathering Ever Held in the State- Men WTio Afterwards Became I'rominent in National Affairs— How the Party Received Its Name — The T^ast of Michigan Whig Conventions —Course of the Prohibitionists— The Democratic Nominations — The New Party Comlucts a Short and Winning Campaign.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page. IV. SOLIDIFYING THE PARTY 56-64

Claims to Priority in OrganizatioQ— Mixed CoQilitioQ and Various Names of Parties in 1854— The Conduct of Affairs in Kansas Gradu- ally Brings all Anti-Slavery Elements Togetiier— A Land Trick in the Interest of the Missourians— Free State Emigrant Aid Societies— —Murders and Depredations by the Missourians— Elections Carried by Force and Fraud— Heroic Resistance by Free State Men and Subse- quent Gain in Influence—Their Final Success— Kansas at Last Ad- mitted as a Free State, with Republican Oflicers and Ijegislature.

V. THE CONVENTION AND CAMPAIGN OF 1856 65-77

First Republican National Convention— Nomination of Fremont antl Dayton with a Strong Platform— A Spiritetl Campaign With Ardent Hopes of Success— The October Elections Have a Depressing Effect — In Noveml>er Buchanan is Elected by Narrow Margins in the Middle States —The Election Considered a Moral Triumph for the Repu}»lieans, and a Sure Indication of Future Success — An Exciting and Vigonmsly Con- ducte<l Campaign in Michigan— The Result a Decisive and Enduring Triumph — The Old School Democracy of the Peninsular State In Its Death Throes.

VI. PRESIDENT BUCHANANS ADMINISTRATION 78-88

A Fresh Shock to the North— The Dred Scott Decision- Its Effect Was to Nationalize Slavery — The Decision Known to the President in Ad- vance—The (^olored People Not Citizens Nor Possessed of Rights Which the White Men Were Bound to ltesi>ect— The Black Man Not Thought of Except as l*ruperty — The John Brown Raid and Its Effect T'pon the South — Character and Career of Brown— The (ireat Debates Betwt^'n Lincoln and Douglas— Last Successful Opposition to Internal Improvements— A Prophetic Utterance.

VII. THE SECOND NATIONAL CONVENTION 89-103

The Douglas Democrats and the Seceders From the Charleston Con- vention—The Republicans Meet at Chicago in High Hopes— Immense Gathering at the Wigwam — All the Free Slat<'s and Six Slave States Represented— Some of the Distinguished Men Present— Joshua R. Gid- dings and the Declaration of Independence — A Ringing Platform Adopted— Seward First Choice of a Majority of the Delegates — Influences that Operated Against Him- Necessity of Carrying the Mi<1dle States— Dramatic Seene When Liiieoln was Nominated— Dis- appointment of Michigan Republicans— Strong Nomination for Vice- President.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page. VIII. THE LINCOLN AND HAMLIN CAMPAIGN 104U2

The Regular Democratic and Seceders' Couveutions— Nomiuations of Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell— Certainty of a Division of the Demo- cratic Vote — Combinations of Democrats and Constitutional Uoion Men — Seward and His Friends Disappointed, But He Does Good Work in the Campaign — Conservative Appeals to Business Men — Seward's Reply — A Torch Light and Parade Campaign— Origin of the Wide Awakes — Douglas on the Stumii — Fusion in New York State — The Re- publicans Win and Have Both Houses of Congress.

IX. THE INTERREGNUM 113-123

A Country Without a Government— Plots for the Disr!iption of the Union — Plans for Secession Had Long Been in Preparation — Utter- ances in the Secession Conventions — Plotters in the Departments at Washington— Arms Sent From the North to Southern Arsenals— Vessels of the Navy Widely Scattered— Preparations for Seizing Southern Forts — Vacillation of the President over His Message — He Finally Con- cludes That the Government Has No Power to Prevent Secession— The South Carolina '^Embassy"— Secession of the Southern States and With- drawal of Members of Congress— Union Meetings in the North— The Crittenden Compromise — The Peace Conference.

X. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION 124-138

Lincoln's Journey to the Capitol— His Purpose as Regards Slavery- Formation of the Cabinet and Discordant Elements There— Prominent Meo in Congress— Divided Opinions About the Southern Forts— Seward's "Thoughts for the President's Consideration"— The South Caroliua Embassy— The Bombardment of Fort Sumter— The First Call for Volunteers — I'rompt Response by Congress to the President's Requests— Important Acts of General Legislation— The Question of Returning Fugitives— The President Puts the Union Above the Slavery Question— Events Leading Up to the Emancipation Proclamation — Varying Fortunes of the War.

XI. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RENOMINATION 139-150

His Own Attitude Toward the Question- Elements of Hostility to Him — The Pomeroy Circular and the Chase Movement— The I'nion Repub- lican Convention and the Nomination of Fremont— A Feeler Put Out for General Grant — The Baltimore Convention— Lincoln Renominated by Acclamation on a Strong Platform— He Secures the Nomination of Andrew Johnson for Vice-President.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page. XII. THE LINCOLN AND JOHNSON CAMPAIGN 151-164

Cliangin}; ProsiM't-ts of the Canipai;;!!— The Denioerats Give the Kepul>- Ii<-ans Valuable Aid— They Put a War General ou a Peace Platform— The War-is-a-Failure I'tlerance Ueaets Ajrainst Them — UiiioQ Vic- tories Helj) the KepuMican Cause — McClellaii Virtually Repudiates the Platform, aad This Causes (iivat Dissatisfaction — Vallandigham, and His Grievances— Pea c** Neprotiat inns— The September and Oi-toluT Klei- tious Favorable — A Swt't'pinjr Kepublican Triumph.

XIIL THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT 165-174

Important Events Atten<ling the Close of President Lincolu*s Admiu- iat ration— Pi*ominent Members in the House of the Thirty-eighth Congress- The Thirteenth Ami»nduient Introtluced by an Old Democrat — Its Easy Passa;r*» in the St'Ujite — I*rolonged Cont<»si Ovor the Measun' in the House— Being Defeated Its Parliamentary Standing Was Pre- served by Jamt's M. Ashley— The Leading Sp*»akers ft»r and Against It— The Presiilent and Secreiary St'ward rs<' Their Intiuenct' In Its Favor —Final Adoptiim of the Amendment.

XIV. THE END OF THE WAR 175-183

Futile Attempts at Negotiation— IVesident Lincoln's Ultimatum — Southerners Still Seek Recognition of the Confederacy — Mission of Fram'is P. Rlair— Jeflfi'rson I>avis Appoints Peace Commissioners — Presid«»nt LiiH*oln Visits Fortress Monroe^ -The Overtures Rejected — War Meeting at Riehmo:id-R*'port of (Vuwpiracy Among Demo<Tatie Generals— Suce-'sses of Sherman. Sheridan rind Grant— The Evacuatioa of Rii'hmond— Lint nln's Visii tn that City — Ills (greeting by the Colored Peopli'- -Snrreinler of Lee- Assassination «>f i\\v President — Sherman's Terms with Johnston -Disbandment of ihe Annies.

XV. ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS POLICY 1S4-202

Forebodings of the Northerners iu Regard to Johnson— His Campaign Speeches Made An Unfavorable Impression — His Threats Toward the South — Talk About Making Treason Odious— Sudden Change of Atti- tude— Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon— Poor Selections of Pro- visional Governors for the Southern States — Mischievous Results of the I'resident's Plan— Southeni States Re-enact Slavery in Another Form— They Accept the Thirteenth Amendment and Then Proceed to Nullify It — Discriminations Against (\dored People in the Punishment of Offenses — The President's Message — Ommittee on Reconstruetiim— In- teresting Debates on the Southern Question- Passage of the First Rec<mst ruction .Vet an«l Proceedings Under It— The Fourteenth Amend- ment to the -Constitution.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page. XVI. THE IMPEACUING CONCUiESS 203-220

The Elections of 1866— The Arm-ia- Arm. Convention in Philadelphia— A Serious Movement Turned to Ridicule — Conventions of Southern Loyalists and Northern Republicans— A Powerful Address to the Coun- try by the Former— The President's ''Swing Around the Cin-le*'— Administratiou and Anti-A<lniiuistration Soldiers' and Sailors' Conven- tions— Large Republican Majority in the New Congress— Johnson's Numerous Vetoes— Charges and Articles of Impeachment— Attempt to Force Secretary Stanton Out of Office — Impeachment Renewed— Trial of the Case and Benefits Therefrom— The Fifteenth Amendment.

XVII. THE FOURTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION 221-230

The Party at Sea With Regard to a Caudidat** — A Gradual Turning Toward Grant— His Discretion During Johnson's Career — Meeting of the Chicago Convention— Delegates From the Soldiers' and Sailors' Con- vention— A Ringing, Patriotic and National Platform Adopted — (Seneral Ix)gan's Brief and xVppropriate Presentation of Grant's Nami» — The General Unanimously Nominated — Six Ballots for Vice-President — Speaker Colfax Finally Wins— A Michigan In<-ident in Connection With the Contest— Brief and Timely Letters of .\cceptance — Grant's Defer- ence to the Popular Wishes.

XVIII. THE GRANT AND COLFAX CAMPAIGN 231-241

The Democratic Tammany Hall Convention— "Your Candidate 1 Can- not Be" — The Nominatit)n of Seymour and Blair— A Very Critical and Fault-Finding Platform— Blair's Previous Record — A Weak Point in the Ticket — The Southern Fire-Eaters Too Outspoken— An Active and Bitter Contest —A Flood of Campaign Poetry — (Jrant's Si)eeches — Seymour's Electioneering Tour- -A (Jreat Triumph for the Republicans —A I^argc .Majority of the Popular Vote, the Vote in the Electoral College and in (%mgress.

XIX. PRESIDENT GRANTS FIRST TERM 242-252

Paragraphs from the President's Inaugural Message — A Cabinet that Did Not Long IIoM Together — Attempts to Solve the Reconstruction Probhm— Settling Old S<-ores with Great Britain— Financial Issues Come to the Front — How to Discharge the Public Obligations and (iet Back to Specie Payments— The A<t to Stn^igthen the Public Credit— The Refunding Act— Tlie Coinage Act I>emonetizing Silver— The Salary Gral) — The Tn»aty of Washington— The Proposed San Domingo Pur- chase Defeated.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page XX. THE FIFTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION 253-261

The NoniinatioD for l*resident Determined Beforehnud— A Large Amount of SiM'eohmakiag of a High Order — President Grant Unani- mously Renominated — A Scene of the Wildest Enthusiasm — Numerous Candidates lor Vice-President — Henry Wilson R<HH»ives the Nomina- tion on the First Ballot — The Work of Newspaper Correspondents— A Ix>ng Platform Covering a Variety of Suhjerls — Strong Commendations of the Candidates — Modest Letters of Acceptance.

XXL THE LIBERAL REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN 262-274

An Element of Great Uncertainty— The Liberal Republican Convention at Cincinnati— The Framing of a IMatform a IMfticult Problem— Attempt to Catch Both Democrats and Lil»eral Republi<*ans — Nou-Commital on the Tariff Questicm- (Jreeley Nominated on the Sixth Ballot— B. (Sratz Bn»wn for Vice-Presi<lent — An Incongruous Ticket— The Nominations a Disappointment to the Democrats, But Accepte<l by Them — Consterna- tion in Two Detroit Newspaper Offices — A Campaign of Ridi<*ule— Straight Democratic Ticket— Unpiecedented Republican Triumph.

XXIL TWO YEARS OF DISASTER 275-285

The Civil Rights Quest i<m -Reference to the San Domingo Aflfair— Repeal of the Salary Gral) — Important Financial Measures— The Senate Currency Bill— Passage of the Resumption Act as a Party Measure — Supplementary Civil Rights Bill Passetl— Various Constitutional Amend- ments Projmsed — The Panic of 1873 and the Depressioa That Followed —Disastrous Political Effects — The Electituis (Jive Demorrats a Large Majority in the House— (^hanges in Many NurtlnM-n States.

XXIIL THE SIXTH REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN 286-301

The Three Natural Republican leaders— Blaine's Popularity With the Republicans-Democratic Attacks Upon Him— His Bold Defense in the llyiist-— Reading of the Mulligan Letters- His Attack of Sunstroke — IngersoU's Brilliant Speech at the Ciueiunaii Ciuivcntion— A Chjse Contest for the Nomination— It Goes to Rutherford B. Hayes on the Seventh Ballot William A. Whet-bM- Nominated for Vic<'-Presid«'nt— A Long Platform Declaration— New Departure for th** lK»moerats— Tilden and Hendricks Nominated— Tilden Conducts His Own Canvass —A Closely Contestetl Campaign— Hayes Has One Majority on the Electoral Vote.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Pago. XXIV. THE ELECTORAL COUNT 303-319

A Severe Test of Republican Government — Both Sides Claim the Elec- tion— Disputed Votes in the Southern States — Question as to the Rights of the President of the Senate — Various Propositions With Reference to the Count— An Electoral Commission Decided Upon — Constitution of the Commission Democratic— Disappointment as to Judge Davis- Several Votes of Eight to Seven — Hayes Declared Elected— Disclosures of Attempts to Buy Electoral Votes

XXV. ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT HAVES 320-336

A Strong Cabinet Selected— Four Important Political and Financial Events— Abandonment of Southern Republicans— Ku-Klux and Tissue Ballot Outrages In the South— The Bland-Allison Silver Coinage Meas- ure— Changes in the New York Custom House— A Famous Civil Service Order — A Circular Against Political Assessments — The Greenback Craze of 1878 — The Resumption of Specie Payments — Regulating the Electoral Count — Restricting Chinese Immigration— Pensioning Jeflf Davis— Senator Chandler's Eloiiuent Protest.

XX VL THE SEVENTH REPT'BLICAN CONVENTION 336-352

The Ancient Quarrel Between Blaine and Conkling— Its Effect on the Convention of 1880 — Unsuccessful Attempt to EnfonM* the Unit Rule— The Three Next Republican I'residents in the Convention — Sharp Debate Between Senator Conkiing and the West Virginia Members- Important Amendment to the Rules— The Platform Adopted— Conk- ling's Great Speech in Nomination of Grant— The Nomination of (Jarfield — Conkling's Motion to Make it Unanimous — Supported by General Logan— General Arthur Nominated for Vice-President — The Exciting Conventi(m Closes With Apparent Good Feeling.

XXVH. THE GARFIELD AND ARTHUR CAMPAIGN 353-360

The Democratic Convention at Cincinnati— Declarations of the Plat- form—Nomination of Hancock "The Superb*' on the Second Ballot — The Tariff a Local Issue — The Greenback Candidate and Platform— Not a Bright Prospect for the Republicans— A Change After the Mentor Conference— General Grant's Good Work for the Ticket— Result of the October Elections — The Morey Forgery— The Campaign Ends With a Substantial Republican Triumph.

TABLE OF CONTEXTS.

Pag»». XXVIU. THE GAKFIKLD AND ARTIIL'R ADMINISTRATION 361-374

Rlaiiu**s Pur|M)S4» in Takiug the Statr Portfolio— A Series of Uufor- tiinute Api>oiiUnients--Sright8 I'pou Mr. Conkling and His Indigaation Thereat— Resignation of the New York Senators— Bontwell's Statement <»f the Affair— Sne<'essors of Senators (.^onkling and Piatt— Assassina- tion of Pn»si<h'nt Garfield— (Jnitean's Letter of Explanation — Press Lt^ssons Drawn From the Traju'edy— (.'hanjros Made in the Cabinet by Pi-esident Arthnr— His Prudent and Suecessful Administration— The Question of Civil Service Reform— The Tariff of 1883 — Morrison's Hori- zontal Reduction Plan— Other Important Measures.

XXIX. THE EIGHTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION 375-392

Prr)min«»ut Men in Attendance as Delegates— Contest Over th«» Tem- lM>rary Chairman— An Important Change in the Rules— Text of the I*1atform Adoi)led— Hlaine and Arlhur the Leadinp Candidates -Nomina- tion of the Former -Analysis of the \'ote — General Logan for Vi(v- President— Opposition to the Ticket Within the Party— The Rise and fjood Fortnne of Grover (.''leveland — He Receives the Demoi-ratic Nom- ination—A Bitter Personal Contest —Rlaine's Western Tour — His Unfor- tunate Stay in New York— Parson Burchard's Misfit Speech— Success of the Democratic Ticket.

XXX. CLEVELAND'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 393-402

His Civil Service Attitude Pleases Neither the Partisans Nor the R»»fornn'rs— Cotduess Betwe*'n the President and A'ice-Pn^sident— Selec- ti«»n of the Cabinet- Repeal of rh*- Teniin«-or-OlIlce Act— Clean Sweep of the ()tlb'es--C!ev*dand*s Pension Vetoes— Orib»r for Restoring the Soutlu'rn Fbi;:s— Resentment of the Grand Army Posts — Rebuilding; tin* Navy- The EU'etoral Count and Pivsidential Suceession Arts — The Inter-State Commerce Measure— The Newfoundland and Alaska Fish- eries— The President's Extraordiuar.v Tariff Messape — The Mills Hill and General Tariff Dismssion.

XXXL THE CAMPAIGN OF 1888 403-418

A New Set of Candidates for the Republieau Nomination— Blaine and Shermau the Only Old Ones Mentioned ami Blaine Positively With- draws—McKinley Forbids the Use of His Nanu' — Sherman Leads Through Six Hallo's— (ien«M:il Al;:er. of Mi<hip:an. a Strf>njir Possibility —The Nomination Finally Goes to Hanison- -Th<» Text of the Platform -The D«'iu<M'rats Renominate Cb»veland bj Acclamation. With Thur- man Se<-ond on the Ticket— A (^uiet Campaicn— The Murchison Incident —The Republicans Win.

TABLE OF C02STE2S'T«.

Page. XXXH. PRESIDENT HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION 419-428

A Close House in Congress — Prospect of 1 Jttle Liegislation— The Device of Speaker Reed— A femall Majority Made Effective — Obstructive Tac- tics Baffled — The Silver Question Made l*romiuent — Passage of the Sherman Silver Act — The Republicans Not in Control on This Subject — Ihe ikargain Under >Vhich the I'assage of the McKiuley Tariff Act Became Possible— Effects ©f That Act on Trade— The Political Whirl- wind of 1890.

NXXIII. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1892 429-442

Hard Work for Minneapolis as the Place of Gathering for the Republi- can Convention— A Stirring and Comprehensive IMatform — Recogni- tion of Woman's Aid in the Campaign — Harrison in the Lead for the Nomination— Blaine's Name Presented at the Last— Three Unwonted Demonstrations at the Convention — Harrison and Reid Nominated — The Democratic Convention and the Campaign— An Unexpectedly ^ Sweeping Triumph for Cleveland and His Party.

XXXIV. CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION 443-460

The Selection of the Cabinet — Geographical Consideratious Disregarded — The Democrats in Complete I*ower fur the First Time Since 1861 — Delays in ActioQ on the Sherman Law and the Tariff Question— The Special Session Called Late — Repeal of the Sherman Law Finally Accomplished — Unsatisfactory Work on the Tariff Measure — Becomes a Law Without the President's Signature- An Act of "Party Perfidy and Dishonor'* — Tremendous Political Overturn in 1894— The Sandwich • Island Affair.

XXXV. ELEVENTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION 461-470

M<rKinh»y Long Before Recognized as the Coming Man for President — A Highly Successful Political Career— TIm' Convention at St. Louis — The Campaign Pronouncement-Contest (^ver the Silver Plank — Sensa- tional Withdrawal of the Silver Republicans— Their Statement to the Country -Only one Ballot Each lor President and Vice-President — I*oints From the Letters of Acceptanee.

XXXVI. THE SIXTEEN TO ONE CAMPAIGN 471-482

The Democratic Convention— The Free Silver Coinage Men Aggressive and Confident — A Free Silver Triumph in Choice of Temporary Presi- dent and in the Platform — The Announcement of Prineiples After- wards Modified by the Committee — Bryan's Taking Speech and His Nomination — Accepted by the I'opuiists and the Free Silver Republi- cans—Interest of the Business Men in the Campaign — McKinley and Hobart Elected With a Republican Congress.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page. XXXVII. PRESIDENT McKINLEl'S ADMINISTRATION 483^95

Formation of the New Cabinet— Two Matters of Grave Domestic Im- portance—The Currency and the Tariff Questions— Prompt Action on Both— Passage of the Dingley Tariff Act— The Hawaiian Islauds An- nexed—Strained Relations With Spain— The Destruction of the Maine- War Breaks Out and Is Vei-y Speedily Terminated— Brilliant Opera- tions in Cuba, Porto Rico aud the Philippines — Subsequent Desultory Warfare in the Latter Islands.

XXXVIII. TWELFTU REPUBLICAN CONVENTION 496-510

A Large and Harmonious Gatheriug at Philadelphia— Meuibers Present Who Were Delegates to the First Republican Convention in the Same City — Admirable I'reseutation of Campaign Issues by the Chairman- A Strong IMatform Adopted— President McKinley Unanimously Ri'uoui- inated — Large Number of IVrsons Mentioned for the Vice-l*resideucy— The Nomination Finally Thrust Upon an Unwilling Candidate.

XXXIX. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1900 511-522

Bryan's Supremacy in the I>emocratic Convention- He is Absolute Dictator in Respect to the Platform— He Is the Candidate, Also, of the Populists and Silver Republicans— Adlai E. Stevenson and Charles A. Towne Nominated for Vice-President- The Latter Reluctantly With- <iraws— The Letters of Acceptance — Animated but One-Sided Campaign —The Imperialist Cry — Division of the Gold Democrats— A Decisive Victory for the Republican Ticket.

XL. REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTIONS 523-544

The Executive Nominating Gatherings From 1856 to the Present Time —The Gubernatorial Can<lidates from Bingham to Bliss — A Long Roll of Public Spirited and Distinguished Men — A Number of Close and In- tei-esting Contests— Ballots for the Head of the Ticket in Detail— Names of the Candidates for Other OfDces — A Series of Splendid Successes Broken by Only Two Defeats— Treatment of Public Questions by the Various Conventions— How the Magnificent Gathering of 1878 Met the (in*enlMick Onslaught — The Party's Tr#?atment of the Temperance, Silver and Taxation Questions— Its Attitude in 1900.

INDEX TO ENGRAVINGS.

Page.

Zachariah Chandler Frontispiece

Under the Oaks at Jackson Facing 85

Abraham Lincoln '^ 99

Lincoln and His Cabinet ■ ' 126

Thomas W. Ferry " 30;1

William McKinley. , " 483

Kingsley S. Bingham 25

David S. Walbridge 36

Jacob M. Howard 43

Nathaniel P. Banks, Jr 62

John Sherman 64

John C. Fremont 66

William L. Dayton 67

James Buchanan 72

Charles Sumner 74

Roger B. Taney 80

Stephen A. Douglas 86

Joshua R. Giddings 92

William H. Seward 96

Simon Cameron 97

Thurlow Weed 98

Andrew G. Curtin 100

Ilannibal Hamlin 101

John J. Crittenden 120

Salmon P. Chase 132

Samuel C. Pomeroy 141

General U. S. Grant 144

Henry J. Raymond 145

Andrew Johnson 149

George B. McClellan 154

Clement L. Vallandigham 156

David G. Farragut 157

Oliver P. Morion 161

INDEX TO ENGRAVINGS.

Page.

Galusha A. Grow 167

James M. Ashley 168

General Philip H. Sheridan 178

General William T. Sherman 17;>

Schuyler Colfax 11)3

Thaddeus Stevens 194

Samuel Shellabarger 196

Edwin M. Stanton 212

Benjamin F. Butler 214

AVilliam M. Evarts 216

John A. Logan 226

Benjamin F. Wade 227

Horatio Seymour 236

Henry Wilson 254

Charles Francis Adams 265

Horace Greeley 266

Koscoe Conkling '. 289

Kutherford B. Hayes 298

William A. Wheeler 299

James A. Garfield 351

William H. Robertson 363

Chester A. Arthur 370

James G. Blaine 383

Grover Cleveland 388

Benjamin Harrison 407

I^vi P. Morton 415

Chauncey M. Dej)ew 436

Marcus A. Hanna 480

Theodore Koosevelt 502

ACTS OF PRO-SLAVERY AGGRESSION.

Adoption of the Missouri Comproniise — Purpose of the Mexican War — Acquisition of Slave Territory — The Wilmot Proviso — Its Defeat and the Confidence of the South— The Campaign of 1848 — Non-Committal Policy of the AVhigs — President Taylor and the Admission of California — The Fugitive Slave Law and Other Compromise Measures — Intense Feeling at the North — The Cam- paign of 1852 — Renewal of the Agitation and Repeal of The Missouri Compromise — The Day of (.'ompromises at an End.

Although the consolidation of a large niajority of the Anti-Slavery voters of the North into the Republican party was finally a matter of a few months, yet the events that led to it covered a period of fully three decades. It was only after long discussion and strong opposi- tion that Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state in 1820. To quiet this opposition those who favored admission finally proposed a section in the bill, enacting, **That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36 degrees and *M) minutes of north latitude, not included within the limits of the state contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than as the punishment of crimes, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited."

Even with this pledge for the future the admission of Missouri as a slave state was reluctantly consented to. The pledge was finally accepted as a settlement of all controversy in respect to slavery in the territories. But the differences of oxunion on the subject of slavery itself were so irreconcilable that they could not fail to be a constant source of irritation. Petitions even, from the North, in favor of abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, and for other legislation, were resented by the Southerners, and led to the contro- versies over the right of petition, which lasted through three or four Congresses, and in which John Quincy Adams took a prominent part.

2 HISTOKY OF TIIK KEIM'HLKWN PARTY.

Tliis, and the jjcrowing feeling against slavery in the North, and even in some of the border states, intensified the purpose of the most zealous supi>orters of that institution, not only to guard it against all assaults, but to extend it into new territory if possible.

It was thought, when the Missouri Compromise line was ae cepted, that states south of that line would be ready for admission as soon as those north of it. Hut migration was so much more rapid to the territory west of New England and New York, than it was further south as to upset th(»se calculations. Michigan was ready for statehood and applied for admission in 18:^5, but was kept out for two years, lest two more Northern men sliould take seats in the Senate, without any nc»w Southern men to otfset them. The State was not finally admitted until Arkansas could be brought in at the same time. Iowa and Florida were admitted, under similar condi- tions, the former which represent (*d free territory, being kept back until the latter could come in as a slave-holding State, just as in 1820 Maine had been kej»t out until Missouri could c(mie in as a companion State.

l>ut it was seen that this equality in the Senate could not long be maintained. Part of Wisconsin was filling up ra}>idly, and there was ev<»rv prospect that emigration would soon sjiread over tin* region west of that territory, as well as that west of the states of Iowa and Missouri. There was no slave territory to c(Minterbalanc(» this, and the war with Mexico was, in its main j>urpose, a war brought on by the South for tlu* accjuisition of such territory. It was in connecti<m with this war that the first of a long series of memorable contests arose in ('ongrc*ss.

The declaration of war was mad(» in May, 1S4(), and on the 5th of August, of the same year, President Polk, in a sj>ecial message to Congress, said that the chief obstacle to securing peace was the adjustment of a boundary line that would prove satisfa<tory and (•(mvenient to bolh Kepubli«s, and he asked that a sum of money might be placed at his disposal, to be used, in his discretion, in the adjustment of the terms of peace. This was in line with the pre- cedent of ISO.], when Pri^sident JetTerson was voted a special ai>propriation for the aciiuisition of Louisiana. After the message was r<»ad Mr. McKay, of North Carolina, Chairman of the Committee on Ways and M<*ans, introduced a bill, that two millions of dollars be ai>proj)riated, to !)e "appli(»d. under direttion of the President, to any extraordinary expens(»s which may be incurred in our foreign

ACTS OF laiO ISI.AVKRV A(UIRESSI()X. 3

iutercoiirse/' This followed the lanjjjiiage of the lut making an appropriation in Mr. Jefferson's time. But the conditions were verv different. There was strong opposition to the Mexican war, while there had not been great opposition to the Louisiana purchase. There were grave apprel^ensions of some ulterior and unpatriotic designs now. There were none then. Congress had the utmost confidence in President Jefferson. Many of its members had no confidence at all in President I'olk.

In the debate which followed the intr(>du<*tion of the bill, Robert i\ Winthrop, Whig, of Massachusetts, said he (M)uld not vote for it as it stood. It was a vote of unlimited confidence in an administration in which, he was sorry to say, very little confidence was to be placed. Mr. Winthrop had voted for the act under which war was declared against Mexico, while Mr. Adams, of the same State, had voted against it. The latter now said that he differed from his colleague with a regret, equal to that with which he had differed from him on the former measure. He should vote for :Mr. McKay's bill in any form, but thought it should (^xpressly require that the money should be used only for the purpose of negotiating peace with Mexico. The bill was amended in this manner, and seemed likely to pass without much further debate, and with comi)aratively little opposition.

But some of the Northern members saw, in this apparently in- nocent proposition, imssibilities of great mischief. There w^as comparatively little doubt that the money would be used for the acquisition of territory from Mexico outside of the State of Texas, which had been acquired as a result of the war, and that it was de- signed that such territory should be ojx'n to slavery. It has been held by some that this apprehension was groundless. Mexico had. twenty years b(»fore this, abolished slavery, and the assumption had b(»en made that any territory acquired from that country would necessarily retain its free status. But to met*t this, the doctrine had already been promulgated by Mr. Calhoun, that the Federal Consti- tution carried slavery into all territory fron). which it was not expressly excluded. This interpretation of that instrument would have carried that condition into any territory aciiuired from Mexico, and that such an interi)retation of the Constitution would be attempted in actual practice subsetnient events fully showed.

It was under this apprehension that a number of Northern Demo- crats met for consultation. Among them w(»re Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine; George Rathbun, Martin (hover and Preston King, of New

4 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

York; David Wihnot, of Pennsylvania; Jarob Brinkerhoff and James J. Faran, of Ohio, and Robert McClelland, of Miehigan. The result of their deliberations was the framing of a clause to be added to the bill, providing, *That, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from th(? Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty that may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, (»xcept for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted/'

David Wilmot was then only IM\ yi^ars old, and was serving his first term in Congress. He was not among the most prominent of those present at the conference, but the proviso was entrusted to him for presentation^ and made his name known wh(»rever the history of the contest that followed was read. In House Committee of the Whole he moved the addition of this i)roviso to the first section of the bill, and it was adopted by vote of 80 to 04, only three members from the free states voting against it. The bill, as amended, was reported to the House, and upon its passage, Mr. Rathbun, of New York, moved the previous question. Mr. Tibbals, of Kentucky, moved to lay the bill on the table, and the affirmative votes on this question showed that the Southerners were willing to sa<*rifice the whole measure rather than to accept this proviso.

The motion to table was lost by vote of JK^ to 71), among the latter being Stephen A. D<Kiglas and John A. McClernand, Democrats, of Illinois, and Robert C. Schenck, Whig, of Ohio. The bill then passed, with the juoviso, by a vote of 85 to 80. Henry (i rider. Whig, of Kentucky, was the only member south of Mason and Dixon's line who voted for it. Among the j)roniinent Northern Whigs who vottni for it were Washington Hunt, of X(*w York; Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts; Truman Smith, of Connecticut; Josej^h R. Ingersoll and James Pollock, of Pennsylvania. Among the j)rominent Demo- crats who voted the same way were Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine; Preston King, of New York; John Went worth, of Illinois; Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, and Robert McClelland, of Michigan. The last two of these remained Democrats throughout their political careers. Most of the others afterwards joined the Rex)ublican party. The bill was rejmrted to the Senate toward the close of the session. A motion was made to strike out the proviso, and on this motion Senator

ACTS OF PRO SLAVERY AGGRESSION. 5

John Davis, of Massachusetts, talked against time until the hour for adjournment, both bill and proviso thus falling together.

Refore the next session of Congress the same methods of per- suasion and of threat, that the Pro-Slavery leaders so often found effective in those days with Northern men of weak fibre, prevaikKi again. The appropriation was increased from |2,00(),000 to ?a,0()0,()00 and was voted without the obnoxious proviso.

Of the next Congress Robert C. Winthrop, Whig, was chosen Speaker by one majority. A n^solutiou was offered in this Congress by Harvey Putnam, of New York, embodying the substance of the Wilniot Proviso, but it was tabled by a vote of 105 yeas to 93 nays. Although the Whigs had accepted the doctrine of the proviso, the result of this vote was not at all surprising. In the first place their bare nmjority of one, while sufficient to secure the organization of the House, was not sufficient to secure the passage of any disputed resolution or bill. Those of the Whig leaders who were inclined to consult expediency soon recognized the danger, that if they per- sisted in any course of opposition to slavery aggression, it would give the whole South to the Democracy. Throughout the whole of this stage of the controversy, covering a period of several years, this fear was constantly before their eyes, and fully accounted for a timidity which sometimes amounted to cowardice. In this case, also, the fa(*t that the Whigs had organized the House, and were, at least theoretically, responsible for its acts, undoubtedly deterred some Democrats from further supporting the doctrine contained in the jiroviso. Beyond this, the cry which some of the Southerners were always ready to make, that opposition to their desires or plans would endanger the Union, was used with effect.

Although this Congress did not adopt the Wilmot Proviso nor any other measures of special note, it served as a school of instruc- tion to some men who obtained a clear insight into Southern plans, and who afterwards became conspicuous in the Republican party. One of the^e was Abraham Lincoln who, now for the only time, appi>ared in Congress. He learned much here, acquired a nickname and ranked well with the earnest, Anti-Slavery Whigs, but accom- plished nothing that gave indications of his future greatness. He gained his nickname through a series of questions which he proposed asking the executive. President Polk had, in his message, sought to convey the impression that the Mexican war was undertaken to repel invasion, and to avenge the killing of American citizens upon

(; HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIOAN PARTY.

our own soil. Mr. Lincoln attacked this ])osition in a series of res- olutions, tlie tirst three clauses of which asked the President to inform the House '^Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens was shed, as in his message declared, was or was not, within the territory of Sjiain, until the Mexican revolution; {2) Whether that spot is, or is not, within the territory wrested from Spain by the revolutionary p:overnnient of Mexico; {ll) \Vheth(*r that s])ot is, or is not, within a settlement of people, which settlement has existed ever since long before the Texas revolution, and until its inhabitants tied before the approach of the I'nited States army." The resolutions, which contained live other questions, were supported by Mr. Lincoln in the tirst speech which he made in Congress, but they were tabled. His frequent use of the word "spot'' in the resolutions and spi*ech, gave him the nickname of "Spot Lincoln."

The House of this Congress included in its membership the follow- ing who were afterwards prominent in th(» Republican party: Jacob Collanier and (reorge P. Marsh, of Vermont; Amos Abbott, Julius Rockwell and Horace Mann, of ^ilassachusetts; James Dixon, John A. Rockwell and Truman Smith, of Connecticut; Horace Greeley and Washington Hunt, of New York; William A. Newell, of New Jersey; David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania; Robert C. Schenck and Joshua R. Criddings, of Ohio; Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana; John Went worth, of Hlinois; Kinsley S. Hingham, of Michigan, and Andrew Johnson, of Tenn€»ssee.

The following senators, who were afterwards conspicuous in Republican ranks, were also in the Thirtieth Congress: Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine; John P. Hale, of New Hami>shire; Roger S. Bald- win, of Connecticut; John A. Dix, of New York; William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, and Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania.

In addition to Mr. Ringham, Michigan had Robert McClelland and Charles E. Stuart, in the House, with Thomas Fitzgerald and Alpheus Fetch in the Senate. Among the prominent Southerners in the Senate were Wm. Rufus King, of Alabama; John M. Clayton, of Delaware; David L. Yulee, of Florida; Herschell V. Johnson and John M. Berrien, of Georgia; Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland; JelTerson Davis and Henry Stuart Foote, of Mississippi; David R. Atchison and Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri: Willie P. Magnum, of North Carolina; A. P. Butler and John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina; Sam Houston, of Texas; James M. Mason and R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia.

During this Ccmgress the slavery (iu(»sti<m came up in a number

ACTS OF PRO SLAVERY AGGRESSION. 7

of formB. One was in the shape of a reBolulion directing a conuuittee lo present a bill abolishin^^^ the slave trade in the District of Colunibia. To this Mr. Lincoln moved an amendment, instructing (he committee to introduce a bill abolishinj^ slavery itself in the District. Repeated efforts were also made to apply the principle of the Wilmot Proviso to Oregon, and to what was afterwards the State of California. None of these measures, however, came to a conclnsiv(* vote. Th(\v wen* not even presented until the second s(»ssion of the Congress, after the Presidential election of 1S4S. In truth, although individual m(»mbers could not always be repressed, the Wliig leaders were not at all desirous of having the slavery (juestion injected into the Pres- idential campaign. They feared that a strong assertion of their anti-extension principles would divide their party in the South, and they knew that any pro-slavery leanings would divide it in the North. Resides this, judging from the ]»rol)abilities of i)arty success, they had firmer ground to stand upon. The tariff had b(M*n the main issue in 1844, and the Democrats had carried two or three states, notably Pennsylvania, and with them the election, on the false <ry of **l*olk and Dallas, and the tariff of '42." Many of their speakers had given the pledge that this tariff should be retaintnl. The pledge was broken, and the tariff of 1840, whi<*h was a virtual abandonment of the protective principle, was adopted. The fact that this act was carried in the Senate by the casting vote of Vice-President Dallas, of Pennsylvania, made it all the more galling. ri)ou this subject the party could be united, if the slavery question could be avoided as a cause of disruption. They also felt that they were on the popular side of another important econ<miic (juestion. As a party th(\v favored ai)olicy of government construction or aid to internal improvements, while the Democratic* leaders wtM-e either hostile to such improvements, or vacillating on the subject. Th*^ir party resolutions w(»re generally hostile to them. Resides this the vote on Mr. Putnam's resolution, asserting the principle of the Wilmot INoviso, was too conclusive to afford any encouragement for a successful fight on thisquestion in this Congress. In view of all these considerations little real oppositi<m was made to ratifying the Guadalupe-llildalgo treaty, whi<'h ter- minated the Mexican war, and Congress voted the fifteen million dollars asked for payment of the ced(Hl territory, without any stipu- lation upon the subject of slavery.

Ry this time the Southerners felt very sure that they were secure from anv further assertion of the doctrines contained in tlu* Wilmot

8 HISTORY OF THE REPI BLICAN PARTY.

Proviso, as is shown by an incident connected with the negotiations for peace. The Mexican ijjovernment proposiKi, as part of the treaty, a guaranty from the Ignited States that shivery should not be re- established in any of the ceded territory, but the American Commissioner, Ni<hohi8 T. Trist, replied that if the territory "were increased ten-fold in value, and, in addition to that were covered a foot thick with pure gold, on the single condition that slavery should forever be excluded, he would not entertain the offer for a moment, not even think of sending it to the government, for no American Presi- dent would dare to send such a treaty to the Senate."

It was under these conditions that the Whig National Conven- tion met in Philadelphia, June 7, 1S48. In a whirl of military enthusiasm, whi<*h was entirely out of keeping with the attitude of the party as a whole upon the Mexican war, it nominated Gen. Zachary Taylor for President, much to the disgust and wrath of Daniel Webster, who sought the nomination for himself.

The convention even found it necessary to vouch for the Whig standing of its candidate which it did in the third resolution, as follows: **General Taylor, in saying that, had he voted in 1844, he would have voted the Whig ticket, gives us the assurance — and no better is needed from a consistent and truth-seeking man — that his heart was with us at the crisis of our political destiny, when Henry Clay was our candidate, and when, not only were Whig principles well detincHl and clearly ass(»rted, but Whig measures depended upon success. The heart that was with us then is with us now, and we have a soldier's word of honor, and a life of public and private virtue as the security."

Every other plank in the platform was almost wholly taken uf> with some form of eulogy upon (xeneral Taylor. But upon real issues it was the most non-committal of any pronouncement ever made by any political party in a National campaign. Although it containeil seven resolutions it really said but little more than the Whig convention of December 4, 18:^1), which nominated Harrison for I*resident, and presented no platform at all. The nouunee for Vice-President was Millard Fillmore, of New York.

The Democratic Convention was held about a fortnight earlier in Baltimore. It nominated Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for President, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky, for Vice-President. Its plat- form was long and suffi<'iently explicit. It defended the Mexican war; opposed taking from the President the veto power; denied the

ACTS OF PRO SLAVERY AGGRESSION. 9

power of the government to undertake a general system of internal improvements, or to assume the debts of stJites incurred for such purpose, and opposed the protective policy in the taritt*. l^pon the slavery question it resolved, **That Congress has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states; and that such states are the sole and proper judges of everything pertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution; that all efforts by Abolitionists, or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanence of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions." This was an exact copy of one of the resolutions in the Democratic plat- form of 1840.

The timid and non-committal policy of the Whigs was as distaste- ful to the pronounced Anti-Slavery men of that party, as the declaration of the Democratic Convention was to the Anti-Slavery men in its ranks. The former were ironically named the '^Conscience Whigs,'' while both classes were sometimes called the "Come Outers.'' In Massachusetts the feeling took the form of a W^hig revolt, led by Henry Wilson and E. Rockwood Hoar. In New York, the Whigs were mainly kept in line through the activity and political genius of William H. Seward. In that State it was the dissatisfied Democrats who made the trouble. The Free Soil element of the party, with Silas Wright and Martin Van Buren at its head, made numerous demonstrations, among them being a great meeting held in the City Hall Park, New York, directly after the return of the delegates from the Baltimore Convention. At this meeting the cowardice of North- ern senators who had voted with the South, was denoun(!ed.

At the Baltimore Convention two sets of delegates had been admitted to seats, one representing the Hunkers, or pro-slavery fac- tion, and the other the Barn-burners, or Free Soil element. The latter now issued an address, calling for an Independent Democratic Convention, which was held at Uti<'a, June 22d, and nominated Martin Van Buren for President. At a larger convention, held at Buffalo August 9, other states were represented, Mr. Van Buren's nomination was confirmed, and Charles Francis Adams was nominated for Vice- President. A platform was adopted which was strongly anti-slavery

10 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

in all phases of the subject which were then before the people. The 8ixte<*nth resolution declared: '*We inscribe on our banner, *Free Soil, Free Speech, Fret* Labor and Free Men/ and under it we will fifjht on and fij^ht forever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions.'' From this d(*claration the orpinization received the name of "Free Soil Party." The same elements had, in 1840 and 1844, lKH*n called the Liberty Party.

in the election which followed the Taylor and Fillmore electors received 1,H00,(>01 votes, tlu* ('ass and Butler electors 1,220,544, and Van Buren and Adams 201,2(»:5. In the Electoral Collef^e the Whigs had 10:» votes, and the Democrats 127. The vote in Michigan was: i^iss Electors, :30,(>77; Taylor, 28.9:^0, and Van Buren, 10,.mi. Though the administration was Whig, Congress was DtMuocratic in both houses during the whole term. In the Thirty -first Congress, 1849 to 1851, the Senate stood: Democrats, :i5; Whigs, 25; Free Soil, 2. The House was: Denuxrats, 110; Whigs, 111. In the Thirty-second Con- gress, 1851 to 185:^, the Democrats were stronger yet, having 30 in the S(»nate, to 2:^ Whigs and :\ Free Soilers. and in the House 140, to 88 Whigs and 5 Free Soilers.

President Taylor, though a Louisiana slave-holder, proved to be more hostile to the aggressions of slavery than did his successor, President Fillmore, a resi<lent of a Northern free State. The South- erners had counted upon a large addition to the area of slave territory from the acquisition from Mexico, which included what afterwards became the State of California, and the Territory of New Mexico. In the ordinary course of events their hopes would have been realized, but the discovery of gold in California i)ut a different face upon their prospe<ts. It <alled to that section thousands of hardy, enterprising an<l resolute men, a very large proportion of whom were from the North. The very conditions of their occupation made free and self- supporting labor necessary, and a system of slavery impossible. The territory was organized as a State with an Anti-Slavery Constitution, and President Taylor, in a special messagt*, recommended its admis- sion. Attempts w(»re nuide to cut off from the State the territory south of the Missouri Compromise line of :U> degrees, IM) minutes, but these were unsuccessful, and the State was admitted early in 1850. Two days hiter a bill passed organizing New Mexico as a territory, without any restriction as to slavery, and one for organizing Utah as a Territory soon followed.

Th(* death of PresidtMit Tavlor callcnl to the Executive chair a

ACTS OF PRO SLAVERY AGGRESSION. 11

timid and pliant instrument of Sonthern a^jcression, for President Fillmore not only sif^ned all tin* so-railed Compromise Measures of 1850, which a Democratic Conjjjress passed, but exerted a mild influ- ence in their favor. Of these measures, the one most obnoxious to Northern people, and the one which ^ave the most occasion for strife and ill-feelinpf afterwards, was the Fujijitive Slave Law.

The Constitution, in Article IV., Section 2, Clause :\, provided that '*No person held to servioe or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, t^scapinji: into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." Although the word slave is not mentioned in this article, as it is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution, there was no question of its application to that class of labor. This provision had never been carried out, with any great degree of rigor, but the Fugitive Slave I^w provided the officers and machinery for securing the rendition of fugitives by very harsh methods, and enlisted the United States Marshals and I'nited States Courts in that work. It brought the evils of slavery home to tlu* Northern peoi)le, who, in many of the states, refused to ccmiply with its requirements. Not only the ^'Conscience Whigs,'' but men of all parties refused to be enlisted as *^slave-catchers.''

Religious feeling was ai'oused against it, especially in the Con gregational. Baptist and Methodist churches of New England. Their Thanksgiving sermons often modified llu* expression of thanks by apprehension of evil to the country because it tolerated the sin of slavery, and many fast day sermons, though preached from Scripture texts, were keyed to the sentiment of Jetferson's utterance when, 8])eaking of the wrongs and cruelties of slavery, he said: "1 trembh* for my country, when I reflect that God is just.''

Here are some of the texts from which these sermons were thun- dered forth: "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him." **Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant." "1 will be a swift witness against those that oppress the hireling in his wages." *'Vea they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. Therefore have 1 poured out My indignation upon tluMu." **Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free?" And here is one from Deutei onomy, that was especially ai)proi)riate to the Fugitive Slave Law: **Thou shalt not deliver unto his mast(»r the servant which is escaped

12 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place where he shall choose, in one of thy j^ates where it liketh him best. Thou shall not oppress him."

In the earliest 8tajj:es of the ajiijitation this feeling among the churches was slow in finding expre8si<m, but it continually gained momentum. When, at a somewhat later period than this, a petition was sent to Congress from :^,015 Congregational ministers in New England, asking for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law and the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, every anti-slavery member of Congress felt his ba<kbone stiffen and his courage rise. And when, later still, meetings were called in the North for the pur- pose of raising money to buy rifles for the Free State settlers in Kansas, it was in the churches, instead of in public halls, that nmny of them were held.

It was largely, also, through the members of these churches, and in this period, that the modern form of the doctrines of the ''Higher Law'' and of passive resistance were evolved. The great mass of the men who resisted the Fugitive Slave Law were, in almost everything else, law-abiding citizens, but no power on earth could make them aid in enforcing that iniquitous act, because it was in violation of Scrip- tural injunction, and of that higher law^ of justice and of universal brotherhood, which God had implanted in their souls. At the same time there were many of them who, if caught aiding and abetting the escape of a fugitive, would not make forcible resistance, but would take fine or imprisonment with the ecpianimity of saints, and the courage of nmrtyrs. As the contest proceeded the atmosphere in the churches of the North became more and more one of hostility to slavery. Into that atmosphere many of the Whig leaders never came, or they would not have consented to the compromises. The depth of feeling against slavery and of devotion to the Cnion that was behind these demonstrations, the Southerners did not apprtM'iate, or they would not have forced the slavery issue as they did during the next four years, nor have brought on the war, as they did, six years after that.

Aside from the Fugitive Slave Law% the so-called Compromise Measures of 1850 included the settlement of the Texas boundary and the payment to that State of fl(),OO0,O()0 indemnity, for the loss of territory to which it had laid claims; the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia; the admission of California «is a State, and the organization of New Mexico and Utah as territories. The

ACTS OF TRO SLAVERY AGGRESSION. 13

attempts to abolish slavery in the District of Coliinibia, and to forbid the brinjring of slaves into the District, failed.

Although the Pro-Slavery leaders, as it ai)pears now, had already formed the purpose to secure further legislation in their interest, they chose, for the time, to have it considered that the Compromise Measures were a final settlement of all questions relating to slavery. The Whigs were not in position to take any other ground. Both parties, therefore, approached the campaign of 1852 with jirofessions of the i)urpose to avoid further agitation.

The Democratic Convention was held first, at Baltimore, June 1st to 4th. It reiterated the declaration on the slavery question adopted in 1840, and again in 1848, and already quoted in this chapter, and supplemented it with resolutions, as follows:

'•That the foregoing proposition covers, and is intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress; and, therefore, the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this National platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known as the Compromise Measures, settled by the last Congress, the Act for Reclaiming Fugitives from Service or Labor included; which act, being designed to carry out an express provision of the Constitution, cannot, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, nor so changed as to destroy or imj)air its efficiency.

*'That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery <iuestion under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made.-'

Aside from this the platform was long, covering nearly all the National questions then before the people. The Convention nomin- ated Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, for President, and William R. King, of Alabama, for Vice-President.

The Whig Convention was held in the same city a fortnight Ijiter, and nominated another military hero, Winfield S(!Ott, of New Jersey, for President, and William A. Graham, of North Carolina, for Vice- President. It is noticeable that from 18:^2 to 1850 inclusive, both the Whig and Democratic parties, in each campaign, put one Northern man and one Southern man on each ticket, and both factions of the disrui)ted Democracy did the same thing in 18()0. The platform adopted by the Whigs in 1852 contained this utterance on the slavery question.

^'The series of Acts of the Thirty-second Congress, the Act known as the Fugitive Slave Law included, are received and acquiesced in by

14 HISTORY OF THE REPl'HLHWX PARTY.

the Whifi: party of the Tinted States as a settlement, iu principle and substance, of the dangerous and exciting questions which they enibra<e, and so far as they are conceriUKl we will maintain them, and insist up(m their strict enforcement until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity for further legislation to guard against the evasion of the laws on the one hand, or the abuse of their 3)ower on th<» other, not impairing their present efficiency; and we deprecate all further agitation, whenever, wht^rever or however the attempt may be made; and we will maintain the system as essential to the nationality of the Whig party and the integrity of the rnion/'

The Fr(^* Soil Convention met at Pittsburg, August 11, nominated S(»nator John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, for President, and George W. Julian, of Indiana, for Vice-President. Its platform consisted of twenty-two ]»lanks, of which eleven related to the slavery question. One of these denoun<ed, in d(»tail, the whole series of Compromise Measures of 1S5(K followed by the declaration: *That no permanent setth»m(»ut of the slavery (luestion can be looked for exce!)t in the practical recognition of the truth that slavery is sectional and freedom national; by the total separation of the Oeneral Oovernment from slavery and the exercise of its legitimate and <onstitutional intiuence <m the side of frei^dom; and by leaving to the states the whole subject of slavery, and the extradition of fugitives from service." Another of the declarations was, *That to the persevering and importunate demands of the Slave Power for more slave states, new slave terri- tories, and the nationalization of slavery, our distinct and final answer is, no more slave states, no slave territory, no nationalized slavery, and no National legislaticm for the extradition of slaves."

Another clause distinctly announc(»d the principle of "the Higher Law" in the de(larati<m, *That the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is repug- nant to the Constitution, to the principles of comm<m law, to the spirit of Christianity, and to the sentiments of the civilized world; we therefore d<»ny its binding force on th(» American people, and demand its immediate and total re])eal."

Upon some subj(»cts of National interest, aside from slavery, the platform took ground so far in advance of its time, that even the progressive Republican party did not hold the same positions till ten years later. It was an able and patriotic document, but cut little figure in the campaign, for the Free Soil vote* was only 150,149, not much mor(» than half what it had been four years earlier.

As between the Democrats and ^^'higs the campaign was spirit-

ACTS OF PRO SLAVEKY AGOKKSSION. 15

loss, and the result a decisive Democratic victory. In the Electoral College Pierce and King had 254 votes, and Scott and Graham only 42. The popular vote was Democratic, 1,(>01,474; Whig, 1,:^8(),578. The Thirty-third Congress, elected mainly at the same time, had in the Senate 38 Democrats, 22 Whigs and two Free Soilers; in the House 159 Democrats, 71 Whigs and four Free Soilers. The Michigan vote on President was, for Pierce, 41,842; Scott, 33,071, and Hahs 7,237. Its Congressional delegation was all Democratic. Lewis Cass and Charles E. Stuart repi^esented the State in the Senate.

Of the condition and prospects of the country at this time Horace Greeley said in his "American ( •onflict": "The finances were healthy and the public credit unimpaired. Industry and trade were signally prosperous. The tariff had ceased to be a theme of partisan or nevr tional strife. The immense yield of gold in (California, during the four preceding years, had stimulated ent(M*prise and quickened the energies of labor, and its volume as yet showed no signs of diminution. And though the Fugitive Slave Law was still denounced and occasion- ally resisted by Abolitionists in the free states, while Disunionists still plotted in secret, and, more oi)enly, prepared in Southern commercial conventions, there was still a goodly majority in the South, with a still larger in the North and Northwest, in favor of maintaining the Union and preserving the greatest practical measure of cordiality and fraternity between the free and slave stat(»8, substantially on the Compromise of 1850."

If the Democrats, as a ])arty, had been sincere in their assertion of the purpose to resist all attempts at renewing, in (^ongress, "the agitation of the slavery question, under wiiatever shape or color the attempt might be made,'' this jileasant i)i<-ture of peace and prosperity might have continued, with Democratic suj)remacy, for many years; but overconfident in their strength, and not comprehending the depth of feeling in the North, they speedily renewed the agitation.

At the last session of the Thirty-second Congress a bill was intro duced to organize the territory west of Iowa and Missouri into a single Territory, to be called the Territory of IMatte. It was reported from Committee as a bill to organize the Territory of Nebraska. Although the Territory was large, and the population increasing, many Southern members opposed the bill, and it was reported adversely to the House by the Committee of the Whole. A moticm to table it was lost, and it was. pjassed and sent to the Senate, where it remained, at the end of the session, among the bills not acted upon.

16 HISTORY OF THE REPI BLICAN PARTY.

At the openiiij^ of the Thirty-third Congress Senator Dodge, of Iowa, introduced a simihar bill, which was referred to the Committee on Territories. It was subsequently reported by that Committee, when Senator Dixon, of Kentucky, offered an amendment, providing that the Act of 1820 should not be so construed as to apply to the Territory contemjilated by this act, nor to any other Territory of the United States. Senator Dixon was a Whig, and was charged by the Washington Union, the Democratic organ, with taking this course in order to divide and disorganize the Democratic party. To this charge he replied on the Hoor of the Senate: **Sir, I merely wish to remark that upon tlie question of slavery I know no Whiggery, and I know no Democracy. I am a Pro-Slavery man. I am from, a slave-holding State. 1 represent a slave-holding constituency. I am hen* to maintain the rights of that people, whenever they are before the Senate."

Senator Douglas did not wish discussion on this issue forced immediately, and therefore had the bill referred back to his Commit- tee on Territories. He subsequently re])orted it, amended so as to create the two Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and with the provision that all questions pertaining to slavery in the states, to be formed from these territories, should be left to the action of the people thereof, through their ai)i)ropriate representatives, and that the pro- visions of the Constitution and laws of the United States in respect to fugitives from servi<'e, should be carried into faithful execution in all th(» organized territories, the same as in the states.

The bill, as introduced, had the stipulation, **That the Constitu- tion and all laws of the United States which are not locally inapplica- ble, shall have the same force and effect within said territory as elsewhere in the United States." To this the amended bill added the following reservation: **Except the section of the Act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which was sui)erceded by the principles of the legislation of 1850, com- monly called the Compromise M(»asure, and is declared inoperative.'"

Hut even this was not strong enough to suit those who hoped to make slave states of the new territories. After a hot debate Senator Douglas proposed the following in place of the reservation above (juoted: '^Except the section of the Act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March (>, 1820, which, being inconsistent with the prin<iple of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the states and territories, as recognized by the legislation in

A(TH OF PRO SLAVERY AGGRESSION. 17

1850, coiiimonly called the Compromise Measure, is hereby declared inoperative and void; it beinyi; the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States."

This was adopted by a vote of ;^5 to 10. That it was not intended to mean what it said, was clearly demonstrated immediately after- wards, for Senator Chase, of Ohio, moved to add to the abovO the following: "Under which the people of the Territory, through their appropriate representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the existence of slavery therein." This was rejected by a vote of 3(5 to 10, thus showing that so far as the territories were concerned the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty" was a pretense and a sham — that the people of the territories were not to be allowed to prohibit slavery, previous to their admission as states. Further contest in the Senate was hopeless, and the bill passed on the morning of March 4th, by the decisive vote of 37 to 14.

In the House the measure was fought with more vigor, and at first with some hope of compassing its defeat. A separate bill had been there introduced, but the Senate bill was substituted for it, and, by a parliamentary trick, its opj)onents were prevented from offering amendments. The discussion upon it was long and acrimonious, but it finally passed, by vote of 113 yeas to 100 nays. The affirmative vote consisted of 101 Democrats, of whom 44 were from the North, and 12 Whigs, all of whom were from the South. The negative vote con- sisted of 44 Northern Democrats, 44 Northern Whigs and three Free Soilers. The bill went back to the Senate, nominally as a House bill, but in reality the Senate measure, finally passed that body May 26, and was signed by President Pierce, May 30. The Northern Whigs, it will be noticed, finally voted solidly against the measure, but the non-committal attitude of th(»ir party in previous campaigns had pre- vented their having members enough to make their votes effective. The i>assage of the measure sealed the fate of the Whigs as an organ- ization, and hastened the concentration of anti-slavery sentiment in a n(?w party.

This brief narration of events can conv€*y but a faint impression of the excitement with which the men of the North watched their course. The long discussion of the Compromise Measures and of the Kansas Nebraska bill had taught them many things, not only with regard to

18 HISTORY OF THE KErrBLl(\VX PARTY.

Soiitlierii a^ji:ressions in the interest of slavery, but with the evils of slavery itself. The literature of the period was intense. Mrs. Stowe's **['n(le Tom's Cabin," which probably had a dei»per and mor<* widespread influence on opinion than any other story of economic and social life that was ever written, was j»ublished durinjjf this period of discussion, first as a serial in Dr. Uamaliel I^ai ley's Washinjjft on paper, the National Era, and afterwards in book form. The paper men- tioned, and many other political newspapers, made the Kansas- Nebraska bill and kindred matters the chief topics of discussion, and a number of relij^ious papers pive them scarcely less attention.

The Anti-Slavery element in the North had accepted the admission of Missouri even with th(» (Nmipromise, with reluctan<e. That meas- ure for admission had passed by 7(> votes from slave states, and only 14 from free states, making IMK The nejrative votes were 87, all from the free slates. The South, in the admission of that state with slavery in its Constitution, had reajKHl all the benefit of the Com- promise, and now violated its spirit and repudiated its force. That instrument had dt^dicated the territory which it covered to freedom forever, and now it was proposed to nuike it perpetually slave. The Compromises of I8r)(l apiin had been accepted as a finality, and both the jjjreat parties had so declared in their ccmventions not two years previous to this time. Yet a new ajj:itation had been immediately bej^un, and in the debates in this Ccm^ress the purpose had bt*en made manifest, to admit no nuire frin* states to the Union unless an equal number of slave stat(*s could come in; a purpose, further than this to carry slavery into all the territori(»s. In the lejfislation of 1820 and 1850 the North had yielded enouy:h. It would yield no more. The day of C(mipromises was past. The time for orji;anizinjj: a new party had come, and Michipin was to take the lead in that work.

A WORK OF PKEPA RATION.

The Situation in Michigan in 1S54 — The Breaking Down of Old Party Lines — Strong Anti-Slaverv Sentiment in the State — The Under- ground Railway Line — Correspondence of Whig Editors — An Important Preliminary Meeting — Statements from Some of the leaders — Free Democratic Mass Convention — It Nominates a Ticket and M^ikes Overtures for a I^nion — Rousing Anti-Nebraska Meetings — Valuable Work by Whig and Free Democratic Editors — Encouragement From the Early Elections — A Long Step Towards Union — Strong Resolutions and a Rousing Call.

In spite of (he fact that the State* had generally given Democratic majorities up to the time when the slavery question became the para- mount issue in politics, a majority of Michigan people were opposed to the policy of that party on this supreme question. Their State was part of the great Northwest Territory, over which the Ordinance of 1787 spread the mantle of perj)etual freedom. Their history and traditions were in full accord with the principles of this fundamental law. As the Eastern border of the State was on the frontier, it became part of the great highway that led the fugitive slave to Canada and freiMlom, and along that highway, at Kalamazoo, Adrian, Detroit and other places, were stations of the ^'underground railw^ay/' where fietMUg slaves had been assisted on tlu^ir way, and where they had aroused the deepest symiiathies of those who met them. Sonie of these men had been arrested and fined for violation of the Fugitive Slave Law. They were, at this time, as thoroughly aroused as the people of almost any other Northern State, at the repeated aggres- sions of the slave power.

The difficulty, when the feeling that grew out of the Kansas- Nebraska controversy was at its h(Mght, was in a lack of concentration. A large majority of the Whigs shared in the feeling, but were attached in affection and sentiment to th(*ir party and wished to preserve its

20 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC AN PARTY.

integrity and its name. There was another party, made up mainly of Abolitionists and of those old Democrats whose Anti-Slavery senti- ments were so strong that they could not follow their old organization into the Southern fold. The men of this party were, in eontempor- aneous records, variously called Fre(» Soilers, Free Democrats and Free Soil Democrats. In the* election of 1852 they had given Isaac P. Christiancy 5,850 votes for (xovernor, while the Whigs gave Zaeh- ariah Chandler ;^4,r»(;(), and the Democrats gave Robert McCMelland 42JtKS. This was a clear majority for the Democrats over the other two parties combined.

Subsequent invents, however, had changed that, and in 1854, there was no doubt that a majority of vot(*rs in the State W€»re not only opposed to the extension of slavery into any new Territory, but were also in favor of oblitcM-atiug some of the Compromise Measures that had, two years earlitM*, lM»eu accepted as a settlement of the whole con- troversy. The difiiculty was in combining all the Anti-Slavery elements into one coherent whole. The* Whigs themst^lves were not entirely united in sentiment upon this subject. There were, in truth, two factions auiong them, tht» Seward Whigs, as they were called and as they rather liked to call themselves in Michigan, and the Silver (Iray Whigs, as they wc^rc* first called in New York and subsequently in other states. Tin* former were in full sympathy with the rising tide of Anti-Slavery sentiment. The latter were conservative on the subject, but neith(»r was ready to disband its organization. They cer- tainly had no idea of being absorbed by the Free Democrats, nor had the latter any purjiose of losing their party identity.

Hut the work of prej>aration for the breaking down of these party lines had long before been commenciHl. Charles V. De Land, one of those who was active in this i)reliminary work, recently made this brief statement in reference to it: "The movement began soon after the crushing defeat of the Whigs in 1852, by corresi)ondence between the leading Whig editors of the Northern states. I was at that time editor of the Jackson Citizen, and distinctly remember the circular hitters of the National Intelligencer, Albany Journal and other leading papers, asking the expression of all Whig editors as to the situation, and what the future jiolicy of the party should be. These circulars induced som<» of the holding Whig editors of Michigan to hold a con- ference at Jackson in February, 1854, of which Henry Barns, of Detroit, was Chairnum, and the writer was Secretary. The Frt^ Soil party had calked a convention for the 22d of February to nominate a

A WORK OF PREPARATION. 21

State ticket. The Kansas-Nebraska bill, tlie repeal of tlie Missouri ("oin promise and other radif-al ])ro-slavery lej^islation was pending in (^onji^ress. Already the ])eople of the Northern states were holdinjr mass nuttings, denouming and remonstrating against the jiroposed legislation. The editors adopted a ]>oliev looking to the consolidation of all the Anti-Slavery extension elements into a new party. Henry Barns, of the Detroit Tribune; George A. Fitch, of the Kalamazoo Telegraph, and Z. B. Knight, of the IV)ntiac (lazette, were appointed a Committee to attend the Free Soil State Convention, and submit the proposition to the leaders of that party. A conference was held on the evening of the 2l8t, at the office of Austin Blair, and among the Free Soil leaders present 1 remember Kinsley S. Bingham, Hovey K. Clarke, Isaiic P. Christiancy and William T. Howell. The Free Soil- ers thought it best to go on and hold their convention and to nominate a ticket, but agreed to namea joint c(mimittee, with authority to call a mass convention later, and if a union of the kind ])roposed was feasi- ble, to withdraw their State ticket and join the new organization."

Of a later phase of the movement Henry Wilson, in his '*Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America,'' said: '^Immediately on the passage of the Nebraska bill, J()sei)h Warren, editor of the Detroit Tribune, entered upon a course of m(»asures that r(*8ult(*d in bringing the Whig and Free Soil parties tog(»ther, not by a mere coalition of the two, but by a fusion of the elements of which the two were com- posed. In his own language he *took ground in favor of disbanding the Whig and Free Soil ])arties, and of the organization of a new party composed of all the opponents of slavery extension.' Among the first steps taken toward the accomjilishment of this vitally important object, was the withdrawal of the Free Soil ticket."

In reference to the same movement, Joseph Warren himself wrote, twenty-five years later: **Though the repeal of the Compromise between freedom and slavery, which for nearly thirty-five years had been looked upon as an inviolable compact, cn^ated widesjjread and intense excitement, the members of the Whig party, it was feared, were not prepared to abandon their own organization, and be absorbed in the Free Soil party. Being impressed with the conviction that such a sentiment existed to a su1tici(»nt extent to render the success of the Free Soil ticket doubtful, even if it should be formally adopted (as he felt it should not be) by a Whig convention, the writer of this brief sketch, then editor and ])art owner of the Detroit Tribune, initiated, through its columns, a movement on the part of the Anti-Slavery peo-

22 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICWN PARTY.

pie of the State, which resulted in the Jackson mass convention, and in the organization and christening of the Re]niblican party. . . He, through the columns of the Tribune, took immediate and very decided ground in favor of formally disbanding both the Whig and Free Soil parties of the State, and of the organization by mass convention, of a new party, comixised of all the opponents of slavery extension of whatever name. This course, it is due to himself to state, he took upon his own responsibility, being so thoroughly convinced that it was right and would triumph, that he advised not even with his imme- diate political friends as to the wisdom of the step." The time here referred to was that immediately following the tinal passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill in May, and for the next two months Mr. Warren's paper was undoubtedly the most conspicuous, as it was one of the ablest, and certainly the uiost vigorous, among newspaper advo cates of the movement. But it would not be just to ascribe to any one man the credit either for the initiative or the progress of the move- ment. It was too broad and the feeling was too deep to be credited to any one individual. It was an inspiration that came alike to hundreds of earnest men engaged in tnlitorial work and in other avenues of public life.

The (*all for a mass convention of the Frtn^ Democracy was issued January 12, 1854, and was signed by V, Trary Howe, Hovey K. Clarke, Silas M. Holmes, S. A. Baker, S. B. Thayer, Samuel P. Mead, Samuel Zug, J. W. Childs and Erastus Hussey, State Ci^ntral Committet*. Between the call and the time of the convention an address was issued to the people of the country by Senators Salmon P. fhase and Charles Sumner, and Representatives Joshua R. (Jiddiugs, Edward Wade, Ger- ritt Smith and Alexander DeWitt. condemning the Kansas-Xebraska bill as **a gross violation of a sacred pledge, a criminal betrayal of precious rights, a i)art and par<el of an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccui)ied rt»gion immigrants from the old world, and free laborers from our own states, and convert it to a dreary region of despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves." The various arguments or excuses which had been otTered for the bill were examined, their fallacious character was shown, and an eloquent appeal was made to the Anti-Slavery sentiment of the North. This address was given a wide circulation in Michigan and added to the intensity of feeling, which found expression in various County Convc^ntions of the Free Democracy, and at numerous A nti Nebraska meetings which were not limited to that party.

A AYOKK OF PREPARATION. 23

The most notable of the hitter was held in Detroit February IS, in response to a call which (contained the following;: among other well- known names: Zachariah Chandler, Jacob M. Howard, Oliver New- berry', George B. Pease, William H. Wesson, Baker iS: Conover, Fred. Morley, John S. Jenness, Lyman Baldwin, Francis Raymond, Silas M. Holmes, John Owen, Frederick Bnhl, James A. Van Dyke, Samuel Zug, Robert W. King, Daniel Scot ten, William A. Butler, Richmond iV: Backus, Henry P. Baldwin, A. (\ McOraw, D. Bethune Duffield, Thomas A. Parker, S(\vmour Finney, Alexander H. Dey, (ieorge Kirby, Jose]>h Warren, Jacob S. Farrand and A. J. Brow. Major Jonathan Kearsley was President of the m<*eting, Shubael Conant, Henry ("hip- man and C i\ Trowbridge were among the Vice-Presidents, and speeches were made by Major Kearsley, James A. Van Dyke, Zach- ariah Chandler, Samuel Barstow and D. Bethune Duttield. Strong Anti-Slavery resolutions were adopted, but they did not commit the meeting in any way to an abandonment of old party lines. The people were not yet ready for that and it is probable that if such a proposition had been made at the time it would have b(H*n voted down.

In fact, the i)ropo8ition had, as yet, hardly come into serious con- sideration as a practical matter, and the Convention which was held at Jackson four days later, February 22, 1854, was held as a Conven- tion solely of the Free Democratic party. It was called to order by Hovey K. Clarke as Chairman of the State Central Committee, and organizcHi with DeWitt C. Leach as temporary Chairman. Subse- quently William T. Howell, of Hillsdale, was chosen President, with one Vice-President from each Judicial district.

The Committc^e on Resolutions was an exc(»ptionally strong one, consisting of Hovey K. Clarke, Ft^rnando C. Beaman, Kinsley S. Bingham, F. Hussey, Nathan Power, I). C. U»ach and L. Moore. Its report, as prepared by Hovey K. Clarke, and slightly amended by thr* Convention, proclaimed, in a i)reamble, attachment to the Union, pledged support to the Constitution, announced a policy with refer- ence to certain matters of State interest, and contained the following resolutions upon questions of National importance:

1. That we regard the institution of domestic slavery, which exists in some of the states of the Cnion, notonlyas a foe to the domes- tic tranquillity and the welfare of such states, but as subversive of the plainest ])rinciples of justi<e and the manifest destroyer of the bless- ings of liberty. As an instituticm, w(» are compell(»d to denounce and abhor it. Yet we concede that in tlM» states when* it (»xists it is jKjliti-

24 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

cally beyond our reach. But as we cannot deny our responsibility concerninj^ it, so long as it finds protection under the laws of the Fed- eral Government, so we will never cease to war against it so long as the purpose of the Constitution shall remain unaccomplished to secure the blessings of liberty to all within its power.

2. That in following in the footsteps of the fathers of the republic, who regarded FREEDOM the NATIONAL and slav- ery the sectional sentiment, we best vindicate their claims to enlightened patriotism, and our own to be considered loyal supporters of the government they established; and that opposition to any exten- sion of slavery, and to any augmentation of its power, is clearly the duty of all who respect the doctrine or the practice of the wisest and ablest of the framers of the Constitution.

3. That the attempt now pending in Congress to repeal the enact- ment by which the vast territory north of the Missouri Compromise line was dedicated to frec»dom is an outrage upon justice, humanity and good faith; one by which traitorous ambition, confederated with violation of a solemn and time-honored compact, is seeking to inflict upon the nation a deej) and indelible disgrace. We denounce the scheme ais infamous; and we call upon the people to hold its authors and abettors to the most rigid and righteous accountability.

4. That executive patronage has grown to be an evil of immense magnitude; consolidating the jmwer of the government into the hands of the incumbent of the Presidential mansion to a degret* subversive of all proper accountability to the* people, and for which there is no adequate remedy short of a transfer of this i>ower from the IVesident to the people.

5. That we are in favor of cheap postage by land and sea; of free grants of land out of the public domain in limited quantities to actual settlers; of harbor and river improvements. National in their charat- ter; and of grants by the government in aid of a railroad to the Pacific in such form, as shall best avoid the wasteful splendor of gov- ernment jobs and secure the early comjiletion of the road.

Additional resolutions urged great care in the choice of members of the Legislature, and made several pronounced declarations in refer- ence to matters of State legislation.

A large Committee on Nominations was appointed, and its recommendation of a full State ti<ket, with Kinsley S. Bingham at its head, was adopted by the Convention, which also appointed a State Central Committee, consisting of S. A. Baker, Samuel P. Mead, Samuel Zug, J. W. (^hilds, R. R. Beecher, \V. \V. Murphy and I). C. I^each.

The papers of those days did not make a practice of reporting the 8i>eeche8 at conventions, and the accounts of those made on this

A WORK OF PREPARATION.

25

occasion were provokingly meager. We are told that the nominee for Governor was '^vociferously called/' and made a short speech, which was received with **rapturous applause/' but what he said contemporary records fail to state. Henry Barns and H. H. Emmons spoke briefly. Both were given the floor by courtesy as representa- tives of the Anti-Slavery Whig element. Of the latter speech, and of the desire for union, which found expression at the ("onvention, the Free Democrat gave this glimpse, in an editorial:

*'Mr. Emmons was not prepared to say 'Fellow Free Democrats,' but he was rejoiced in the nominations which had been made, and intimated that at least the nominee for Gov- ernor would receive his vote. He was pleased to observe the spirit of liberality and conces- sion which was mani- fested in the choice of candidates, and in all the action of the Con- vention. He was heart- ily with us in our principles and purposes, and so were a vast majority of the Whig party of Michigan. He seemed to hope that there would be but two parties in the State this fall, that all the friends of freedom would be able to stand upon a common platform against the party and platform of the slave propa- gandists. Mr. Emmons made a masterly speech, and won the hearts of all who heard him. If the Whigs of Michigan will take his ground the days of the Slave Democracy are numbered. The Free Democracy are willing to meet them on the grounds indicated in that speech, as the oft repeated affirmative responses showed.

'*The speeches were of great service to the Convention by opening to the members some view of the advantages which may yet accrue

KINSLEY S. BINGHAM.

26 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

from a judicious and liberal policy in the District and County nomina tions; and they were a source of sincere delijiflit, as they indicated a probability of a co-operation of the Whi^s in the effort to carry the doctrines of freedom into execution."

This was the first editorial expression by the Free Democrat of a hope of union with the Whijijs. Its editor, S. A. Baker, was promi- nent in this convention. His associate, J. F. Conover, was conspicu- ous in subsequent movements, and was one of the secretaries of the Rei>ublican convention that was held in July followinjj.

The speech of Mr. Emmons was useful, not only, as here indicated, in inspiring the Free Democrats with a ho| e of union, but also as an indication to the Whi^s, frou» one of their jirominent members, of their duty in the existing situation. It voiced the sentiments of thousands of Whij^s who had already overcome their natural reluct- ance to j::ivin^ up their old or.u^anization. The necessities of the situation were gradually brinpnjr others around to the same view, and the unselfish attitude of Mr. Binc^^ham materially aided in brinj^ing: them to a rational and j)olitic course. That patriotic and public- SDiritcd jjent leman, in an interview with Col. DeLand a few weeks after the conv<»nti(m, not only announced his own willinji^ness to retire, if that would helj) the cause which he had at heart, but volun- teered the statement that he favored the withdrawal of the whole ticket if the liberal Whi^s and Democrats could thereby be united. hlo further expressed the conviction that a union could be formed that would carry Michi«!:an and the entire North.

Mr. Bino:ham also su^^ested that the Anti-Nebraska editors of the State* should have a t-onference to see if they could find a basis of common opposition to slavery aggression. Following this inter- vi(»w there were conferences with Jacob M. Howard, Zachariah Chand- ler, William A. Howard, A. S. Williams, E. A. Wales, Henry Barns and others. A meeting of editors was then <alled at the Detroit Tribune otticc* in March. It was attendcMl by Henry Barns and Joseph Warren, of Detroit; Z. B. Knight, of the Pontiac (Jazette; (feorge A. Fitch, of the Kalamazoo Tel<*gra])h; H. B. Rowlson, of the Hillsdale Standard, and C. V. DeLand, of the Jackson Citizen. Even yet the prospect of such a combination as would present an invincible front to the common foe, was not considered very bright. Mr. Warren, how- ever, was enthusiastic and declared in favor of the i)Ian of disbanding both the old parties and forming a new one, with a new name. To this plan, which he had before this outlined in his ]mper, he consist-

A WORK OF PREPARATION. 27

ently adhered. Mr. Fitch followed in an editorial in the Kalamazoo Telegraph of April 20, deelarini^ that the old parties had outlived their usefulness, and that an imperative necessity existed for the organization of a new political party. In the course of the article he said: **\Ve cannot look to any other movements of the old parties in reference to the Nebraska bill and questions touching slav- ery that bring any promise of success, nor to any class of old broken winded, broken-down ])oliticians; but we may look with a strong hope of success to see these measures consummated by the honorable and active young men of the Htate, those who have not trimmed their sails to catch every breeze which has swept across every political sea; those who have not acted for years as the mere weathercocks of public opinion, but active and untiring young men who shall enter with assur- ance and vigor into the field — those capable of grasping the questions of the time, and wringing from them their meanings — a little after the •Young America' order, if you please. We therefore advise the holding of a Young Men's Independent State Convention, irrespec tive of party, at an early period, to ex])ress their opinions upon the leading questions which now agitate the masses of the people of this and other states, to advise and consult together, and to adopt such plans for future action as their consultation would give rise to.-'

Most of the other Whig papers of the state gradually fell into line. The spring elections also helped in the movement. In New Hampshire and Connecticut anti-Administration tickets were elected, although the opposition to the Democracy had not yet crystalized into perfectly coherent organizations. Still greater encouragement had (*ome from a local election within our own borders. In Grand Rapids the P^agle, formerly a Whig paper, had expressed its approval of the chief objects of the Free Democracy, its editor, Aaron B. Turner, taking the ground that the Whig party had reached the end of its career, and that there must be a reorganization, upon broader princi- ples of freedom and equal rights, to renew the struggle against the Democratic party. After the February Convention the Eagle I)romptly put up the Free Democratic ticket, but urged a movement for another and joint Convention, an abandonment of the Whig organ- ization, a new party and new life upon popular ground. It also strongly urged that a beginning be made right at home, in the city nominations, for the spring election. Mr. Turner, i)ersonally, was at the front of this movement, and he was joined by a number of leading Whigs, some Democrats who had becom(» dissatisfied with the attitude

28 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

of their own partv, and the leaders of the Free Deniocraev, who had before this perfected a stronji; local organization under the name of the Free Democratic Club. A kind of free-for-all City Convention was held, Wilder D. Foster, one of the most active members of the club was, against his protest, nominated for Mayor, and elected. This sweeping success, in a Democratic City, of an opposition not yet half organized, was accepted as an omen of what a well-equipj)ed and cohesive party might accomplish in the State as a whole.

As the Free Democrats had, all along, been the most ready to make overtures for a union, while the Whigs had b(H*n rather coy of accej)ting such advances, so the former were the first to take a practi- cal step in that direction. This was in a call, issued by the State Central Committee, which had been appointed in February, for a mass convention to be held in Kalanmzoo, June 21. As an illustration of the perfervid and hortatory style of address to which the intense excitement of the period led the call is worth reproducing in full. It is as follows:

FELLOW CITIZENS— A fearfully momentous question is agitat- ing the American people: It is whether within the forms of the Con- stitution (which were designed to establish and extend the blessings of libt^rty), the scope and intent of that instrument shall be subverted and its w hole jKiwer exerted to promote and extend the system of slav- ery which prevails in scmie of the states of the Union.

Stej) by stej) within a third of a century have the enemies of freedom advanced, at first cautiously, but with increasing boldness, — and step by step have its friends b(*en driven back, until, by the crown- ing pertidy of the passage of the Nebraska bill, the Constitution is subverted, and that system which, at the organization of our govern- ment, begged for a temporarv existence, has be(*ome the great controlling power of the Nation. SLAVERY IS RAMPANT IN THE CAPITOL. It makes and unmakes Presidents, and its Presidential tools buy and sell the representatives of the people like chattels in market. Th(*re is no lower depth that the Nation can reach but one; and that is, that tlw i)eople, by adoi)ting the act of their representa- tives in Congress, shall voluntarily consent to share this degradation. l^EOPLE OF MK^HICfAN! can it be that this foul scheme will receive your sanction? Can it be that the immense region about to be organ- ized as the Nebraska and Kansas Territories, in which FREE institutions ought to be allowed an untjuestioned right, which right, moreover, has been bought and \n\k\ for by concessions which have introduced three slave states in the I'nion; can it be that Freemen aft(»r th(\v have bought their own domain shall be com])elled to submit to the robbery of that which was their own by nature and by purchase?

A WORK OF PREPARATION. 29

Shall they submit without complaint? Will they raise a voice of remonstrance? Is ihe spirit of liberty — the spirit of the fathers of the Revolution, the haters of oppression in every form — **crushed out" at the impudent command of a demagogue, and crushed out forever? PEOPLE OF MICPIIGAN. Look at your representatives in Con- gress. Are you satisfied with their conduct? How recently have most, if not all of them, when seeking your favor, committed them- selves fully against the extension of slavery into free territory? Is that their position now? (live all the credit you can to the two who voted, at the passage of the bill, against it. How much are they still justly answerable for in smoothing the way of the dominant majority to this most shameful success; and you will retain them? Are you willing to share their degradation by approving their conduct — by which the passage of the bill was finally accomplished?

The undersignc^d, rei)resenting the onl}- political party in this State, w^hich, as a party, adopts as a principle in its political creed opposition to the extension of slavery, believe that the time has come when the people who regard slavery as a sectional and not a National institution, should rally to vindicate this principle, take the liberty to invite a

MASS CONVENTION of all who would restore the government to its original position on the slavery question, of all who are opposed to the consummation of the Nebraska fraud, to assemble at

KALAMAZOO

on the 21st of June Next,

at noon, there to concentrate their opposition to the rapid strides of the slave power, in such a manner as shall be deemed most j)ractical and efficient, and to protect their own cherished rights as citizens of free states. In taking the initiative in this call they intend no disre- spect to any party or body of their fellow citizens who may sympathize with them in its object. Thej^ (rould not, without seeming to neglect the interests which they ar<* especially appointed to i)romote, decline to act at this juncture, and they believe* it their duty to act promjitly. They desire it, however, to be understood that all who approve the objects of this call, as above expressed, are earnestly invited by their presence and participation in the Convention to show that the PEOPLE ARE AROUSED, and that the day of retribution to their betrayers is at hand.

There was a ]iurpose in calling the Convention at Kalamazoo, for this was in the center of a strong Anti-Slavery district. The Village and County, as well as the adjoining County of Cass, contained numer- ous '^underground railway" stations, and many of its citizens had been active in aiding escaping fugitives. The County was among the few in the State that regularly gave Whig majorities. It had bedsides

30 HISTOKV OF THE KEPI BLK AN PARTY.

a strong Free Soil orpiiiizatioii, and in some elections fully one-fifth of its vote had ^one to that party. It was ably represented in the Jackson Convention of PVbruary 22d, and had held a large and earnest Anti-Nebraska meeting early in March. Many of its ]>rominent Whigs, and some of its leading Democrats, w<'re ready to join in any move- ment that should give full etTtM-t to the Anti-Slavery sentiment of the State. It was the home of Ignited States Senator Charles E. Stuart, and of Samuel Clark, Kc^presentative in Congress. Both of these gen- tlemen had spoken strongly against th(» prin<iples of the Kansas- Nebraska bill, but had afterwards votcnl for it, and had thereby incensed many of their Democratic constituents, some of whom had signed the <all for the meeting on rhe 11th of March and had after- wards attended that gathering. Two of the most conspicuous of these, S. II. Kansom, brother of Ex-dovernor Ei)ai)hroditus Ransom, and (Jeorge \V. Winslow, before that active in the Democratic ranks, had been roundly denounced by the (lazette, the Democratic organ. This had intensitied rh(» feeling, which was further heightened by the fact that the final ])assage of the amended Nebraska bill in the House, had occurred only three days before the call for the mass convention was issued.

The meeting was held in the County Court House. A storm and the tiuarter Centennial celebration of the settlement of the Village kt*pt many awav. The meeting was, therefort*, not large, but it was thoroughly representative in character, and enthusiastic in spirit. It includ(»d four of the candidates on the Free Democrati<* ticket, Kinsley S. Bingham, Silas M. Holmes, Hovey K. Clarke and S. B. Treadwell. It in<luded, also, three of tXw editors who had been prominent in urging union, J. F. Conover, of Detroit; A. B. Turner, of (frandRa])ids, and C. V. DeLand, of Jackson. The first two of these were Secretaries of the Convention. M. A. McNaughton, of Jackson, was chosen President, with four Vice-Presidenis, and the following were named on the important Committee to frame n^solutions: Hovey K. Clarke, Samuel Kansom, V. Tracy Howe, W. E. Dale, C. (Jurney, H. B. Rex- ford and C. V. DeLand. This Committee rejmrted a strong preamble and resolutions. The first four of the series declared that the Con- stitution established a governnu^nt of freemen for a free people; that the institution of slavery was regarded, at the time the Constitution was framed, as exce])tional and local in its character, and to be limited and restricted until it should finally disapi)ear: that the recent pas- sage of the bill for organizing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska

A WORK OP PREI'ARATION. 31

was the crownini^ act of a series of slavery aggressions, and tbat evils so great demanded a remedy.

The fifth resolution declared, "That we do not and will not de- spair; that we believe the people of this State are ready to respond to the call of their country in this emergency; that they are ready, irre- spective of all past political preferences, to declare in an unmistakable tone their will; and that will is that slavery aggression upon their rights shall go no further — that there shall be no compromise with slavery — that there shall be no more slave states — that there shall be no slave territory — that the Fugitive Slave Law shall be repealed — that the abominations of slavery shall no longer be perpetrated under the sanctions of the Federal (Constitution — and that the^^ will make their will eil'eetive by driving from every ]>lace of official power the public servants who have so shamelessly betrayed their trust, and by putting in their places men who are honest and capable; men who will be faithful to the Constitution and to the great claims of humanity "

This res(»lution, comprehensive and bold as it was in its declara- tion of purpose, occasioned a long discussion, but was finally adopted. Then after a short digression, the sixth resolution was taken up. This brought down to practical action the main purpose for which the Con- vention was called, and was as follows:

''Resolved, That the* Free Democracy of Michigan rejoice to behold the indications of ]M»pular sentiment furnished by this Convention. They are conscious that the deeply aroused feeling of the masses in this State will seek a suitable expression in a Convention springing from themselves, irresi)ective of any existing political organization; and that if such a movement shall be animated and guided by the prin- ciples expressed in the resolutions of this (Convention, and shall contemplate an eflicient organization to give eflPect to our principles in this State, we shall willingly surrender our distinctive organization, and with it the ticket for State officers, nominated at Jackson on the 22d of February last; and that we commit the execution of this pur- pose to a committee of sixteen, two persons from each Judicial District, to be ap])ointed by this Convention."

Toward the adoption of this resolution all the proceedings of the Convention, as well as the events of si^veral preceding weeks had lended, but it was recognized to be a ste]) of such grave* importance as ^o require deliberation, and it was not until it had been fully discussed in all its phases that it was adopted.

32 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

At an adjourned session, held in the evening, the committee of sixteen, strong in its personnel, was appointed, speeches were made by Messrs. Bingham, Howe and Clarke, and the Convention adjourned. It was followed by a private conference of some of the leaders at the house of Dr. J. A. B. Stone, a veteran Free Soiler, and then President of Kalamazoo College. It was there agreed that they would not only acquiesce cheerfully in the withdrawal of their ticket and other con- ciliatory measures, but that they would work actively to draw together in mass convention. Free Soilers, Whigs and Anti-Nebraska Demo- crats, and to bring about a complete agreement between them.

Of this gathering and its results the Frei* Democrat said: **Now when the exigencies of the times demand that a permanent party of freemen in this State, with enlarged facilities for action, should be formed, a ])arty which shall be but a single section of that great free- dom organization which is to restore our government to its once proud position, and wrest it from the control of the slave oligarchy, the mem- bers of the Convention felt called upon, by all that is hallowed in love of country and sacred in humanity, to surrender, as they offer to do, everything but principle. No ordinary emergency could have secured such entir<» unanimity of consent to so great a surrender. The seduc- tions of a temporary triumph would not have moved them to such action, but now that the aroused sentiment of the country demanded the organization of a party that should be entirely efficient to the maintenance of those principles upon which our government was established, *a government of freemen for free people,' they have unhes- itatingly taken the action their resolutions record."

From this time on events moved forward with great rapidity. The preliminary work had been thoroughly done, and the Anti-Slav- ery peoi>le of the State were prepared for immediate and concerted action. A call for a mass convention, to be held at Jackson, July 6, had already been drawn and the men who were conspicuous in the Kalamazoo Convention, with many of their Whig friends, and other volunteers, devoted the next fortnight to giving it circulation. The call was written by Isaac P. Cliristiancy, was submitted to others interested in the movement and was slightly modified as the result of such discussion. As finally issued, it was addressed to *'To The People of Michigan," and was as follows:

A great wrong has been perpetrated. The slave power of this country has triumphed. Liberty is trampled under foot. The Mis- souri Compronrist*, a solemn compact, entered into by our fathers, has

A WORK OF PREPARATION. 33

been violated, and a vast territory dedicated to freedom, has been opened to slavery.

This act, so unjust to the North, has been perpetrated under cir- cumjBtances which deepen its perfidy. An Administration placed in power by Northern voters has brought to bear all the resources of Executive corruption in its support.

Northern Senators and Representatives, in the face of the over- whelming public sentiment of the North, expressed in the proceedings of public meetings and solemn remonstrances, without a single peti- tion in its favor on their table, and not daring to submit this great question to the people, have yielded to the seductions of Executive patronage, and Judas-like, betrayed the cause of liberty; while the South, inspired by a dominant and grasping ambition, has, without distinction of party, and with a unanimity almost entire, deliberately trampled under foot the solemn compact entered in the midst of a crisis threatening to the peace of the Union, sanctioned by the great- est names of our history, and the binding force of which has, for a period of more than thirty years, been recognized and declared by numerous acts of legislation. Such an outrage upon liberty, such a violation of plighted faith, cannot be submitted to. This great wrong must be righted, or there is no longer a North in the councils of the Nation. The extension of slavery, under the folds of the American flag, is a stigma upon liberty. The indefinite increase of slave repre- sentation in Congress is destructive to that equality between freemen which is essential to the permanency of the Union.

The safety of the Union — the rights of the North — the interests of free labor — the destiny of a vast territory and its untold millions for all coming time — and finally, the high aspirations of humanity for universal freedom, ALL are involved in the issue forced upon the country by the slave power and its plastic Northern tools.

In view, therefore, of the recent action of Congress upon this sub- ject, and the evident designs of the slave power to attempt still further aggressions upon freedom — we invite all our fellow citizens, without reference to former political associations, who think that the time has arrived for a union at the North to protect LIBERTY from being overthrown and down-trodden, to assemble in

MASS CONVENTION

On Thursday, the 6th of July Next,

at i o'clock p. m.,

At Jackson,

there to take such measures as shall be thought best to concentrate

the popular sentiment of this State against the aggressions of the

slave power.

The response to this call was prompt and emphatic. To the offices of newspapers which were friendly to the movement, to all classes of business places, and to the men who were personally can-

34 HISSTOKY OF THE KEPIBLICAN PARTY.

vassing, si^^ncrs came in constant streams. In a fortnight 10,000 sifj^natures were obtained, and they inchided a surprising number of the strong men of the Stale. Many hundrt^ds of these gathered at Jackson from all the settled counties and presented a notable instance of the capacity of the American peoi)le for taking the initiative for creating an organization ''springing from themselves.''

"1

III.

THE FIRST REPrBLICAN CONVENTION.

A Quick Response to a Rousini^ Call — The Oreat Convention **Under the Oaks'' at Jackson — An Immense Gathering of Strong and Representative Men — A Series of Patriotic and Stirring Resolu- tions— Business Transacted by Democratic Methods — A Body Harmonious in Pur])ose and Results — The Most Noted Gathering Ever Held in the State — Men Who Afterwards Became Prominent in National Affairs — How the Party Received Its Name — The Last of Michigan AMiig Conventions — Course of the Prohibitionists — The Democratic Nominations — The New Party Conducts a Short and Winning Campaign?

The gathering which was to take its phice in history as the first Republican Convention in the country, was called to order at Bron- son's Hall, Jackson. Judge I-ievi Baxter, of Hillsdale, was made tem- porary Chairman, and a Committei* of two from each Congressional District was appointed to select permanent officers of the Convention. The crowd and th(» enthusiasm were much greater than the most san- guine had anticipated, and the hall was not large enough to contain either. It would hold about GOO and there were between 4,000 and 5,000 who wanted to g<»r in. Adjournment was had to an oak grove on the edge of the th(*n small city, at a point that now covers the corner of Washington and First streets. It was this beautiful grove that was for long afterwards celebrated as the birthplace of the Republican party, and participation in the Convention **Under the Oaks," was a token of honor to those attending it, especially to those, who, twenty-six years later, W(*re delegates to a Republican State Nominating Convention in the same city. The attendance of men from other parts of the State was large, and as the procession took its course to the grove, it drew after it half the people of the town. As stated in a contemporaneous re])ort : "The scene at the grove was most animating. The excellent brass band of Jackson was present,

36 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

and greatly enlivened the occasion by its music. A high enthusiasm pervaded the entire assembly, and there was every prospect of the harmony and good feeling that have so abundantly prevailed.''

As this was not a delegate Convention there was no occasion for a Committee on Credentials. As it ^^as the first of its kind, there were no rules and no precedents to govern its order of business or course of action. It contained some incongruous elements, and it was so large as to be unwit»ldy, yet so great was the desire of its mem- bers for a genuine concert of action, that it reached conclusions in

harmony and transact- ed its business in order. The first occasion for any concession to the desire for harmony came in the Committee on Permanent Organi- zation. Some of the Free Soil members of the Committee desired that Isaac P. Chris- tiancy, their last candi- date for (t o V e r n o r, should be permanent Chairman. But it was argued that the tem- porary Chairman was a Free Soiler, that senti- ment against dropping old party names and adopting a new one was DAVID s. NVALBRiDGE. Stronger among the

Whigs than among Free Soilers, and that every appearance of crowding the latter party to the* front should be avoided. The choice, therefore, fell upon David S. Walbridge, of Kalamazoo, a zealous Whig, whose selection, it was thought, would have some influence in inducing reluctant Whigs to acipiiesce in the union. Twelve Vice- Presidents were chosen, taken impartially from the different parties. Of the seven Secretaries, three, J. F. Conover, A. B. Turner and G. A. Fitch, were among the editors who had aided in the movement.

The next action was the appointment of a Committee on Resolu-

THE FIRST REriTBLICAN CONVENTION. 37

tions, and in arcordance with the thoroughly democratic character of the meeting this Committee was named by the electors of the several Congressional Districts, four from each District, making sixteen in all. It included a number of strong men of very positive views, and it wag deemed quite certain that if they could agree upon a platform the Convention would accept it. They adjourned to the edge of the oak opening, at what is now the corner of Second and Franklin streets, and here half a dozen different platforms came out of the pockets of members of the Committee. One by Austin Blair was fiercely radical. One set was forwarded by Uorace Greeley, from New York. Others were by Isaac P. Christiancy, elabez Fox and Jacob M. Howard, the latter of whom was Chairman of the Committee. His resolutions had been very carefully prepared, nfter consultation with leading members of both parties. They were acce])ted by the Committee, with some modifications suggested by the platforms drawn by Mr. Christiancy and Mr. Fox. They were considered by Mr. Hlair to be too tame, and in tlie Convention, he made a minority report covering his own resolu- tions. This was, however, tabled, and Mr. Howard's report was almost unanimously adopted. It was as follows:

The freemen of Michigan assembled in convention in pursuance of a spontaneous call, enumating from various parts of the State, to consider upon the measures which duty demands of us, as citizens of a free state to take, in reference to the late Acts of Congress on the subject of slavery and its anticipated further extension, do

RESOLVE, That the institution of slavery, except in punishment of crime, is a great moral, social and political evil; that it was so regarded by the fathers of the Republic, the founders and best friends of the Union, by the heroes and sages of the Revolution who (contem- plated and intended its gradual and peaceful extinction as an element hostile to the liberties for which they toiled; that its history in the United States, the experience of men best acquainted with its work- ings, the dispassionate confession of those who are interested in it; its tendency to relax the vigor of industry and enterprise inherited in the white man; the very surface of the earth where it subsists; the vices and immoralities which are its natural growth; the stringent police, often wanting in liumanity and speaking to the sentiments of every generous heart, which it demands; the danger it has already wrought and the future danger which it portends to the security of the Union and our Constitutional liberties — all incontestably prove it to be such evil. Surely that institution is not to b<» strengthened and encouraged against which Washington, the calmest and wisest of our Nation, bore unequivocal testimony; as to which J(»fferson, filled with a love of liberty, exclaimed: **Cau the liberties of a Nation be ever

;^8 HISTORY OF TJIE KEPIBLK AN PARTY.

thoujflit secure when we have removed their only tirni basis, a eonvie- tion in the minds of the people that their liberties are the GIFT OF (tOD? that they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country wh(»n 1 ref1(M't that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; that, considering numbers, nature and national means, only a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange (»f situation is among possible events; that it may become probable by supernatural interference. The Almighty has no attribute which can take sides with us in such a contest.'- And as to which another eminent patriot in Virginia, on the close of the Revolution, also exclaimed: ''Had we turned our eyes inwardly when we supplicated the Father of Mercies to aid the injured and oppressed, when we invoked the Author of Righteousness to attest the purity of our motives and the justice of our cause, and implored the God of battles to aid our exertion in its defense, should we not have stood more self- (onvicted than the contrite publican?'' W(» believe these sentiments to be as true now as they were then.

RESOLVED, That slavery is a violation of the rights of man as man; that the law of nature, which is the law of liberty, gives to no nmn rights superior to those of another; that God and Nature have secured to each individual the inalienable right of eiiuality, any viola- (ion of which must be the result of superior force; and that slavery, therefore, is a iR»rpetual war upon its victims; that whether we regard the institution as first originating in captures made in war, or the subjection of the debtor as the slave of his creditor, or the forcible seizure and sale of children by their parents or subjects by their king, and whether it be viewed in this country as a ''necessary evil'' or otherwise, we find it to be, like imprisonnn»nt for d(*bt, but a relic of l)ar!)arism as well as an element of weakness in the midst of the State, inviting the attack of external enemies, and a ceaseless cause of inter- nal apprehension and alarm. Such are tlu* lessons taught us, not only by the histories of other commonwealths, but by that of our own beloved country.

RESOLVED, That the history of the formation of the Consti- tution, and particularly the enactment of the Ordinance of July 13, 1787, prohibiting slavery north of the Ohio, abundantly shows it to have been the ]yirpose of our fathers not to ])romote, but to prevent the spread of slavery. And, w<», reverencing their memories and cherishing free republican faith as our highest inheritance, which we vow, at whatever expense, to defend, thus i)ublicly proclaim our determination to oppose, by all the powerful and honorable means in our power, now and henceforth, ail attempts, direct or indirect, to extend slavery in this country, or to permit it to extend into any region or locality in which it does not now exist by positive law, or to admit new slave states into the I'nion.

RESOLVED, That the Constiturion of the Tnited States gives to Congress full and complete power for the municipal government of

THE FIRST REPUBLICAN COXVENTIOX. 39

the territories thereof, a power which from its nature cannot be (Mther alienated or abdicated without yielding up to the Territory an absolute political independence, which involves an absurdity; that the exercise of this power necessarily looks to the formation of states to be admitted into the Union; and on the question whether they shall be admitted as free or slave states, Congress has a right to adopt such prudential and preventative measures as the i)rincii)les of liberty and the interests of the whole country require; that this question is one of the gravest importance to the free states, inasmuch as the Constitution itself creates an equality in the appor- tionment of Representatives, greatly to the detriment of the free and to the advantage of the slave states. This (luestion, so vital to the interests of the free states (but which we are told by certain political doctors of modern times, is to be treated with utter iudilTerence), is one which we hold it our right to discuss; which we hold it the duty of Congress in every instance to determine in unequivocal language, and in a nmnner to prevent the spread of slavery and the increase of such unequal representation. In short, we claim that the North is a party to the new bargain, and is entitled to have a voice and influence in settling its terms. And in view of the ambitious designs of the slave power, we regard the man or the party who would forego this right, as untrue to the honor and interest of the North and unworthy of its support.

RESOLVED, That the repeal of the **Missouri Compromise," contained in the recent Act of ( 'ongress for the creation of the Terri- tories of Nebraska and Kansas, thus admitting slavery into a region till then sealed against it by law, eijual in extent to the thirteen old states, is an act unprecedented in the history of the country, and one which must engage the earnest and serious attention of every Northern man. And as Northern freemen, inde})endent of all former party ties, we here hold this nn»asure up to the })ublic execration for the following reasons:

That it is a plain departure from the policy of the fathers of the Republic in regard to slavery, and a want<m and dangerous frustra- tion of their purposes and their hopes.

That it actually admits and was intended to admit slavery into said Territories, and thus (to use the words ajiplied by Judge Tucker of Virginia to the fathers of that commonwealth), **sows the seeds of an evil which like a lei)rosy hath descended upon their posterity with accumulated rancor, visiting the sins of the fathers upon succeeding generations.'' That it was sprung upon the country stealthily and by surprise, without necessity, without petition and without previous discussion, thus violating the cardinal principle of Republican gov- ernment, which requires all legislation to accord with the opinions and sentiments of the people.

That on the part of the South it is an open and undisguised breach of faith, as contracted betwe(»n the North and South in the

40 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

settlement of the Missouri question in 1820, by which the tranquillity of the two sections was restored, a compromise binding; upon all hon- orable men.

That it is also an open violation of the Compromise of 1850, by which, for the sake of peace, and to calm the distempered impulse of certain enemies of the I'nion and at the South, the North accepted and acquiesced in the odious Fuj^itive Slave Law of that year.

That it is also an undisguised and unmanly contempt of the pledge given to the country by the prc^sent dominant party at their National Convention in 1852, not to **agitate the subject of slavery in or out of Congress,'' being the same (Convention which nominated Franklin Pierce to the Presidency.

That it is greatly injurious to the free states, and to the terri- tories themselves, tending to retard the settlement and to prevent the improvement of the country by means of free labor, and to discourage foreign immigrants resorting thither for their homes.

That one of its principal aims is to give the slave states such a decided and practical preponderance in all the measures of govern- ment as shall reduce the North with all her industry, wealth and enterprise, to be the mere province of a few slave-holding oligarchs of the South — to a condition too shameful to be contemplated.

Because as openly avowed by its Southern friends, it is intended as an entering wedge to the still further augmentation of the slave power by the acquisition of the other territories, cursed with the same "leprosy."

RESOLVED, That the obnoxious measure to which we have alluded ought to be repealed, and a provision substituted for it, pro- hibiting slavery in said Territories, and each of them.

RESOLVED, That after this gross breach of faith and wanton affront to us as Northern men, we hold ourselves absolved from all •^compromises," except those expressed in the Constitution, for the protection of slavery and slave-owners, that we now demand meas- ures of protection and immunitv for ourselves; and among them we demand the REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW, and an Act to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia.

RESOLVED, That we notice without dismay certain popular indications by slaveholders on the frontier of said Territories of a purpose on their part to prevent by violence the settlement of the country by non-slaveholding men. To the latter we say: Be of good cheer, persevere in the right, remember the Republican motto, "THE NORTH WILL DEFEND YOU."

RESOLVED, That postponing and suspending all differences with regard to political economy or administrative policy, in view of the imminent danger that Kansas and Nebraska will be grasped by slavery, and a thousand miles of slave soil be thus interposed between

THE FIRST REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 41

the free states of the Atlantic and those of the Pacific, we will act cordially and faithfully in unison to avert and repeal this gigantic wrong and shame.

RESOLVED, That in view of the necessity of battling for the first principles of Republican government, and against the schemes of aristocracy, the most revolting and oppressive with which the earth was ever cursed, or man debased, we will co-operate and be known as REPUBLICANS until the contest is terminated.

RESOLVED, That we earnestly recommend the calling of a gen- eral convention of the free states, and such of the slave-holding states, or portions thereof, as may desire to be there represented, with a view to the adoption of other moreextended and eflFectual measures in resist- ance to the encroachments of slavery; and that a committee of five persons be appointed to correspond and co-operate with our friends in other states on the subject.

RESOLVED, That in relation to the domestic affairs of the State we urge a mx)re economical administration of the government and a more rigid accountability of the public officers, a spet^dy payment of the balance of the public debt, and the lessening of the amount of taxation, a careful preservation of the primary school and university funds, and their diligent application to the great objects for which they were created, and also further legislation to prevent the unneces- sary or imprudent sale of the lands belonging to the State.

RESOLVED, That in our opinion, the commercial wants require the enactment of a general railroad law, which, while it shall secure the investment and encourage the euterjirise of stockholders, shall also guard and protect the rights of the public and of individuals, and that the preparation of such a measure requires the first talents of the State.

If these resolutions are mild one can imagine what Mr. Blair's pronouncement must have been. The difficulty of getting at the exact facts in relation to an incident of which a number of persons have a partial knowledge, is illustrated by the different accounts given of the naming of the party as it appears in the platform. George A. Fitch, of the Kalamazoo Telegraph, a natural political organizer, was in full accord with those, who, in its early stages, recognized the importance of a combination, in a new party and with a new name, of all the elements of opposition to the Pro-Slavery Democracy. Some of his associates in the local movements of the time, aver that he had a compact, made in writing, between leading Free Soilers and Liberal Whigs, for an independent organization and a division of the local nominations, and that several weeks prior to July 6, they gave the name lU^publican to the party in the compact. It is not known that Mr. Fitch himself, ever set up this claim.

42 n I STORY OF THE REPT'BUCAN PARTY.

C. V. DeLand, in a letter written October 21, 1898, made this statement of the matter: *'The honor of naming the party belongs to Zephaniah B. Knight, of the Pontiac Gazette. He proposed it at the February eonference and advo( ated it steadily. He was one of the Committee on Platform at the Jaekson Convention, and moved its adoption by that Committee, and it was deeided favorably by a vote of eleven for Republican to five for Union."

Joseph Warren, in whose life the Jackson Convention was the greatest event, and whose recollecti<m of its details was quite minute, wrote as follows, in a letter June :>(), 1871): "Having had some agency, as well in the naming and christening, as in the measures which led to the organization, of the Republican party, and claiming, therefore, to be familiar with the origin of its name and its applica- tion to the new party, the writer will briefly state the facts in regard to it. The honor of having named and christened the party, the writer has always <lainHHi, and now insists, belongs jointly to Jacob M. Howard, Horace Greeley and himself. . . Soon after the writer began to advocate, through the columns of the Tribune, the organization of all opponents of slavery into a single party, Horace Greeley voluntarily oj)encd a correspondence with him in regard to this moveuK^nt, in whi<h he frankly communicated his views, and gave him many valuable suggestions as to the wisest course to be pursued. This corres])ondence was necessarily very short, as it began and ended in June, it being only five weeks from the repeal of the Compromise to the Jackson Convention. In his last letter, re- ceivt^d only a day or two before it was to assemble, Mr. Greeley sug- gested to him the name Republican. This met the writer's cordial approval, he gave Mr. Greeley's letter, containing the suggestion, to Mr. Howard, on the day of the Convention, after that gentleman had been ap]»ointed Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, and strongly advised its adoption. This was done, the platform was adopted and the ticket nominated."

Jacob M. Howard's recollection of the incident, as told to his son, Hamilton G. Howard, is this: After the call for the Jackson (Convention he drew up a series of resolutions which he thought suita- ble for adoi)tion, but left the name of the new party blank. Mean- time Mr. Warren had some correspondence with Horace Greeley on the subject of the Conv<»ntion, and Mr. Greeley forwarded a set of resolutions, not knowing that Mr. Howard was engaged in the same work, and suggested the nam<», Democratic-Republican. At the Con- vention Mr. Howard's resolutions were reported by the Committee, of which he was Chairman. The matter of name came before the Convention in the form of a motion to insert the one i)ropo8ed by Mr.

THE FIRST RErUBLICAN CONVENTION.

4a

Greeley. Mr. Howard moved to amend by striking; out the word Demoeratie, and his motion w^as adopted.

Although there has sinre been so much contention, both in and out of the Hfate, over the honor of originating the name Republican, it is a curious fact that, at the time, but few of the papers which sup- ported the ticket used that designation. The ticket was generally j)laced at the head of their columns without any nam<» at all, or as the *' Independent" ticket. The Democratic papers, on the contrary, and especially the Detroit Free Press, gave spe<*ial prominence to the name, as though to remind the Whigs tliat they had lost their iden- tity as well as their dis- tinctive organization.

After the adoi)tion of the platform, the Convention, still fol- lowing out its Demo- cratic methods, called upon the electors from the several Senatorial Districts to appoint a Nominating (committee of three members from each District. In three of the districts a less number was appointed, but the Committee as it was, consisted of eighty -eight members, a fair sized Convention of

itself. The Committee of Sixteen appoint(»d by the Kalamazoo Conven- tion facilitated this work by formally withdrawing the ticket there nominated, but it was still felt that great discretion was nc^eded in ref- erence to drojiping some of the names that were on that ticket. In regard to the nomination for (Jovernor, there was no qu(»stlon. Kins- ley S. Bingham, who had headed the fornuM' ticket, was an able and popular num, and his unseltish efforts to bring about the union of parties, even if it resulted in his own retirement, had endeared him to the Whigs, as well as to the Free Democrats, and his retention on the

JACOB M. HOWARD.

44 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

ticket was unanimously assented to. George A. Coe, Whig, took the i)hu*e of Nathan Pierce, for Lieutenant-Governor, and John McKinnev, that of Lovell Moore, for Secretary of State; Silas M. Holmes for State Treasurer, and Seymour B. Treadwell for Commissioner of the State Land Office, were retained and Whitney Jones took the place of Philotus llayden, for Auditor General. The nomination for Attorney (reneral was a surprise. It had been gener- ally expected that ITovey K. Clarke ,who was on the old ticket, would be retained, but W. W. Murphy, of Jonesville, without giving any previous intimation of his purpose, in an adroit and earnest speech, proposed '^Honest Jake Howard'^ for the place, and Mr. Howard was, against his own i)rotest, placed on the ticket. This was completed by naming Ira Mayhew for Sujierintendent of Public Instruction, and John K. Kellogg and Hiram L. Miller, for Members of the State Board of Education. The Convention recogniz(^ the ticket projiosed as a stnmg and representative one, and besides had confidence in its large Committee, whose action it ratified with unanimity- and enthusiasm, Mr. Bingham was ^'rapturously called for,'' according to the official report, and **addre8sed the convention in a most happy manner. He was evidently affected by the distinguished favor which placed his name, unsolicited b^' him, in the paramount position it occupies as first on the ticket.'^ With Mr. Bingham's speech the proceedings closed.

The actual business of the Convention called out but little discus- sion, as it was transacted mainly by the committees, and accepted by the larger body. But while waiting for the committees there were numerous speeches on the general character of the Anti-Slavery movement. While the Committee on IVrmanent Organization was out several si)eeches were made, among them one by Prof. Haven, afterwards President of Michigan I'niversity. During the long absence of the Committee on Resolutions there was a flow of oratory. Rev. Arthur St. Clair was called out, and Kinsley S.^Bingham, always a favorite, made a stirring address, which was loudly applauded.

Among the Whigs who were reluctant to give up the old organi- zation and name, was Zachariah Chandler, who had been a hard worker in the party, and in earlier times its candidate for Mayor of Detroit and Governor of the State. lie was strong in his personal and party attachments, and it was not until after the Kalamazoo mass meeting that he fell in with the new movement. But having once decided, he went into it with characteristic zeal. He was at the Con- vention, and followed Mr. Bingham in a speech. He gave a brief

THE FIRST REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 45

account of action on the Wilmot Proviso, so far as Michigan was concerned, quoted the Anti-Slavery resolutions passed by Democratic State Convention of 1849, and the Legislative resolutions of instruc- tions to the Senators and Representatives in Congress on the same subject, and then exclaimed: ^*Not one of our Representatives was ever honest enough to carry them out excei)t Kinsley S. Bingham." He was here interrupted by three rousing cheers for Mr. Bingham, and other demonstrations, which showed clearly enough that he was the choice of the Convention.

Another interesting episode of the Convention was a short speech by Lewis Clarke, then, and for many years afterwards living on a farm near Windsor, Ontario, and the original of George Harris, in Mrs. Stowe's **Uncle Tom's Cabin." His plain, simple recital of events in the life of a slave and fugitive, dimply moved the assembly. Other speeches, at this stage of the i)roceedings, were by William T. Howell, Rev. Charles C. Foote, Philotus Hayden, Rev. Jesse McBride and Rev. Mr. Foster.

During the absence of the Committee on Resolutions, further addresses were made by Austin Blair, Hovey K. Clarke, Isaac P. Christiancy and others. In the evening the crowd filled four public halls and three churches with enthusiastic ratification meetings, and besides this. Governor Bingham addressed a large gathering in the open air on the public square.

In this account of proceedings the reader will notice the names of several gentlemen who afterwards attained National distinction. Many more of the same class, who did not speak at the Convention, were either present or had been actively engaged in the preliminary work. This roll of honor included six men who were afterwards Governors of the State, four who became United States Senators, one Supreme Court Justice, one Cabinet Officer, a number connected with the Diplomatic Service, either as Ministers or Consuls, about twenty Members of Congress, and many more who rendered the State and Nation good service in the Army, in the Legislature, on the Circuit Court Bench, in the United States Courts, and in a host of other appointive positions. No single Michigan gathering, before or since, has ever brought together so many able and patriotic citizens.

The enthusiasm which the action of the Convention roused in the members themselves, was echoed by almost all the papers in the State that had Anti-Slavery leanings. The Detroit Tribune heartily endorsed every action of the Convention, and enthusiastically sup- ported the ticket. The Detroit Free Democrat said, editorially, the

46 HISTOKY OF THE KEPIBLR^VN J»AKTV.

next day: **\Ve nover saw in any deliberative body ao strong a desire for harmony manifested. Every member of the Convention seemed to have eome tlu^re resolvcnl on conciliation and tranqnil action. Tliere *vas scarcely a dissenting voice from the action resolved upon. The harmony of the Convention was esi)ecially apparent in some of the most critical j)eriods of its deliberations." The paper praised the })latform as sj)ecilic, bold and uncompromising, went over the ticket in detail, and added: **\Vith such a ticket, emanating from such a Convention, we cannot be unsuccessful. It will inspire the confidence of freemen in the State, not by its intrinsic merit only, but by th(» purely republican manner in which it was selected. We are confident that tlu* ])eople who selected it will see that it is triumphantly elected."

The Jackson Citizen commented with great satisfaction upon the nmnner in which the Convention received Mr. Chandler's reference to Mr. Bingham, praised the ticket as a whole, and added: **The plat- form was drawn by the lion. Jacob M. Howard, and unanimously adopted, and we are willing to add our testimony that it not only does credit to its author, but <liallenges comparison with any political paper of the day.''

The trio of papers in Pontiac, Grand Kai)ids and Kalamazoo, which had already contributed so larg(^ly to the mov(*ment, found in the result the fruiticm of their long cherished hopes, and zealously supported th(» ticket, and all the Free Soil and almost all the Whig papers in the State came promptly into line.

But th(»re was one note of discord. The Detroit Advertiser was then owned by E. A. Wales, and edited by A. S. Williams. It had described the Kalamazoo Convention as a stormy gathering, and had assailed sev(»ral of the speakers at that meeting for '^disparaging the characlcM* of that great and gifted American statesman and patriot, Henry Chiy." It now, in a bitt(»r and denunciatory editorial, rejected the nominations, introducing ils comments with the following: '•Previous to its meeting we called upon the Whigs to attend the Convention. We looked to their influence as the only means to pro- mote the interests of the peoi)le. The indications were that a suflicient number of Whigs would be present to exert a beneficial influence. All those signs were false. The Convention was con- trolled by Free Soilers and those who desired to break up the Whig party. Ev(»ry thing the* Free Democrats desired they obtained. They went into the meeting with a ticket in the field. They procured the

THE FIRST REPUBUCAN CONVENTION. 47

adoption of just such planks as they desired. They knew the renoni- ination of Kinsley S. Bingham was a foregone conclusion, and then their Committee withdrew their nominees."

These, and similar utterances following, Induced many Whigs to hold aloof from the new movement and caused great uneasiness to the leaders of the new Republican party. A month later a circular was issued, addressed to the Whig State Central ('ommittee, and saying: ^*The undersigned, more than ever impressed with the responsibility resting upon the men of the Whig party, and entertain- ing a high sense of their obligations to take such action as is necessary to advance the principles, maintain and strengthen the organization and preserve the integrity of that party, respectfully request that you will issue a call for a Whig State Convention, to be held at an early day, for the purpose of securing these important objects, and of presenting a AVhig State ticket, to be supported by the people of Michigan, at the election in November next.''

This was circulated in nearly all the counties of the State, and received signatures in sufficient number to demand action by the Com- mittee, who accordingly, called a convention, to be held at the Court House, in Marshall, October 4, for the purpose of nominating candi- dates for all the State offices.

This action, culminating in a Convention to be held only about a month before election, and threatening to put a new ticket in the field, with the anticipated result of dividing the Anti-Slavery vote, was very disquieting, and led to forebodings of grave disaster. But the Con- vention itself, did not merit apprehension on the one hand, nor come up to expectation on the other. Only about 200 delegates were present, though these represented nearly every County in the State. Those that did attend were almost all in favor of the new movement. They chose as President of the Convention, Rufus Hosmer, who had left the Advertiser because he did not agree with its (course, and who was then editing the Detroit Enquirer, in the interest of the Repub- lican ti(!ket. With him were chosen as Vice-Presidents, Nathan Pierce, of Wayne; Chester Y'ost, of Washtenaw; I). C. Buckland, of Oakland, and Edward 1). Cane, of Hillsdale, all supjiorters of the Republican ticket.

A Committee appointed to nominate a State Central Committee, selected as the Detroit members Joseph Warren and Frederick Mor- ley, both strongly in favor of the Rej)ublican ticket, and the latter associated with Mr. Hosmer in the management of the Detroit

48 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Enquirer. Mr. Warren was especially distasteful to the Advertiser clique, and a motion was made to substitute for his name that of E. N. Willeox. Upon this motion the issue was drawn, and a long discus- sion followed, in which three or four si)eeches were made, bitterly denouncing Mr. Warren for his activity in promoting Republican con- ventions throughout the J^tate. When it came to the test, however, there were only four votes in favor of the substitute motion, all of those coming from Detroit, and two of them from the Advertiser office. A motion was afterwards made by Gen. A. S. Williams that Mr. Warren be expelled from the Convention on the ground that he had ceased to be a Whig, but this only received the same four votes. The four then withdrew, after Mr. Wales had filed a formal protest against the sins which the Convention had committed, as well as those it was about to commit, or as he phrased it, against its action **in choosing for its presiding otTicer a man who was the avowed Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee," and **for other action, had or to be taken, which is not strictly in accordance with Whig precedents, Whig principles and Whig organization."

This withdrawal left a Convention which was not only har- monious, but unanimous. It made no nominations, but framed a stirring address, referring to the glorious history and principles of the Whig party, and to the nei»d of concertt^l and united action in opposi- tion to the spread of slavery. It concluded as follows:

"We are convinced that the path of duty is plain before us. We are called ui)on not to abandon the Whig i)arty, not to forsake a single Whig principle, but to make a deep sacrifice for our country's sake. We propose merely to abstain from making distinct nominations at this time, so that all the friends in the cause of liberty, feeling alike on the absorbing issue now pending, may together strike and achieve a glorious triumph.

"We therefore respectfully but earnestly ajjpeal to the Whigs of Michigan to take that course in the coming contest, which will best unite, combine, develop and evidence the free and true spirit of the North.

"Let us throw all distraction to the winds, forget all minor differ- ences, and t^xhibit the glorious spectacle of a patriotic band of freemen, arousing at the trumi>et call of liberty, with a free soil beneath our feet, and fre(*dom's banner over us, marching forward in solid, united and invincible columns to battle and to victory."

THE FIKST KEPrHLK AN CONVENTION. 40

This was the last of the State Convention appeals made to Mi(hi«5an voters in this memorable eampai|>:n. The result was not, of course, satisfactory to the Advertiser. After reviewing tlie action of the Convention, and pointing out what might have been done, it said: ^^As it is tliere is cause for dissatisfaction which will produce its effects. No one regrets this more than we do. We yet hope that a little time may heal the discords of our party — that those who have given allegiance to another organization may return to their old love. This we hope, but whether our wishes shall be realized or not, our own course is plain. We shall jiursue the even tenor of our way, exerting whatever intluence w^e may have to forward Whig principk^s, and Whig measures, and preserve the integrity of the Whig party.''

But the Whig party had held its last Convention of any conse- quence in Michigjvn. Joseph Warren was elected Chairman of the new State Central Committee, and a resoluticm was adopted, leaving it with him to convene the Committee or to call a Convention, whenever he deemed it expedient. And Mr, Warren carried the Whig party of Michigan in his pocket from that time till the day of his death; for no organization, exc(*])t a State Convention had power to de])ose him from the Chairmanship, and he n(»ver found it expedient to call another Convent i(m. The nanu* Whig never appeared again upon a Michigan State ticket.

But there was still another element which, for a time, added to the uncertainty of this campaign. Four years earlier than this the Constitution, under which the State has ever since conducted its allairs, was adopted, and with it a clause jirohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. A law, ]>ut not a very effective one. had been passed to carry out this Constitutional prohibition. Temper- ance sentiment was then strong in the old i)arties, and since the State was organized there had been no sei)arate temperance ticket in the field. The Free Democratic Convention at Jackson February 22. resolved in its platform that it was in favor of the re-enactment of the law for the suppression of the traffic in intoxicating liquors, with such amendments as should remove all Constitutional doubts and secure the highest degree of elticiency.

At the Kalamazoo Convention Kev. Arthur St. Clair moved that the report of the Committee on Resolutions be re-committed, with instructions to incorporate the Prohibitory J^aw in the platform; but while no opposition was voiced in the Convention to the law itself.

50 HISTORY OF THE REITHLICAN PARTY.

it was finally thouj^ht advisable to leave the question open to the mass convention, already called, to meet at Jackson, Juh' 6.

Five days later, on the 2Gtb of June, a State Temperance Con- vention was held at Jackson. Without nominating a ticket, it adopted a platform of which the most siji^nificant plank declared: **We intend not only that our votes shall exi)res8 our sentiments, but they shall give efficiency to our princijiles, and therefore, we will not vote, at the next November election, for any man for the office of (Governor, Lieutenant-Oovernor, member of either House of the Ix^gislature of Michigan, or Prosecuting Attorney, who is not known from his past history to be, from ])rincii)k\ in favor of prohibiting by law the manufacture of all intoxicating liquors as a beverage.''

This was the last formal action taken on the subject in this cam- paign. The Jackson (\mvention of July G, as has already been noted, confined its attention mainly to National affairs, and did not touch upon this question. Exce])t as related to individual candidates, the men who afterwards organized the Temperance party, were not a well-defined factor in tlie campaign which followe<l, though a majority of them, th(»n and for some years afterwards, undoubtedly voted for the Republicans. They did not ])ut a separate ticket in the field till 1870.

Althougli the varied and complicated movements which resulted in the concentration of Anti-Slavery sentiment in the Republican organization were so long in operation, and were accompanied by such strong exprt»ssions of feeling, and by such large gatherings of the people, the Dt^mocrats were very slow in learning their real significance or their formidable character. The party papers sneered at the movement up to the time of the Jackson Convention, though some of them were bitter enough against it afterwards. The Detroit Free Press, then the leading Democratic paper in Michigan, was edited by Wilbur F. Storey, who had been about ten years in the State, and a year and a half in Detroit. It took great interest in the Kansas-Nebraska controversy, and on May 25, 1854, announced the passage of the Nebraska bill in a big head-line, "Glorious News From Washington," followed by a rooster holding a streamer with "Democ- racy Triumphant" printed on it. Over the telegraphic report of Congressional proc(*edings, it had a cannon and flag, and an editorial announced the passage of the act *'with unbounded satisfaction."

Mr. Storey evidently really believed that the course of the Republicans and Free Soilers was calculated to disrupt and ruin the

THE FIRST KEPTJJJLK AN CONVENTION. 51

country, and this belief was shared by other Democratic editors. But they failed to apprehend the fact that others might have convictions, equally sincere and more profound, upon the other side, and it was this failure that led them to underrate the strength of the new party. They continued to deride the movement after it had really gained great momentum.

Two days before the Convention the Free Press commenced an editorial with: '*We are really curious to see the platform of the 'fusion' Convention at Jackson," but it never printed that platform in its columns. Its news report of the proceedings of a body which subsequently overturned the politics of the State and Nation, occupied only 50 lines, giving neither the conunittees, the platform nor the si)eoches. Editorially it denounced the Convention as "a body of unmitigated Abolitionists and Disunionists," and either ridiculed or abused the candidates on the ticket, Jacob M. Howard coming in for an especially large share of its attacks. As late as July 9, it commenced an editorial with the announcement that: *The coalition is a dead failure,'^ and ended it with: '^Altogether the coalition is in a horrible bad way and in horrible bad odor. It emits a stench already." On the 12th it said: **In this State, when three months shall have passed the number of peo])le in favor of repealing the Nebraska bill can be soon counted." The next day it spoke of Jacob M. Howard as ''the midwif<* and ])riest at the birth and christening of the Republican party,'- and Zachariah Chandler as *'its traveling agent." In the same (nlitorial it said: ''There is abundant reason to believe that this new Republican party, this bastard issue of illicit intercourse, this fruit of unnatural amalgamation, will die young and have an early burial. It is, indeed, already struck with death." The same editorial referred to a number of Whig papers in the country that disapproved the action of their party associates in this State, and closed as follows: "\A\» predict that if the Whigs of Michigan bring out a straight ticket of their own it will lead the coalition ticket by thousands." It was evidently in this hope that it commented, with great glee, upon the Advertiser's criticism of the (Convention. Other papers followed its lead in alternately denounc- ing the new party and belittling its prospects, some of them also beconiing curiously mixed as to the composition of the party and the standing of the ]>ress in relation to it. One of them, in the western part of the State, as late as August 17, characterized the

52 HISTOKY OF THE KEPI'DLICAN PARTY.

Advertiser as "the orj^aii of Hunker Wbig^ery," the Tribune "of Woolly Wliigjj:ery,-' and the Democrat as a fair representative of "the one-lego:ed jiarty of our State."

But even whistlinjj: did not keep their courage up for long. The signs began to be ominous and there wtTe indications of a tremendous upheaval. A f(»w days after the Convention the Ionia Observer, an old Democratic paper, came out for the ti<ket, and contained the names of 400 Democrats who had done the same, and from all parts of the State there wer(» many similar accessions.

It was under these circumstances that on the 2Gth of July, the call for a Democratic State Conv(mtion was issued. It was signed by Alfred \Villiams, Cornelius OTlynn, D. Munger, A. T. McReynolds, T. E. Wing, A. L. Porter, Jacob Beeson, Frederick Hall and H. Carter. It contained no reference to the principles of the party, nor to current issues.

The Convention met in the City Hall, Detroit, September 14, with Anthony TenEyck in the chair. It numbered less than 150 delegates and was a very subdued assembly. The boastful spirit of two months earlier had disappeared. The defections from the old Demo- cratic party had been numerous, and their loss had not been made good by a<cessions from the ranks of tht* Conservative Whigs. John S. Barry, who was (lovernor in 1850 and 1S51. received the nomination again, having 120 votes, against 11 for Michael Shoemaker, and 10 for Andrew Parsons. The rest of X\w ticket was as follows: Lieu- tenant Oovernor, William A. Richmond; Secretary of State, William L. Bancroft; State Treasurer, Derastus Hinman; Commissioner of the State Land Oni<e, Allen (ioodri<h: Auditor General, John Swegles; Attorney (ieneral, B. F. H. Witherell; Su])erintendent of Public Instruction, Francis W. Shearman: Members of the State Board of Education, Chauncey Joslyn and Elijah H. Pilcher.

The list of delegates did not include many ])rominent names. Those who were afterwards best known were the following: Ex- Governor Epaphroditas Ransom, George W. IVck, of Ingham, elei-ted Member of Congress in November following; George B. Cooper, of Jackson, returned to Congress in liS50, but unseated on a contest; Augustus C. Baldwin, of Pontiac, elected to Congress in 1862, and afterwards Circuit Judge; Jabez G. Sutherland, of Saginaw, elected to Congress in 1870; John Logan Chipman, of Detroit, afterwards Judge of the Superior Court, and Member of Congress; M. E. Crofoot, of Pontiac; Wm. M. Fenton, of Fenton, Lieutenant-Governor 1848-52;

THE FIR8T REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 53

Gen. A. T. Mc* Reynolds, then of Detroit; Chauncey Joslyn, of Washte- naw, and A. Smith Baf^jpj, of Detroit, (len. (*as8 was not a delejjate, but was present by invitation and made a speech.

Tlie platform adopted was short. The first two planks approved Governor Barry's former administration, and commended him to the voters for re-election; the third favored a general railroad law, and the fourth resolved, **That the delej^aled Democracy of the State of Michigan here afifirm their continued sujiport of the principles embraced in the resolutions adoj)ted by the Democratic National Con- vention, which assembled in Baltimore in June, 1852, and that the doctrine of Congressional non-intervention in the domestic legislation of the states and territories, therein embodied, harmonizes with the true sjurit of our institutions, and is the only ]>latform upon which the Democratic party of the I'nion can maintain its nationality and its ascendancy, and preserve the Tnion.''

The short campaign that followed was a warm one. The Detroit papers then had three editors who were all masters of a corrosive style of literature, if that phrase may be allowed as descriptive of their vitriolic writings. Mr. Storey was an unsocial person, a bitter partisan, a vindictive hater, and an abusive writer. In a salutatory, written w^hen he took charge of the Free Press, he had said: **With his contemporaries of the press the undersigned will seek to cultivate relations of the utmost courtesy. Though editors of political papers may occupy attitudes of opposition to each other, there is yet nothing in th(»ir position that should allow them for a moment to forget that they are, or at least, ought to be, gentlemen.'' In the heat of this campaign these amiable sentiments were forgotten, and not without provocation. His contemjjorary and rival, Joseph Warren, of the Tribune, is described by one who was afterwards associated with him in editorial work, as *'a sedate, gentle, kind-h(»arted man personally, but one who wrote with a pen dipped in gall. When engaged in controversy nothing was too bitttT for him to say." As genial and kindly in his family relations as any man in the (^ity, he was in politics, bitter and intolerant. To him every NortlH»rn man who favori^d the Fugitive Slave Law and the Kansas-Nebraska bill, was a **doughface," just as during the war every Democrat was a **coi)per- head." He was now in his prime, at a time when fighting qualities were in demand, a fit contemporary of NVilbur F. Storey and of Rufus Hosmer. The latter was the most famous newspaper wit of the time, a genial and social companion, but a hard hitter in a political

54 HISTORY OF THE RErUBLlCAN PARTY.

figbt. He was said to be tbe only man wbo ever made "old Storey squeal," in a contest of personalities.

It may be assumed that in tbis war of personalities tbe candidates did not escape, so tbat between tbe mixed condition of political parties, and tbe character of its newspaper literature tbe campaign was a unique one. It was especially warm in tbe First and Fourth Congressional Districts. In tbe First District William A. Howard was nominated for Congress by a Whig delegate Convention at Ann Arbor, September 20, and by a Republican mass Convention the sanue day. David Stuart, tbe Democratic nominee, was a veteran and able campaigner, and immediately issued a challenge to Howard to meet him in joint debate. Howard had business engagements East, and was not able, for some time, to respond. Tbis delay was charged to unwillingness on his part to discuss tbe issues of tbe campaign, and the challenge, which was published daily in the Free Press, was read with glee by the Democrats, and with some discomfiture by the Republicans. On Mr. Howard's return, however, be accepted the challenge and joint debates were bad at Detroit, Ann Arbor, Jackson and Howell. Although tbe meetings were long they wQre attended by thousands, and were memorable oratorical contests. Mr. Howard was afterwards spoken of as the **only man in the First District who could meet Dave Stuart on the stump," and laid in this campaign the durable foundations of his reputation as one of tbe most effective campaign speakers of tbe Northwest.

In the other Congressional districts tbe nominations were as follows: Second, Whig and Republican, Henry Waldron; Demo- cratic, David A. Noble; Third, Whig and Republican, David S. Wal- bridge; Democratic, Samuel Clark; Fourth, Whig and Republican, Moses Wisner; Democratic, George W. Peck. The successful candi- dates, with their majorities, were: Howard, 1,144; Waldron, 2,942; Walbridge, 2,687, and Peck, 1,370.

For their State ticket tbe Democrats made a vigorous effort. General Cass, tbe most conspicuous Democrat in the Northwest, felt that his own political fortunes were at stake, and addressed several large meetings in strong and able speeches, and be was backed by a number of the old leaders. All through tbe campaign the Democrats claimed that they would win, and some of them put their majority as high as 8,000 or 10,000. Rut tbe current was stronger than they supposed, and swept them to utter and irretrievable defeat.

Tbe vote for Governor was: Bingham, 43,652; Barry, 38,675, a Republican majority of 4,977. In tbe First District, particularly in

THE FIRST REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 55

Detroit, the work of the Advertiser and the recalcitrant old line VVhigB, told against Bingham, and his vote fell considerably below that of Howard. This defection was not wholly made up in other districts, for the net Republican majority on Congressman was 5,403, or 426 more than for Governor. In the Legislature the party affilia- tions of members could not be exactly defined, but there was an overwhelming majority against the Democrats.

The triumph was all the more striking by contrast with the result two years earlier. Then their candidate for Governor had 8,138 plurality and 2,288 clear majority. They had elected all four candi- dates for ('ongress, with 25 out of 32 Members of the State Senate, and 51 out of 72 in the House. The Democrats even now were not willing to admit that their attitude on the slavery question was the main cause of their disastrous defeat. At least many of them, and their principal organ, with the rest, charged it to the secret machina- tions of the Know Nothing order. It was, however, hailed throughout the country, as a straight Republican triumph. And it was an enduring one. For the next 28 years in Michigan the Democrats did not choose a single State officer, either at the fall or spring elections. They did not have a majority in either House of any Legislature, and so, of course, could not elect a United States Senator, and out of 92 Congressmen, they chose only 6. So sweeping and lasting a political revolution has rarely taken place in this country.

IV.

SOLIDIFYING THE PARTY.

Claims to Priority in Organization — Mixed Condition and Various Names of Parties in 1854 — The Conduct of Affairs in Kansas Gradually Hrinjrs all Anti-Slavery Elements Together — A Land Trick in the Interest of the Missourians — Free State Emigrant Aid Societies — Murd(»rs and Depnnlations by the Missourians — Elections Carried by Force and Fraud — Heroic Resistance by Free State Men and Subsequent Gain in Inlluenct* — Their Final Success — Kansas at Last Admitted as a Free State, with Republi- can Officers and Legislature.

As there was some difference* of opinion on the question of indi- vidual precedence in projmsing the name Republican for the new party, so there have* been claims for that honor nuide by different states. When Massachusetts and Wisconsin celebrated the twenty- fifth anniversary of their first Rejuiblican Conventions, the claim was set up in each State that its Convention was the first one of its name. Similar claims were nuule about the same time for Vermont, Ohio and Indiana. Still later the claim was made that **The Repub- lican Association of \Vashington, I). C.," was entitled to the honor. The latter claim is not worth considering, as the association was not organized till June ID, 1855, nearly a year after Republican State Con- ventions began to be held. The (juestion in regard to the others is readily determined by reference to tlu» dates, which are matters of public record.

The Michigan State Convention, whose inception and results are here presented in full detail and in shape for permanent record, was held July G, 1854. In ^^'isconsin, after a number of '*Anti-Nebraska" meetings had been held in dilferent jiarts of the State, a call was issued July 9, for a mass convention of "all men opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the extension of the Slave Power." No names were signed to th(» call and no name was indicated for anv

SOLIDIFYING THE PARTY. 57

new party that might p:row out of it, althouj^jh A. S. Bovay, one of the movers in the matter, had already stattHl to Horace Greeley that he intended to propose the name Rei)iibliean. The C'ouvention was held at Madison, July lo, 1854, and among the resolutions adopted was one '*that we accept the issue forced upon us by the Slave Power, and in defense of freedom will co-operate and be known as Republicans/'

In Massachusetts a Convention, of similar spontaneous origin, was held at Worcester, July 19, 1854, at which the name Republican was adopted by the resolution **that in co-operation with the friends of freedom in sister states, we hereby form the Republican party of Massachusetts." But the Anti-Slavery people in that State w(?re in such very decided preponderance that th(\v did not feel under the same necessity for concentration as their associates in other states. The bulk of the Anti-Slavery vote went to the Know Nothing ticket, though there were also Whig and Free Soil tickets in the field.

In Vermont, July 13, 1854, a mass convention was held of persons **in favor of resisting, by all Constitutional means, the usurpations of the propagandists of slavery,'' and among the resolutions adopted was one closing as follows: ^*We propose and respectfully recommend to the friends of freedom in other states to co-operate and be known as Republicans.-' A State ticket was nominated under this name, but the State committees of various parties were authorized **to fill vacancies" on their tickets. Under this power, and by amicable agreements, a Fusion ticket was afterwards made up and elected under that name.

On the same day a Convention was held at Columbus, Ohio, of those in favor of **breaking the chains now forging to bind the Nation to the car of American slavery." The i)arty which there nominated a ticket was generally known, throughout the campaign, as Repub- lican.

This seems to have been a good date for State Conventions, for on the same day one was held in Indiana, at which speeclies were made by Henry S. Lane, Henry L. Ellsworth and Schuyler Colfax, a ticket was nominated, and the name Republican was adopted. In both these states the campaign and its results were similar to those in Michigan.

The movement in Michigan had a great effect in promoting and directing that in Ohio and Indiana, which border upon it. Its influ- ence was less marked in Massachusetts and Vermont, and it is not quite certain that in the latter state the name Republican was wit- tingly borrowed from the Western example. The adoption of the

58 HISTORY OF THE RErUBLlCAN PARTY.

name there may have been a coincidence instead of an appropriation, but the fact remains that Michigan Republicans were the first to adopt and retain the name.

Not only in the states mentioned, but in other Northern states the Anti-Slavery movement took various forms, and worked under diiferent names. This cannot, perhaps, be better shown than by taking the designations of parties in the different states, as contained in Greeley's Whig Almanac, in giving the returns after election. They were as follows:

Maine — Republican, Rum, Whig, Democrat.

New Hampshire — Whig, Democratic, Free Soil.

Vermont — Fusion, Democratic, Free Soil.

Massachusetts — Whig, Know Nothing, Democratic, Free Soil.

Rhode Island — Whig and Maine Law, Democratic.

Connecticut — Whig, Temperance, Democratic.

New York — Fusion, Know Nothing, Hard Democratic, Soft Democratic.

New Jersey — Whig, Temperance, Nebraska.

Pennsylvania — Whig, Democratic.

J )elaware — American, Democratic.

Ohio — Republican, Nebraska.

Indiana — Republican, Nebraska.

Michigan — Republican, Democratic.

Illinois — Republican, Nebraska.

Iowa — Republican, Nebraska.

Wisconsin — Republican, Democratic.

Missouri — Whig, Rentonians, Anti-Rentonians.

California — Whig, Broderick Democrats, Anti-Broderick Demo- crats.

The Republican party, under that name, was still a local organiza- tion. But less than two years later it became National, with a Presidential ticket in the field.

The history of the organization of this party would not be quite complete without a brief reference to the American, or Know Nothing party, through which many of the old Whigs found their way into its ranks. The party was based on the apprehension that the Roman Catholic Church had designs upon the government, ancl that its known and avowed hostility to the American public school system boded disaster to the country. Coupled with this was the belief that the influence of foreign-born voters was becoming dangerously great. Its proposition to amend the suffrage laws so as to require a r(*sidence of 14 or even 21 years, before an immigrant should be

SOLIDIFYING THE PAKTY. 59

allowed to vote, was deemed by many not unreasonable, but in the secrecy of its meetings, and its extreme proscription of foreigners and Catholics, it. was contrary to the spirit of the American people. For these reasons, and also because the slavery question came to over- shadow* all other issues, its victories, though brilliant, were not lasting. Its existence, however, furnished a refuge for those Southern Whigs who could not join the Democrats in their extreme Pro-Slavery action, but who were not yet ready to go the lengths of the Republican party in opposition to that institution. It included, in the South, such Whigs as John Bell, of Tennessee, who was the only Southerner in the Senate who voted against the repeal of the Missouri (Com- promise; Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky; Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland, and Horace Maynard, of Tennessee. It did not obtain great foothold in the West, but in the New England and North Middle States, it was very strong. There it gathered into its ranks those who were genuinely fearful of foreign influence in the country, many Whigs who were in hopes, through its agency, to divert attention from the slavery question, and a great mass of voters who were ready to join any party which gave the best promise, in their own locality, of conducting a successful campaign against the Democrats. The Northern men w^ho were elected to Congress by this party, as well as those who were elected on Whig, Republican and Anti- Nebraska tickets, voted together, almost to a man, when Congress met.

The strange fatuity of the Pro-Slavery Democrats alone made such a consolidation of the opposing elements possible. Thirteen months intervened between the elections in 1854, and the time when the Congress then chosen met, and in that period the purposes of the Pro-Slavery men in reference to Kansas, became plainly apparent.

They did not intend to permit bona tide settlers to determine the question of slavery, but depended u[)on unlawful invaders from the Missouri border counties to impose slavery on the Territory. Nearly all the accessible portion of the Territory was covered by Indian reser- vations on which settlement by whites was forbidden, but within a short period preceding the [)assage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, treaties were quietly made at Washington with a number of Indian tribes, under which most of the soil of Kansas, lying within one or two hundred miles of the Missouri border, was opened to white appro- priations and settlement. These purchases by the Government, though little of them was known elsewhere, were understood by the Missou- rians of the Western border, who had for some time been organizing

60 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

secret soeieties to take possession of Kansas in the interest of slavery. Within a few days after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, hundreds of Missonrians seU^ted parcels of land, held a few meetings and then returned to Missouri. At one of these meetings the follow- ing resolutions were adoptc^d: "That we will afford protection to no Abolitionist as a settler of this Territory.'' "That we rec*ognize the institution of slavery as already existing in this Territory and we advise slave-holders to introduce their property as early as possible."

Meantime, largely through the energy and inliuence of Eli Thayer, of Worcester, Mass., a movement for free State immigration into Kansas from New England, was inaugurated. Mr. Thayer was a New England man, a graduate from Brown University, a Member of Congress from Massachusetts, a forceful speaker and a tine organizer. Within a month after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, he had organized the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, designed to make Kansas a free State by actual settlement. He succeeded, at the very outset, in obtaining substantial tinancial backing for his plan. Boston merchants made very liberal contributions to the cause. Charles Francis Adams subscribed |25,000, and J. S. N. Williams 110,000, and other large sums were contributed.

Two colonies were speedily sent out and founded the City of Lawrence, but the Missonrians determined to check this movement. M one of their meetings, held at Westj)ort, Mo., early in July, 1854, thc»y adopted the following:

'•RESOLVED, That this Association will, whenever called upon by any of the citizens of Kansas Territory, hold itself in readiness together to assist and remove any and all immigrants who go there under the auspices of the Northc»rn Emigrant Aid Societies.

"RESOLVED, That we recommc^nd to the citizens of other counties, [)articuhirly those bordering on Kansas Territory, to adopt rc^gulations simihir to those of this Association, and to indicate their readinc^ss to co-operate in the objects of the rc*soIution."

Thc*se open threats and some actual dc*eds of violence, led the Frc*e State immigrants to prepare to defend themselves. Meetings were held in many of the churchc^s and public halls in New England and New York City, for the j)ur[)ose of purchasing rifles for the emi- grants. Neither this movement nor the organization of Emigrant Aid Societies met with much c»ncouragcMnent from the newspapers

SOLIDlFYINll THE PARTY. ()1

that were afterward Republican, and botli were denounced by the extreme Abolitionists. But Mr. Thayer was determined in his purpose, and was a man of untiring energy. In preaching his crusade and in inciting the people of the North to action, he traveled f)0,000 miles, and made hundreds of spt^eches. The movement continued to gather in momentum, and the Anti-Slavery people soon had a majority of the actual settlers.

The Territory was formally established by the appointment, by President Pierce, of Andrew H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, as Governor, and Daniel Woodson, of Arkansas, Secretary of the Territory. The Territorial Government was organized in the Autumn of 1854, and in November an election for Delegate in Congress was held. John W. Whitfield, an Indian Agent, the Missouri candidate, was returned as elected. He i*eceived 2,871 votes, of which 1,729 were cast by resi- dents of Missouri. These facts were fully shown in a report to Congress, but Mr. Whitfield was seated, and was allowed to retain his seat throughout that Congress. Early in 1855, Governor Reeder ordered an election for the first Territorial Legislature, to be held on the 13th of March. The Border Missourians were on hand in force for this election. They came in wagons and on horseback, and were armed with revolvers, pistols and bowie knives. They had tents, flags and music. Nearly a thousand of them encamped in a ravine near the new town of Lawrence, which they menaced with two pieces of cannon loaded with musket balls. Finding that they had more men than they needed to carry the Lawrence district, they sent detach- ments to carry two others. The result of this invasion was that the Missourians elected all the Members of the Legislature with the excep- tion of two, who were chosen from a remote inland district which the invaders overlooked. Only 81^1 legal electors voted, though there were no less than 6,320 votes polled. It was the greatest farce of an election held in this country up to that time.

The Missouri newsi)apers boldly admitted the invasion and exulted in the crime. "It is a safe calculation that two thousand squatters have passed over into the promised land from this part of the State within four days,'' said the Western Reporter the day before election. *'It is to be admitted that the Missourians have conquered Kansas,'' the Platte-Argus declared when the result was known. When the Missouri Brunswicker learned that Governor Reeder had refused to give certificates to certain of the men who claimed election, it said: **This infernal scoundrel will have to be hemped.''

6:1

IIISTOKY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

1). R. Atrliison, riiited States Senator from Missouri, a few weeks before one of these elections, said: **\Vhen you reside within one day's journey of the Territory, and where your peace, quiet, and your property depend upon your action, you can without any exertion, send 500 of your youn^ men who will vote in favor of your institutions." The Lt»gisiature was called to meet at Pawnee City, on the Kansas River, a hundred miles west of the border. It was immediately adjourned, over the (Jovernor's veto, to Shawnee Mission. Among the Acts whi(*h it passed, was one extending over the Territory the

laws of Missouri with

others, establishing and

_. • fortifying the slave

system. The Acts of this fraudulent Legis- lature were systemati- cally vetoed by Gov. Reeder, but the^' were passed over his head. The Southerners fc»ared, when Reeder was appointed, that he would not be sufficient- ly pliable for their |)ur])oses. The l*re8i- deut was now memori- alized for his removal, which waseffe<'ted, and Wilson Shannon, of Ohio, was appointed in his stead. Shannon announced, on his way to the Territory, that he was for slavery in Kansas, and recognized the fraudulent Legislature as a legal assembly.

The actual settlers of Kansas held a mass convention at Big Springs on the 5th of September, in which they repudiated the laws and officers imposed on the Territory by the border ruffian election and legislature. They further resolved not to vote at the election for Delegate to Congress, which the bogus Legislature had appointed to bv held on the 1st of October. They appointed another election for delegate and nominated (Governor Reeder for the position. Then on

NATHANIKL P. BANKS. JR.

SOLIDIFYING THE PARTY. 63

the 23d of October a Constitutional Convention, chosen by the Free State settlers, assembled at Topeka, and formed a Free State Consti- tution, under which they asked admission into the Union as a State.

In the Thirty-fourth Congress no party had a majority in the House and for several weeks that body remained unorganized. It was finally decided that a plurality should be sufficient to elect after three more ballots. Under this rule Nathaniel P. Banks, Jr., from Massachusetts, received 103 votes to 100 for William Aiken, of South Carolina.

William A. Howard, of Michigan, was a member of the House that elected Banks Speaker. In a speech at the State Convention at Grand Bapids, May 10th, 1876, he gave interesting reminiscences of that occasion. The contest had been carried on for weeks, and the Republican members were discouraged. The night before the election was brought about a Republican caucus was held, and many members were in favor of giving up their candidate, and accepting a com- promise. In fact this came to be the general feeling of the caucus. About midnight Mr. Howard took the floor and protested against any faltering. He told the caucus that he was the first man nominated to Congress on a Republican ticket. His constituents had entrusted him with the Republican Banner, and he would stand by the Flag even if alone, until he fell with it, or until he could carry it home to those who entrusted him with it. When he commenced speaking he stood alone in the middle of the floor, but before he finished 85 men had gathered around him, and the idea of compromise was abandoned. The next day Banks was elected Speaker, and the disintegration of the party was prevented.

I'nder a vote of the same House Mr. Howard, with John Sherman, of Ohio, and Mordecai Oliver, of Missouri, were appointed a committee to proceed to Kansas and report on the condition of affairs there. This report, written mainly by Mr. Howard, gave him a high standing among Republican Statesmen. This able document, which went thoroughly into the history of events in the Territory, arrived at eight conclusions, the only one that is pertinent to the subsequent history of the Territory being as follows: "In the present condition of the Territory a fair election cannot be held without a new census, a stringent and well guarded election law, the election of impartial Judges, and the presence of ITnited States troo[)8 at every place of election.''

The bill admitting Kansas, under her free Constitution, passed the House by 1)9 yeas to 1)7 nays. The Senate, which was strongly

64

HISTORY OF THE KKITBLKWX PARTY.

Pro-Slavery, defentod it. The Lepslature ehoseu under theFri^e State (Constitution, was summoned to meet at Toi)eka on the 4th of July, 1S5(), but the members w(»re dispersed by a force of regulars under order of President Pierce. For the next three years the Territory had a double government, neither side recognizing the government set up by the otli(»r. There were fre(pient disturbances brought on mainly by the Missourians. They captured and sacked part of the (Mtic^s of Lawrence and Leavenw<jrth, and committed many murders

and depredations. But the Free State men had better staying quali- ties than the roving bands of border ruf- fians who were not making improvements, and were not attached to the soil. The Free State element in the end became the pre- ponderating one, and another ( Constitutional Convention assembled at Wyandot in March, iSilJ). It adopted a Free Sta te Tonsti tution, which was afterwards ratified at an election in October. A bill for the admission of the State, under that Ton- stilution, passed the House of Congress, April 11th, 1860. The Senate, however, refus(»d to take it up, being still Democratic. At the next session the application was renewed, and it was passed on the same day that the resignation of a number of the Southern Sena- tors, by abandoning their seats, made that body Republican.

Thus the Territory, whose organization called the Republican party into existence, and whose history constantly stimulated Repub- licans to close union, became a Free State on the very day on which that party came into a clear majority in both Houses of Congress. And for a score of y(»ars thereafter it was on(* of the strongest Re- uublican States in the Union.

JOHN SHERMAN.

rOXVENTION AND CAMPAIGN OF 185(;.

First Republican National Convention — Nomination of Fremont and Dayton with a Strong Platform — A Spirited Cam[)ai^n With Ardent Hopes of Sneeess — The October Elections Have a Depres- sing Effect — In November Buchanan is Elected by Narrow Margins in the Middle States — The Ele(*tion Considered a Moral Triumph for the Republicans, and a Sure Indication of Future Suc(*es8 — An Exciting and Vigorously Conducted (-anipaign in Michigan — The Result a Decisive and Enduring Triumph — The Old School Democracy of the IVninsular State In Its Death Throes.

Ry 18.^0 the Anti-Slavery men of the North had enough in common

t^ <> bring them tog(»ther in National Convention. On February 22d of

* hut year the first National Rei)ublican meeting was held at Pittsburg,

^ although it did not assume all the functions of a convention, and no

^::Moininations were made. Subsecjuently a call was issued for the Con-

'V'-ention that met in Philad(»lphia on the 17th of June. This shared

** oiiiewhat in the spontaneousness of the Michigan gathering two years

^ -"^arlier. No settled rule had been adopted for sending the delegates

^%nd there was no fixed ratio of representation. All the Free States

XA'ere represented, together with the border States of Delaware,

^^faryland and Kentucky. The delegates m(4 as members of a new

^jiarty, and represented all former shades of Anti-Slavery opinion,

-cXbolitionists, Free Soilers, Free Denrocrats and Whigs.

William H. Seward was the most con8[)icuou8 man of the party ^^ud probably might have been nominated for President, but declined tio have his name presented, preferring to take his chance later. ^>^aluion P. Chase, wiio was then frovernor of Ohio, was also a fav- <~irite of the party, but did not aj)parently, see much hope of success. -:\t that time the Whig element of the Convention was favorable to

\

G()

HISTORY OF THE KKPrBLICAN PARTY.

the nomination of Judge McLean, of the Supreme Court, but the young men were laught with the dash, and spirit, and fame of John i\ Fremont, of California, who on the lirst ballot received 859 votes to 19G for John McLean, of Ohio.

An informal ballot was taken for a candidate for Vice-President, in which William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, received 25!) votes, Abra- ham Lincoln, of Illinois, 110; N. P. Ranks, of Massachusetts, 46; David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, 48, and a large number of others scattered amcmg Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts; Jacob Coliamer,

of Vermont; Preston King, of New Y'ork; S. C. Pomeroy, of Kansas; Henry Wilson, of Mass- achusetts; Cassius M. ( 'lay, of Kentucky; Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio; Wm. F. John- ^^^__^. ^^ ^^^^ ston, of Pennsylvania,

f ^^^^^!^^B ^^^1 '^^^ William Penning-

1 D^^^^^^ ^H '^ ^^'^^ '*^^ illustrious

array of men to be counted as candidates for the second place on a ticket. Judge Day- Ion, Sumner, Coliamer and K i n g, h a d a 1 1 starved with distinction in the United States Senate, besides having held other public j>osi- tions. Lincoln had a high standing at the* Western bar, and was already known as on<» of the most vigorous and effective speakers against shivery aggn^ssion. Hanks had been Speaker of the House; Wilmot, who was famous bcM-ause of ihe Proviso that bore his name, was I'resident Judge* of a Pennsylvania Judicial District; Clay was well known as a Kentucky Free Soiler, who stoutly maintained and advocated principles that were generally unpopular in the State; Giddings was the famous Ohio Abolitionist, and Pomeroy was one of the men \^ho went from Massachusetts to Kansas to aid in the work

JOHN C. FREMONT.

CONVENTION AND (WMPAIGN OF 185(5.

67

of the Emigrant Aid Society. Mr. Dayton had such a preponder- ance of votes that the choice fell upon him without a formal ballot.

The Convention was in session three days, with Henry S. Lane as President. It was made u[) largely of aggressive young men, who knew that they were laying the foundation for the future upbuilding of a great and successful party.

There was a flavor of \>'e8ternism about the man selected as Permanent Chairman of this body. Henry S. Lane, of Crawfords- ville, Indiana, a gallant officer during the Mexican War, at one time one of the leading Whigs in the West, and after that one of the founders of the Re- publican party, was at this time the most pop- ular man in his State, but his was not a figure that would adorn an Eastern drawing room. As he came forward to take the platform he was the victim of 8on)e noticeable ridicule. His hair and whiskers were not of the latest cut, and he wore jeans cloth- ing not very n(*w, and with a pen tail coat. The following picture of him was given by a newspaper correspond- ent at the time.

**He stood forth on the platform, a man about six feet high, mar- velously lean, his front teeth out, his complexion between a sunblister and the yellow^ fever, and his snmll eyes glittering like those of a wildcat. The New Yorkers, near whose delegation I sat, were first amused and then delighted. H(* ^went in' and made the most astounding specnh ever heard in these i)arts. He smacked his fist horribly at the close of every emj)liatic [)eriod, 'bringing down the house' with every lick, in a tremendous outburst of screams, huzzas

WILLIAM L. DAYTON.

68 HISTORY OF THE REPIBLICAN PARTY.

and stainpinj^ — 'VVc^stern all over.' But he stirred the multitude as with a thousand sharp sticks. From a ridiculed 'thing' he became an idol. When the spetM-h was concluded and he assumed charge of the ('onv(*ntion, he continued his ^Westernismi^/ as the New Yorkers called them, by tilling his mouth with tobacco, placing one leg over the table behind which he sat. He nut the vote and made his decisions in the most otf-hand wjiy imaginable, without rising, and infusing into everything a spirit of i>eculiar humor that was irre- sistible.''

Mr. l^ane, on taking the chair, assured the Convention, as ^'friends of freedom and friends of free men," that the time, the place and the occasion — the anniversary of Hunker Hill — and the vicinity- of Inde- pendence Hall, all conspired to make the hour memorable. He went on: **It is now a struggle for free men, free thought and free labor, and 1 hojK* it will nreet with liearty res])onse. This day inaugurates a new (*ra in American politics. It inaugurates the sovereignty of the people, the rule of man, the resurrection of the North. There is, to my mind, a great signiticance in these mighty upheavals of the masses. A sense of common danger lias brought together men hitherto divided politically, because they owed no responsibility iHiual to that they owed (o freiHlom. \ followed the lead of the glorious Clay, of Kentucky; but since the Nebraska bill has passed, my allian<e to old party ties sle])t in the grave of the patriot (May. . . We look for the day that the sun shall shine on no slave — North or South. We look for th(» spiKnly admission of Kansas as a Free State. There is nothing revolutionary in that. There is authority for it, and necc^ssity for it. Two short years ago peace reigned throughout the land. The Compromise* M(»asur(»s were quietly submitted by the cold and cruel calculation of heartU^ss denuigogues. The ambition of Stephen A. Douglas opened up afresh the agitation. It was brought on by no action of ours, but I trust God that we will meet it as men.

**Scenes have been enacted in Kansas that have had no parallel since* the days wlu*n the (loths and Vandals ov(»rran Italy. Whether that administraticm was more fool or knave let the muse of history determine. . . They were made* felons by the T)rae*onian laws

the»re». The\v reMe)lleeted the histe)ry e)f Barber, who for daring to proclaim the eMpiality e)f all men, was struck down in cold blood, and whose widow now roams a raving maniac around her prairie home. Such a rebellie)n as theirs was sanctie)ne*d by God and man. The laws of Kansas were vitiated by force and fraud, and had no binding

CONVENTION AND CAMPAIGN OF 1850. 69

effect on any man. The Bible of truth was even ostracised by the Kansas lA^gislature, for so long as we believed in the immortality of the soul, we must believe that glorious revelation was an Anti-81avery document.

'*\Vhy does the Democratic party disturb the Missouri Com- promise? I know not, and yet with unparalleled effrontery they proceeded to pass resolutions at Cincinnati to discontinue the further agitation of slavery. Their promise was *like Dead Sea fruits — tempt the eye, but turn to ashes on the lips.' "

The Michigan Delegation to this first National Convention were: At Large — E. J. Penniman, Fernando ( •. Beaman, Noyes L. Avery, Thomas J. Drake, Zachariah Chandler, Oeorge Jerome. By Districts — First, Kinsley S. Bingham, D. Mclntyre, M. A. McNaughton; Second, (leorge A. Coe, Isaac P. Christiancy, Witter J. Baxter; Third, Hezekiah G. Wells, John R. Kellogg, Randolph Strickland; Fourth, Whitney Jones, A. 1*. Davis and H. B. Shank.

While giving prominence to the paramount issue of slavery in the territories, the Convention at once gave the n(»w organization standing as a party of progress, by taking up new issues. The platform, as finally adopted, was in full as follows:

This convention of delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to the people of the Cnited States, without regard to past jK)litical ditl'erences or divisions, who are o[)po8ed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present Administration, to the extension of slavery into free territory; in favor of admitting Kansas as a Free State; of restoring the action of the Fed(»ral Govern- ment to the principles of Washington, and who purpose to unite in presenting candidates for the office of President and Vice-President, <io resolve as follows:

RESOLVED, That the maintenance of the principles promul- gated in the Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution, is essential to the preservation of our Republican insti- tutions, and that the Federal C<mstitution, the rights of the states, and the Union of the states, shall be preserved.

RESOLVED, That with our Republican fathers, we hold it to be a self-evident truth that all men are endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of ha[)piness, and that the primary object and ulterior design of our F(Mleral (lovernment werr to secure these rights to all [)ersons within its exclusive jurisdiction; that as our Republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our National territory, ordained that no perscm should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without d\w process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it for the purpose* of establishing slavery in any

70 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLK AN PARTY.

Territory of the rnited States, by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial lA*gislature, or any individual or association of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States, while the present Constitution shall be maintained.

RESOLVED, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over .the Territories of the Cnited States for their government, and that in the cxcMcise of this [)ower it is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery.

RESOLVED, That while the Constitution of the Cnited States was ordained and established, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure dcmiestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty; and contains ample provision for the protection of the life, liberty and property of every citizen, the dearest Constitutional rights of the people of Kansas have bcH'U fraudulently and violently taken from them; their Territory has been invaded by an armed force; spurious and pretended I^egislative, Judicial, and Executive officers have been set over them, by whose usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the government, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have btvn enacted and enforced; the rights of the people to keep and bear arms have been infringed; test oaths of an extraordinary and entangling nature have been imposed, as a condition of exercising the right of sutfrage and holding otlicis the right of an accused person to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury has been denied; the right of the people to be secure in their j persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, has been violated; they have been deprived of life, liberty and property without due process of law; that the freedom of speech and of the press has been abridged; the right to choose their representatives has bt^n made of no effect; murders, robberies and arsons have been instigated or encouraged, and the offenders have been allowed to go unpunished; that all these things have been done with the knowledge, sanction and procurement of the present National Administration, and that for this high crime against the Constitution, the Cnion and humanity, we arraign the President, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists and accessories, either before or after tlu* facts, before the country and before the world, and that it is our lixed purjjose to bring the actual peri>etrators of these atrocious outrages, and their accomplices, to a sure and condign punishment hereafter.

RESOLVED, That Kansas should be immediately admitted as a State of the Cnion with her j)resent free Constitution, as at once the most effectual way of securing to her «*itizens the enjoyment of the rights and privileges to which they are entitl(*d, and of ending the civil strife now raging in her T(»rritory.

CONVEXTIOX AND CAiMPAIGN OF 1856. 71

RESOLVED, That the highwayman's plea that "mij^ht makes right," embodied in the Ostend circular, was in every respect unworthy of American diplomacy, and w;ould bring shame and dishonor upon any government or [)eople that gave it their sanction.

RESOLVED, That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, by the most central and practicable route, is imperatively denmnded by the inter- ests of the whole country, and that the Federal (yovernment ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction, and, as an auxiliary thereto, the immediate construction of an emigrant route on the line of the railroad.

RESOLVED, That appropriations of Congress for the improve- ment of rivers and harbors of a National (*haracter, recjuired for the accommodation and security of our existing commerce, are author- ized by the Constitution and justified by the obligation of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.

RESOLVED, That we invite the afliliation and co-operation of the men of all parties, however differing from us in other respects, in support of the principles herein declared; and believing that the spirit of our institutions, as well as the Constitution of our country, guarantees liberty of conscien( e and equality of rights among citizens, we oppose all proscriptive Ic^gislation alTecting their security.

An American, or Know Nothing, Convention, held in Philadel- phia, February 22d to 25th, 185(>, had nominated for President, Millard Fillmore, of New York, and for Vice-Presid(*nt, Andrew Jackson Donnelson, of Tennessee*, on a platform which gave emphasis to its peculiar vi(^ws in reference to naturalizati<m and citizenship, and gave a sweeping criticism to the existing Administration. A Whig Convention, held at Baltimore, September 17th and 18th, ratified the nominations of Fillmore and Donnelson, on a rather non-com- mittal platform, in favor of the Constitution and the Union.

The Democratic Convention met at Cin«innati on the 2d of June, John E. Ward, of (ieorgia, presiding. On the first ballot its votes for Presidential candidates were: James Buchanan, 135; Franklin Pierce, 122; Stephen A. Douglas, 33; Lewis Cass, 5. Buchanan and Douglas gained quite steadily, while Pierce lost, and on the sixteenth ballot Buchanan had 108 votes and Douglas 121. This gave Buchanan such a decided lead that on the next ballot he was nominated with practical unanimity. He had been in the field for the Presidential nomination ever since 1844, and his time had now c(mie. Being absent from the country as Minister to England, during most of Pierce's Administration, he had nothing to do with the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and this added to his availability as a candi- date.

r^

HISTORY OF THE REPIBTJCAN PARTY.

On the first ballot for N'ice-President, John A. Quitnmn, of Mis- sissippi, received the hirj^est vote, the rest being widely scattered. On the second, his name was withdrawn, and John C. Breckinridge, of K(*ntncky, was unanimously nominated. The platform was inor- dinately long, covering a great variety of subjects. The utterances most significant on the slavery (piestion were as follows: *'That Congress has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states, and that such states are the sole and proper judges of everything a[)iH^rtaining to

their own affairs, not [)rohibited by the Con- s t i t u t i on; that all efforts of the Aboli- tionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with the ques- tions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and d a n g e r o u s c o n 8 e- (juences; and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and en- danger the stability of the Cnion, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions. "That the foregoing ]>ro])ositiou covers, and was intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress, and therefore the Democratic party of the Cnion, standing on this National platform, will abide by and adhere to the faithful execution of the Acts known as the Compromise Measures, settled by the Congress of 1850; the Act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor included, which Act. being designed to carry out an expressed [)rovision of the Constitution, cannot, with fidelity thereto, be repealed or so changed as to impair its elficiency.''

JAMES BUCHANAN.

CONVENTION AND CAMPAIGN OF 1856. 73

Those views of the slavery question are reiterated in various forms in the platform. The campaign that followed was a very active and spirited one. Fremont wais the ideal candidate for a young and vigorous party. His career had been adventurous and of great service to the country. As early as his 27th year he had explored the South Pass to tlie Rocky Mountains, and the great Salt Lakes. Still later he explored the Alta California, Sierra Nevada, and the valleys of the San €Joaquin,and had earned the title of the "Pathfinder," by doing more than any on(^ else to open a means of communication between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Coast. At the age of thiriy-six he had come back to Washington as the first Senator from tlie new State of California.

His life had also a touch of romance. When a young Lieutenant in the Army he had eloped with Jessie lUniton, the charming daughter of the Senator from Missouri, and in some phases of the campaign. The name of Jessie Benton was received with almost as great popu- larity as that of Fremont himself.

The campaign medal took a greater part in this canvass than it had ever done before. One of the medals was a head and bust of Fremont, with his name above, and "Jessie's Choice'- beneath. Another represented a party surveying a mountain, on the top of which was the White House, and underneath, "Honor to whom Honor is Duel" Another had a fine portrait of Fremont on the obverse and on the reverse a wreath enclosing these inscriptions: "The Rocky Mountains Echo Back Fremont;'' "The People's Choice for 1S5();'- "Constitutional Freedom." Beneath the wreath was 'a scroll with "Free" in the middle, and "Men" and "Soil" at either end.

The Buchanan medals were few in number, but one of them was especially handsome, showing on the obverse a buck leaping over a cannon, with the words, "and Breckinridge,'' underneath. The Know^ Nothings had three medals, one containing a portrait of Millard Fillmore, one an American Flag with three rents, and the inscripticm: "Our Flag Trampled Upon," and one with the motto, "Beware of Foreign Influence.''

The torch-light parad<» and out-door mass meetings figured largely in this campaign, but much of bitterness also entered into it. Just before the Republican Convention at Philad(»lphia, Senator Sumner was stricken down in his seat in the Senate by Preston S. Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina. Sumn(»r had been speaking for two days against the designs of the South in behalf of slav(»ry, a

74

HISTORY OP THE REPT'BLICAN PARTY.

speech that was widely circulated dnriiiji; the cainimign, with the title of **The Crime Ajrainst Kansas." He had been especially bitter against the State of South Carolina, and Arthur P. Butler, one of its Senators. Preston S. Brooks^ a member from South Carolina, and a nephew of Butler's, went over from the House the next day to avenge his uncle and his State. The Senate had adjourned, but Sumner was at his desk absorbed in letter writing;. **l have read your speech twice over carefully," said Brooks, coming up behind Sumner. *'It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine!"

^Vith that he began beating Mr. Sumner's h e ad and shoulders with a bludgeon. Sum- ner was beaten to the floor, and it was many months before he re- covered from the effects of the blows. The Sen- ate made a complaint to the House, and in anti<ipation of expul- sion, Brooks resigned. He was not only re- (»lected, but was treated as a hero in South Car- olina. Some of his admirers presented him with a cane, inscribed: "Cse knock-down argu- nvents" and others gave

CHARLES SIMNER. ,,;,„ ,, ^..,„^ j^^^j^^ ^^^

inscription: '*Hit him again."

In the North this act added to the deep indignation which was felt at the violent and murderous methods of the slave-holders. Anson Burlingame, then a member of the House, from Massachusetts, denoun<ed the assault in the House and was challenged by Brooks. He a<cepted the challenge, named rifles as the weapons, and the Clifton House, Canada, as the place of meeting. But as the Massachusetts Representative was a dead shot with the rifle. Brooks objected to the nuK^ting pla<*e, and the duel n(»ver came off. R<*presentative Potter, a

CONVENTION AND CAMPAIGN OP IHSG. 75

stalwart six-footer from Wisiipnsin, also received a challenge from Lawrence M. Keitt, who was accessory to Brooks' assault on Sumner. Potter a(*cepted and named bowie knives as the weapons, and two paces the distance. But Kettt objected to the weapons as barbar- ous, and this duel never took place. The willingness, however, of these Northern men to fight from tlie front, and with weapons that were effective, ha<i th^VlMkOf checking the insolence of Southern Members of Congress.

This outrage nuon Sumner and the incidents following afforded such clear demonstration of the Southern temper as to add many votes to the Republican ticket. The various incidents in connection with the settlement of Kansas also added to the feeling on the part of the North, while on the other side, Fremont was denounced as a sec- tional candidate, and the Southerners resorted to the old threat to dissolve the Union if he \>as elected by Northern votes on an Anti- Slaverj' platform.

One noticeable thing in the campaign was the extent to which young men were brought into the Republican service. The older Anti-Slavery men, Seward, Chase and Hale, wei*e not especially active in the canvass, but the following, who were comparatively new to public life, were oflen mentioned as speakers in the great meetings held in the cities and at the county mass meetings: N. P. Banks and John Sherman, who were then in their second terms in Congress; Eli Thayer, who originated the Emigrant Aid Societies; Roscoe Conkling, Thaddeus Stevens, John A. Bingham, (Sahisha A. (Jrow, James (I. Blaine, Andrew G. Curtin, Austin Blair, S<huyler Colfax and Oliver P. Morton.

Up to the time of the October elections, which came then in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Iowa, the Republicans were confident of success. In the October election in Pennsylvania, the State was counted for the Democrats by about 2,000 plurality, although it was subsequently proved beyond doubt that more than this number of Democratic votes were obtained on fraudulent naturalization papers. But the loss of Pennsylvania and Indiana discouraged the Rei)ubli- cans, and the current began to set against them. In the November election the Republicans carried all the Free States except five, but these five were on narrow margins. The Democrats had only 925 plurality in Pennsylvania, and 1,809 in Indiana, while New^ Jersey and California were lost to the Republicans in consequence of the Ameri- can vote. The popular vote was 1,8:W,1(>9 for Buchanan, 1,841,2(>4 for

76 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Fremont, and 874,534 for Fillmore. The electoral vote was 174 for Buchanan and Breckinridge, 114 for Fremont and Dayton, and 8 for Fillmore and Donnelson. During the Adminstration, thus chosen, the political complexion of Congress was as follows:

Thirty-fifth Congress. Senate — Democrats, 39; Republicans, 20; Americans, 5. House — Democrats, 131; Republicans, 1)2; Americans, 14.

Thirty-sixth Congress. Senate — Democrats, 3S; Republicans, 2(5; Americans, 2. Housi* — Demo<rats, KH ; Rei)ubli<ans, 103; Independents, 13.

The moral etfect of the election made it almost a Republican victory, for if a new i>arty could at its first general election, carry New York by 80,000 i)lurality, and all of New England and the North- west by large majorities, while the Democrats carried Indiana and Pennsylvania by such narrow margins, it was easy to see that the battle for **Free Soil, Free Speech and Free Men," would sp(*edily be won.

In Michigan the campaign rivaled that of 1840 in excitenuent. (T(»n(»ral Cass recognized the fact that his political future was at stake, and uuide desi)erate efforts to regain the State to the Democracy. He made nmny speeches himself and brought into the State some of the most noted Democratic orators in tlu* country. Immense mass meetings were held at Kalamazoo, Battle Cr(*ek, Centerville and other places. John Yan Bur(»n, of New York, was then counted a prin(*e among campaign orators, and he and General Cass together stumped Southern Michigan. The following distinguished speakers also took part in the campaign: Jesse D. Bright, of Indiana, then President of the Senate; Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York; John C. Breckinridge and Colonel Preston, of Kentucky; Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, with (1. Y. N. Lothrop, Charles E. Stuart, Robert McClelland, John Yan Arman and Flavins J. Littlejohn, of Michigan.

The Republicans rivaled the Democrats in the number and magni- tude of their meetings. Abraham Lincoln was one of their speakers, although they depended mainly upon the brilliant array of home talent which the party in Michigan otferc*d. As the campaign neared its end it became evident that the Michigan Democracy was in its death throes. The vote of the State was as follows: Fremont, 71,702; Buc^hanan, 52,130, and Fillmore, 1,000. The Republicans elected all four Congressmen, as follows: William A. Howard, Dewitt

CONVENTION AND CAMPAKIN OF 185G. 77

i\ I^ach, David S. >\*albridj^e and Henry Waldron. The Presidential electors were Fernando ( ■. Beanian, Oliver Johnson, Harmon C-hani- berlin, W. H. Withey, Chauneey H. Millen and Thomas J. Drake. Hut its most important achievement in this election was the choice of a Legislature which elected Zachariah Chandler to succeed I^wis i'ass in the United States Senate. Mr. Chandler was for more than twenty years thereafter the most consi)ieuous figure in Michigan history and politics. It was during the next four years also that Michigan Republicans commenced the election of those four illus- trious Jurists, Campbell, Christiancy, Cooley and Graves, who, for many years, gave wide fame to the Michigan Supreme Court. At this election Kinsley S. Bingham was re-elected Governor, by a vote of 71,402, against 54,085 for Alpheus Fel<*h, Democrat.

VI.

PRESIDENT Hr( HAXANS ADMINISTRATION.

A Fresh Shock to the North— The Dred Seott Deeision— Its Effect Was to Nationalize Slavery — The De<lsioii Known to the Presi- dent in Advanei* — The ('olor(»d People Not Citizens Nor Possessed of Rii^hts Which tlie White Men Were Bound to Re8i)eet — The Hlack Men Not Thought of Except as Property — The John Brown Raid and Its Etfect rj)on the South — Character and Career of Brown — The (Jreat Debates B(*tw(»en Lincoln and Douj^las — I^st Successful Opposition to Internal Improvements — A Prophetic Utterance.

The Administration of President Buchanan did not do anythinji; to allay the excitement in the North. His influence in Kansas affairs was steadily exerted in favor of th(» Pro-Slavery <laims, and of fraudu- lent elections and disorders.

At the very openinji: of his administratitm the North received a still jj:reater shock in a Supreme Court decision, the intent of which was to carry slavery into all tlH» territories. Dred Scott, a neji^ro, was, in l.KU, held as a slave in Missouri by Dr. Emerson, an army surgeon. In that year Dr. Emerson was transferrt^d to Rock Island, 111., which was a Free State, and took his slave with him. Two years later he was sent to Fort Snelling, in what is now Minnesota, which was also fr(M» territory. He there bought a black woman, who was afterwards married to Dred Scott. Two <hildren wt*re born to this slave couple, Eliza, on a Mississippi steamboat. North of the Missouri line, and Lizzie, at Jetferson Barracks, in Missouri. The entire family was afterwards sold to John A. H. Sanford, of the City of New York.

Dn'd Scott brought suit for his freedom on the claim that his uuister, by taking him into a Fr(»e State, had lost the right to his services. The Circuit Court of St. Louis County rendered judgment in his favor. This was revtM'sed by the Missouri Supreme Court, and the <ase was appealed to the Sujireme Court of the T^nitt^d States.

PRESIDENT BUC^flANAN^S ADMINISTRATION. 79

It was heard in May, 1854. It was understood that a derision would be rendered early in 1856, but on account of the pending Presidential election, judgment was deferred until the next session of the Court. It is now quite generally believed that if the decision had been rendered before the Presidential election, it would have reversed the result of that contest, and that the political wisdom of a partisan court dictated the withholding of the decision.

The opinions in the case had not been made public when Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated. Rut a paragraph in his inaugural address indicates that he had been privately informed of their scope. In that address he said: **What a happy conception was it for Congress to apply the simple rule that the will of the majority shall govern in the settlement of the question of domestic slav<»ry in the territories. Congress is neither to legislate slavery into any Terri- tory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic- institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the T'nited States. As a natural consequence Congress has already prescribed that when the Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a State, it shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as their Constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission. A differ- ence of opinion has arisen in regard to the ])oiut of time when the people of a Territory will deride this <iuestion for themselves. This is hai)pily a matter of but little ijractical importance. Resides it is a judicial question which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their decision in common with all good citizens, I shall cheerfully submit."

The decision came a few days later, rendered by Chief Justi<*e Roger R. Taney, six of the other Judges concurring in the main opinion, though dissenting on some other points. Judge Taney com- menced by denying to Dred Scott, or to any person whose ancestors were imported into this country, any right to sue in a Court of the United States. He said: *The question before us is whether the class of persons, described in the plea in abatement, compose a portion of this people and are constituent members of this sovereignty. We think they are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word citizens in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. On the contrary they

80 HISTOKV OF THE KEPUBLICAN PARTY.

wons at that time, considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beinj^s, who had been subjuji;ated, and whether emaneii>ated or not, vet remained siibje<t to their authority, and had no riglits or privi- U*g(»s but sueh as tliose wlio held the power and the government might choose to grant them." He then went on to sa^', not only that no perst)ns, who had bet*n or whose ancestors had been slaves, were regarded as citizens i)reviously to or at the time of adopting the Federal Constitution, but that no State has or can have any right to conftT ( itizenship on such jjersons.

This was a sufficient- ly strong denial of rights to the col- oriHi people, but the following paragraph tomhed Northern sen- t i m e n t much more strongly: ''It is diffi- <*ult, at this day, to realize the state of pub- lic o]>inion in relation to that unfortunate nice, which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of 1 n d e p e n d ence, and when the Constitution of the Ignited States was framed and adopt-

ROGKR B. TANEY. ^.(i, ^Ut the pubMc

history of ev<Ty European nation disjilays it in a manner too plain to be mistaken. Th(\v had, for more than a century before, been regarded as lH»ings of an inferior order, and altogether unlit to asso- ciate with the white nice, and so far inferior that they had no rights which a white man was bound to respect, and that the negroes might justly and lawfully be rtnluced to slavery for his benefit.''

In still another paragraph he made an argument against any applicati<m. to the negro slave, of the language of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, wherein life, liberty and the pursuit of

PRESIDENT lUK^HANAN'S ADMINISTRATION. 81

happiness are pronouneed the inalienable rij^hts of all men. In the course of this argument he said: "The unhappy black race were sep- arated from the white by indelible marks and laws, long before established, and were never thought of, except as property, and when the claims of the owner or the profit of the trader were supposed to need protection. This state of public opinion had undergone no change when the Constitution was adopted, as is equally evident from its provisions and language."

Justice Taney further argued, at considerable length, that Dred Scott, being a negro, and descended from slaves, had no standing in the Court, and that the Court had no authority in the premises, yet he immediately proceeded to take jurisdiction. He quoted that clause of the Constitution which says: '^Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property of the United States." He asserted that this ap]>lied only to such territory as belonged to the United States at the time the Constitution was framed, and that the territory covered by the Missouri Restriction, having all been acquired since that time, was not subject to this iirovision.

He further aflirmed that by the mere fact of our acquiring terri- tory, the (tovernment and the citizen both enter it under authority of the Constitution; that is to say that the Constitution takes effect upon any territory the frovernment may acquire, in such way that any slave-holder may at on<e take his slaves thither and hold them as [>roperty. Fie denied the power of Congress to negative this right, and nullified the Missouri Restriction in the following announcement: "Upon thes(» conditions, it is the oi)inion of the Court that the Act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from holding property of this kind in th(» TtM-ritory of the United States, North of the line therein mentioned, is not warranted by the Constitution, and it is therefore void; and that neith(*r Dred Scott hims(»lf, nor any of his family, were made free by being carried into territory, even, if they had been carried there by the owner, with the intention of becoming a perma- nent resident."

Dred Scott's freedom had bec*n further claimed on the ground that he had been taken, by his master, into the Free State of Illinois, and there kejjt for two or three years; but the Chief Justice disposed of this by saying that it was a matter to be adjudged by the Court of Missouri alone. It was not projjerly before the Supreme Court. Having thus played rather fast and loose with the whole question of

82 HISTORY OF THE REPl BLK AN PARTY.

jurisdictiou, he concluded his decision as follows: "Tpon the whole, therefore, it is the judjjjnieut of this Court, that it appears by the record before us, that the plaintiff in error is not a <itizen of Missouri, in the sense in which that word is used in the Constitution, and that the Circuit Court of the I'nited States, for that reason, had no juris- diction in the case, and could <::ive no judpnent in it. Its judgment for the defendant must, consequently, be reversed, and a mandate issued, directing the suit to be dismissed for want of jurisdiction."

The judgment of the Chief Justice was con<urred in, in most of its conclusions, by six of the Associate Judges, the only ones dissent- ing being Justices McLean, of Ohio, and Curtiss, of Massachusetts. Three of the Associate Justices, Wayne, of Georgia; Daniel, of Vir- ginia, and Campbell, of Alabanui, concurred with the Chief Justice in all his conclusions. Justi<e Catron, of Tennessi*c, took the curious ground that Congress had the power to govern the territories, but at the same time that slave-holders had the right, without reference to Acts of Congress, to take their slaves into the territories. Tlie con- clusions of Justice Nelson, of New York, and (Jrier, of IVnnsylvania, involved the absurdity that Congress might legislate slavery into the territories, but could not prohibit it.

Justi<e Daniel, of Virginia, took this extreme ground: **Now the following are truths which a know ledge of the history of the world, and j)articularly that of our own country, compels us to know, that the Afri<an negro race have never b(*en acknowledged as belonging to the family of nations; that, as amongst them, there never has been known or recognized by the inhabitants of other countries anything partaking of the character of nationality, or civil or i)olitical polity; that this race has been, by all the nations of Europe, regarded as subjcH-ts of capture or purchase, as subjects of commerce or traffic; and that the introduction of that race into every section €)f this country was not as members of <ivil or political society, but as slaves, as projierty, in the strictest sense of the term.''

The logical result of the various opinions, tilc»d by the majority of the Justices, was that any slave-owner might take his property into a FrcH^ State and hold it there, and it fairly justitied the boast of Robert Toombs that he would yet call the roll of his slaves under the shadow of Bunker Hill Monument.

The Northern indignation at these utterances of the Supreme Court Justices was not at all mitigated by a consideration of the composition of the Court itself. A majority of the members were

PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION. S^

from the South, and they, as well as their associates from the North, had generally been appointt^d for political reasons, and not on account of any special qualifications for a judicial position.

Hut if the Northerners were aroused to indignation at this judi- cial subversion of the Constitution, the South was put into a condition of alarm and wrath, by the Jolin Hrown attack upon the arsenal at narp(*r's Ferry, Virginia, in 1851). This remarkable man, who with seventeen white and five negro associates, startled and astounded the whole? country, luid already had a very stirring career in Kansas. Of his character, his follower and biographer, Jas.Kedpath, said: **It has been asserted that he was a member of tlie Republican party. It is false. He despised the Rei)ublican party. It is true that, like every Abolitionist, he was oi)i)o8ed to tlu* extension of slavery; and like the majority of Anti-Slavery men, in favor, also, of organized political action against it. Hut he was too earnest a num, and too devout a Christian, to rest satisfied with the only action against slavery consist- ent with one's duty as a citizen according to the usual Republican interpretation of the Federal Coustitution. It teaches that we must content ourselves with resisting the extension of slavery. Where the Republicans said *Halt/ flohn Hrown shouted 'Forward, to the rescue!' He was an Abolitionist of the Hunker Hill school. He followed neither Oarrison nor Seward, Gerrit Smith nor Wendell Phillips; but the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Indei)enden<e, in the spirit of the Hebrew warriors, and in the God-apjilauded mode that they adopted.'' Redpath visited one of John Hrown's camps in Kansas, and gives this account of what he h»arned there: "In this camp, no manner of profam* language was permitted; no man of immoral char- acter was allowed lo stay, (»xcept as a jirisoner of war. He niadi* l>rayers, in which all the comi)any united, ev(»ry morning and evening, and no food was ever tasted by his men until the Divint* blessing had bec*n ask(Ml on it. After every meal, thanks were returned to the Bountiful (fiver.

"Often, I WHS told, tin* old man would retire to the densest soli- tudes and wrestle with his (lod in secr(»t prayer. One of his comi)any subsequently inform(»d me that, aft(*r these retirings, he would say that the Ix)rd had directed him, in visions, what to do; that, for himstOf, he did not love warfare*, but peace, only acting in obedience to the will of the Lord, and fighting God's battles for his children's sake. It was at this time that the old man said to me: *I would rather have the snmll-pox, >ellow-fever and cholera all together in my camp,

84 HISTORY OF THE KErrBLl(\\N PARTY.

than a man without principh^s. It's a mistake, sir,' he continued, *that our people make, when they think that bullies are the best fijjjhters, or that they are the men fit to oppose these Southerners, (live me men of j^jood prin<iples. God-fearing men, and men who respe<t themselves, and, with a dozen of them, I will oppose any hundred sueh men as the Ruford ruffians.' I remained in the eanip about an hour. Never before had 1 met sueh a band of men. They were not earnest, luit earnestness in<arnate. Six of them were John Hrown's sons."

Brown's entran<e into Kansas atfairs eame about in this way. His four old(»st sons mij::rated from Ohio to that Territory and settled in Lykens County, in the Southern \n\rX of the State, and not far from the Missouri border. They were here so harrassed, insulted and plundered that they found they could not live without arms, and wrote to the ir father to that elTeet. He procurtMl a supply and went with them. He at once orpmized snuill bauds of men to resist the aggres- sions of the Missouriaus. His first exploit was in a skirmish at Rlai k Jack, of which the records are scant. His second was the battle of Osawatomie, whi<h gav(» him the nauu» Osawatomie Brown, Here, with thirty men skillfully posted under cover, he met a force of 500 Missouriaus, kill(»d -12 and wounded 50 more, and held them at bay until his ammunition was exhausted, when he made a safe retreat, having lost only fivt» uu*n. There were enough other exploits of this kind to make his name a terror to the Missouriaus and to partly account for tlu' <-onst(Mnation which his later and larger venture caused.

When Brown finally left Kansas he picked up twelve slaves in going through Missouri, brought them to Detroit, whence they were pass(*d over to Canada. He then went East to juepare for his scheme of freeing the slaves in the South, to which lie thought visions from th(» Lord had directed him. The first movement in this s<heme, the occupation of Harper's Ferry, was arranged with great ability and with equally great boldness. lirown's for<e consisted of seventeen whit<» men and five negroes. This handful of men, on the night of the 15th of October, qui(»tly ent<»red Harper's Ferry, and took pos- session of the arniory buildings, which were guard(*d by only thrive watchmen, who were seized and ])lact»d in the guard-house. Then the watchmen at (he Potomac bridge were ca])tured and secured. At a quarter past one the \Yestern train, on the Baltimore & Ohio Riiilroad arrived, and found the bridge guarded by armed men.

PRESIDENT RI'CHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION. 85

Almost simultaneously with the detention of the train, the house of Colonel Lewis W. Washington was visited bv Brown's men, under ('aptain Stevens, who seized liis arms and horses, and liberated his slaves. Every male citizen who ventured into the street during the rest of tlie night, was captured and confined in the armory, until the number of prisoners was between 40 and 50. Out* of the workmen asked by what authority the arsenal had been seized, and was told: '*By the authority of Almighty (iod.-' Every wM)rknmn who ai)proached the armory, as day dawned, was seized and imjirisoned. By H o'clock the number of prisoners exceeded 00. Soon after daybreak the fight began, and a grocer, named Boerly, was killed by the return fire from the army of occupation. Soon afterward one of Brown's sons, Walter, was mortally wounded by a shot fired by some Virginians, who had obtain(»d jmssession of a rcxmi overlooking the armory gates. The alarm was si)read over the surrounding country, and at noon a militia force, consisting of 100 men, arrived from C'harlestown, the County Seat, and were so disi)osed as to command every available exit from the armory. The attacking force was rapidly augmented and the fight was continucMl, another of Brown's sons, Oliver, meeting the fat(» of his brother earlier in the day. The assailants being in overwhelming force, I^rown retreated to the engine house, where he succei^ded in repulsing them, with a loss to the Virginians of two killed and six wounded. Night found in Brown's force only three un wounded whites besides hinii^jelf. Eight of his men w(*re alr<»ady d(»ad, another was dying, two were captives, mortally wounded, and one* was a j)risoner unhurt. A party, sent out to capture slave-holders and liberate slaves early in the day, was absent. They fled during the night through Maryland, into Pennsyl- vania, but most of them were ultimately taken. It was not till the next morning that the engine house was captured by a force of United States Marines, two of the Marines being wounded. Brown was struck in the face by a saber, and knocked down. After he fell the old man rtMeived two bayonet thrusts at the hands of an infuriated soldier. Brown and the r(»st of his little band, who fell into the hands of the Virginians, were tried and executed at the Town of Charles- town, all of them dying with calm and unflinching courage. The invasion was a mad scheme, with a tragic (hiding, but it has been im- mortalized in song and story, in every land where the sjurit of liberty is cherished.

The event took on some ])oliti<al imj»ortance on account of attempts in both Houses of Congress to fasten the n^sponsibility

80 HISTORY OF THE REPIBLirAN TARTY.

upon the Republican party, and to make out that it was one of many sueh movements planned. Rut the (•harji:e was so manifestly absurd, that it made little impression either on Congress or the people.

During this Administration a more j)eaceful event, but one of the greatest [K)litical imj)ortan<e, occurred. This was the series of joint debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. The ability and fame of the sp(»akers, their ehMpience in oratory, and their skill in argument, made the debates subjects of interest in advance, and tlu\v were fully reportcnl. The joint debates were seven

in number, all at towns in the interior of Hli- nois, though the men had j)r(*viously been matched against each other a number of times i n C h i c a g o. They serv(Hl to clear up the issues as between the parties. They also bad wide-reaching i)ersonal (Effects, for they showed that Douglas was not extreme enough to suit the South, pla<-iHl Lin- coln side by side with \\'illiam H. Seward as an exponent of ad- vanced A nti - Slavery sentiment, and made him at on<e an availa- STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. ],\^. I^residcutial candi-

date. In one of his noted speeches. Steward sjmke of the slavery question as an "irrej^ressible conflict," an expression which was widely quoted. In his first speech during the cami)aign, Lincoln had already given broader (^xju'ession to the same id(»a, in the follow- ing i)hras(»s, whi<h be<amc familiar the country over: **1 believe this government < annot endure jiermancntly half slave and half free. 1 do not expect the Union to be dissolvcnl, 1 do not (»xpect the house to fall, but I do expect fhat it will <M»ase lo Im* divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. EithcM- the oppon(*nts of slavery will

PRESIDENT BITCH AN AN'S ADMINISTRATION. 87

arrest the further spread of it, and phiee it where the public mind sliall r(»8t in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new. North as well as South,"

In the election which followed the Republicans carried the State on the general ticket, but owing to the manner in which it had been districted the Democrats had a majority in the legislature and Douglas was re-electtMl to the Senate. When the result was known, one of the Republican leaders in Illinois remarked: "We have lost a Senator, but we have nmde a President.'* Plans to bring Mr. Lincoln forward as a candidate for the Presidency began to develop very soon afterwards.

There was one contest in the Congresses of Mr. Buchanan's Administration which i)os8essed more significance than has ordinarily b(K*n given it, and which was of 8i)ecial interest to Michigan. This was the contest, extending through thriH^ sessions, over an appropria- tion for dtK^peniug the artificial channel at St. Clair Flats. The existing channel was 150 feet wide and 0 feet deep, and w^as entirely inadequate to the needs of navigation. Senator Chandler introduced a bill for an appropriation of 155,000, to enlarge and deepen the canal, and fought for it with great persistency. It passed once, but was vetoed by President Buchanan, and was defeated, in one House or the other, several times. In closing his remarks on one of these occasions Mr. Chandler demanded the yeas and nays and add(»d: "I want to see who is friendly to the great Northwest, and who is not, for we are about making our last pray(»r here. The time is not far distant when, instead of <()ming here and begging for our rights, we shall extend our hands and take the blessing. After 1860 we shall not be here as beggars." This proved to be prophetic, for when the Senate was reorganized in 1801, Mr. Chandler was made Chairman of the ^'ommittee on (^ommerce, and one of the first bills he reported called for an appro]iri(ition for this improvement. Under this the first work was done for enlarging that magnificent water-way, which carri(»s a larger tonnage than that entering the port either of Liver- pool or New York. The vva\ significance of the contest over this measure is that it was the last attempt of the Democrats to maintain their traditional doctrine of hostility to internal improvements. They could no longer resist the spirit of modern progress; and from that day to this, riv(*r and harbor appropriation bills have been a feature of nearly every Congr(*ss.

88 HI8TORY OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

The House at the opening of the XXXVIth Congress, witnessed a contest, petty in itself, but significant as showing the sensitiveness of the Southerners on the slavery question. Hinton Rowan Helpi^r had written a book on "The Impending Crisis. How to Meet It." The book was largely statistical, and was intended to show that slavery was detrimental to the best interests of the South itself, but it gave great offence to that section. Galusha A. Grow and John Sherman had endorsed the book, the latter without reading it. Both were candidates for the Speakership, and on the first day of the session John B. Clark, of Missouri, introduced a preamble and resolu- tion, declaring that the book was ^insurrectionary and hostile to the domestic peace and tranquillity of the country; and that no Member of the House, who has endorsed and recommended it, or the compend from it, is fit to be Speaker of this House." By obtaining the floor and talking and reading documents in support of his resolution, Mr. Clark managed to defer the second ballot for Speaker till the third day of the session. This sort of trilling over the John Brown raid and Helper's book continued for eight w(H»ks, with occasional ballot- ings for Speaker. Sherman, on all the latest ballots came within three or four votes of an election, but at last i>eremptorily withdrew, and Mr. Pennington, a new member, was elected. The result of this eight weeks of boys' i)lay was the gratuitous advertisement of a book whi<'h the Southerners detested, and the election of a poor Speaker.

The Michigan ele<tion that occurred during the Buchanan Admin- istrati(jn did not furnish as large Republi<*an majorities as in 185G, but w(M*e still satisfactory. At the election in 185S, Moses Wisner was chosen Governor by a vote of (55,202, against 50,067 for Stuart, Democrat. The Congressmen elected were: William A. Howard, Francis W. Kellogg, Dewitt C. Leach and Henry Waldron, all Repub- licans. The Legislature chosen at this election elected Kinsley S. Bingham United States Senator, thus making the Michigan delegation in both Houses unanimously Republican for the first time.

VII.

THE SE(\)X1) NATIONAL CONVENTION.

The Douglas DemoiTats and the Heceders From the Charleston Con- vention— The Republicans Meet at C'hicago in High Hopes — Immense Gathering at the Wigwam — All the Fret* States and Six Slave States Represented — Some of the Distinguished Men Present — Joshua R. Oiddings and the Declaration of Independ- ence— A Ringing Platform Adopted — Seward P^irst Choice of a Majority of the Delegates — Inlluences that Operated Against Him — Necessity of Carrying the Middle States— Dramatic Scene When Lincoln Was Nominated — Disappointmt^nt of Michigan Republicans — Strong Nomination for Vi<;e-Pr(*sident.

It became evident early in IHiO thait Stephen A. Douglas was the rhoire for President of a majority of the lJemo( rats, but that the men of extreme Southern views were pr(»pared to resist his nomination by every means in their power. The Convention met in Charleston, S. C., April 23, \H(M)j and had a stormy session of ten days. Heated discussions were had over the platform, during which the delegates, (»ither in whole or in part, fnmi several of the Southern states retired from the (Jonvention. Fifty-seven ballots were had for President, in all of which Mr. Douglas had a majority, but in none of which did he have the requisite two-thirds. The Convention then adjourned to meet at Baltimore on the 18th of June. Meantime the seceders had held a four days' session, adojitcHl a platform, aind adjourned to m«H*t at Richmond, Va., June 11.

It was under these circumstances that the Republican Convention met at Chicago, May 16. The party was full of high ho))es, was stronger than ever before in the Northern states, and there was every prospect that the Democrats would continue to be divided, both North and South. The Republirans in the (election of ISHfi, had

90 HISTORY OF THE REPI BLICAN PAUx . .

barely lost Pennsylvania and Indiana, and had lost Illinois by a larger majority. They had since then gained all three of those states. They had carried them, all in the elections of 1859, together with every other Northern State except ralifornia, Oregon, New York and Rhode Island. In Oregon the vote was very close, and New York and Rhode Island had only been carried against them by a fusion of all tJie opposition forces. \Vithin the year the party had gained in stre^ngth and courage, and since there was in 1860 no ])rospect of complete fusion of all the opposition, its leaders were hoi>eful of carrying every Northern State.

There was then no permanent building in Chicago large enough to accommodate a Convention of the magnitude of this, with a reason- able number of outsiders, and a temporary structure, called the Republi<-an Wigwam, was erected for the purpose. It was said to be capable of seating 10,000 ]M*rsons, but notwithstanding its large dimensions had such excellent acoustic properties that an ordinary speaker could be heard throughout the whole vast space. There was nothing to obstruct the vision, so that a i»erson sitting in any part of the auditorium could see every other jjart of it, and there were separ- ate doors for the ingress and egress of spectators and delegates, thus avoiding confusion. It was crowded with enthusiastic followers of the ditTerent candidates, and grave (piestions were discussed with (earnestness, but it was as orderly as any large Convention ever held in the country.

All the Free States were fully represented in the Convention, with delegates from six slave states, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Ken- tucky, Missouri and Texas. Like the tlrst Republican Convention at Jackson, it brought out, in addition to old party managers, a great many young men, who aft(»rwards beranu* <*onspicuous in public affairs. Mr. Blaine says that not less than sixty of them, till then unknown outside their districts, were afterwards sent to ("ongress, while many of them became governors of states, and many others were distinguished as soldiers in the war that followed. Like the Jackson Convention, also, it contained men of formerly very diverse sentiments. Abolitionists. Anti-Slavery Whigs, Conservative Whigs, Free Democrats and a few who, not many years before, were straight- out Democrats. The temporary Chairman was David Wilraot, of Proviso fame, formerly an Anti-Slavery Democrat, and the perma- nent Chairman wjis (ieorge Aslnnun, of ^lassachusetts, a Daniel Webstt»r Whig. Both selections were receiv<»d with great enthus-

THE SECOND NATIONAL CONVENTION. 91

iasm. Ainonp: the most distinguished delegates present were John A. Andrew and George S. Boiitwell, of Massachusetts; William M. Evarts and Preston King, of New York; Thaddeus Ht evens and Andrew H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania; Thomas Corwin and Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio; Norman B. Judd and David Davis, of Illinois; Francis P. Blair, of Missouri, and Carl Schurz, of Wisconsin.

The Michigan delegates were as follows: At Large — Austin Blair, Jackson; Walton W. Murphy, Jonesville; Thomas White Ferry, Grand Haven; J. J. St. Clair, Marquette. By Districts— First, J. G. Peterson, Detroit, Alex. D. Crane, Dexter; Second, Jesse G. Benson, Dowagiac, William L. Stoughton, Sturgis; Third, Francis Quinn, Niles, Erastus Hussy, Battle Creek; Fourth, D. C. Buckland, Pontiac, Michael T. C. Plessner, Saginaw City.

The Michigan appointments in the Convention were: Vice-Presi- dent, Thomas W. Ferry; Secretary, William L. Stoughton; Commit- tee on Permanent Organization, W. W. Murphy; Credentials, Francis Quinn; Resolutions, Austin Blair. Of these the first afterwards became Member of Congn^ss and United Stfites Senator; the second. Member of Congress; the third, a Foreign Minister, and the last. Gov- ernor and Member of Congress.

The first day's session was occupied with routine business, with stirring speeches by the temporary and permanent Chairman. The forenoon of the second day was taken up with consideration of the report of the Committee on Cr(»dentials, mainly in reference to th(» d(»l- egations from Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia and Texas.

On the second afternoon the rei)ort of the Committee on Resolu- tions was presented. There was but little discussion upon the rejjort which was generally acceptable, but an amendment offered by Joshua R. Giddings, caused an excited discussion, and an animated scene. Having obtained the floor with great difficulty, Mr. (iiddings projjosed to add the following after the first resolution: *That we solemnly reassert the self-evident truths that all men are endowed by their Oeator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the jmrsuit of happiness; that governments are instituted among men to secure the enjoyment of such rights.-' **I offer this,'' said the old man, in concluding a speech on his amendment, **becanse our jjarty was formed upon it. It grew upon it. It has existed upon it, and when you leave out this truth you leave out the party." Notwith- standing this, his amendment was voted down. At the announcement of the vote by which it was lost, Giddings rose and slowly made his

92 HISTORY OF THE REPT'BLICAN PARTY.

way toward the door. The Convention had voted down the Declara- tion of Independence; the doctrine of the fathers had been repudiated; and he seceded. Bnt the cause he had left behind him was taken up and championed by (Jeorjct* William Curtis, of New York, who sue- <eeded after a little in j^ettinp: the floor and offering as an amendment the words that linally stood as Section 2 of the resolutions. In supporting this amendment, ^Ir. Curtis said: **I have to ask this Convention whether they are prepared to go ui)on the record and before the country as voting down the words of the Declaration of

Independence? I have, sir, in the amendnijent whi<h I have intro- duced, (|uoted simply and only from the Dec- laration of Indejiend- ence. Bear in mind that in Philadelphia, in lS5ri, the Convention of this same great party were not afraid to an- nounce those principles by which alone the Re- publiran party lives, and upon which alone the future of this coun- try in the hands of the Republican party is ^ -M ' ^ passing. Now, sir, I

ask gentlemen gravely to consider that in the josHT'A R. GiDDiNGS. inueudment which I

hav(» i)roposcd, I have done nothing that the soundest and safest man in all the land might not do: and I rise simply — for I am now sitting down — I rise simply to ask gentlemen to think well before, upon the free prniries of the West, in th(» Summer of 1800, they dare to wince and quail befon* the men who, in 1776, in Philadel- phia, in th(^ Arch-Keystone State, so amply, so nobly represented upon tliis platform today, before they dare to shrink from repeating the words that these great men enuu<-iat(Ml.'' Mr. Curtis' plea

THE SECOND NATIONAL CONVENTION. IKi

carried tbe day, and his amendment was adopted. The platform in full was as follows:

RE80LVEI), That we, the deleji:ated representatives of the Republican electors of the United States, in Convention assembled, in discharjre of tbe duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite in the following declarations:

1. That tbe history of the nation, during the last four years, has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and perjietuation of the Republican party, and that the causes which called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now\ more than ever before, demand its y)eaceful and Constitutional trmmph.

2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitu- tion, "That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights gov- ernments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is essential to the preservation of our republican institutions; and that the Federal (^)nstitution, the rights of the States and the X'nion of theStates, must and shall b(» preserved.

H. That to the union of the states this Nation owes its unprece- dented increase in population, its surprising development of material resourr(»s, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for disunion, come from whatever source they nmy; and we congratulate the rountry that no Republican Member of Congress has utt<*red or coun- tenanced the threats of disunion so often made by Demo<-ratic members, without rebuke and with apjjlause from their political asso- j-iates; and we denounce those threats of disunicm, in case of a popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as denying the vital princii)les of a fret* governm(*nt, and as an avowal of contemplated treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant peojjle to rebuke and forever silence.

4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the states, and e8i)ecially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions a<*cording to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends: and we denounce the lawless invasion, by armed force, of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as annrng the grav(*at of crimes.

5. That the present Democratic Administration has far exceeded our worst appreh(»nsions, in its measureless subserviency to th(» exac- tions of a secticmal interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the pro- testing people of Kansas; in construing the personal relations between master and servant to involve an unqualified projjerty in persons; in its attempted enforcement, everywhere, on land and sea, through the

94 IllSTOKY OF THE KEPrBLKWN PARTY.

intervention of ( 'onj^ress and of the Federal Courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest, and in its general and unvary- ing abuse of the power entrusted to it by a <ontiding people.

6. That the people justly view witli alarm the reckless extrava- gance which [jervades every department of the Ft^deral Government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic jdunder of the public treasury by favored parti- sans; while the recent startling developments of frauds and corruptions at the Federal metrojiolis show that an entire change of administration is imperatively demanded.

7. That the new dognm, that the Constitution, of its own force, carries slavery into any or all of the I'nited States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit jirovisions of that instru- ment itself, with contemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and Judicial [)nMedent — is revolutionary in its tendency, and subver- sive of the peace and harmony of the country.

8. That the nonnal condition of all the territory of the I'nited States is that of freedom; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in our National territory, ordained that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or projierty without due proc(\ss of law,'' it becomes our duty, by l(»gislation. whenever such legislation is ne<essary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individimls, to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the I'nited States.

U. That we brand the re<ent reopening of the African slav<» trad(^ under the cover of our National flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our <ountry and age, and we <all u])on Congress to take promjit and efl[1<ient m(»asures for the total and final suppression of that execra- ble traffic.

10. That in the rec(*nt vetoes, by their Federal governors, of the Acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting slavery in those Territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted Democratic ])rinci])le of non-intervention and popular sovereignty, embodied in the Kansas-Nel)raska bill, and a demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein.

11. That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a State under the Coustitution recently formed and adoj^ted by her peo)»le and accepted by the IIous(^ of Repiesentatives.

12. That while providing for the su]>port of the general govern- ment by duties u])on imports, sound ])olicy requires such an adjustuKMit of these imports as to encourage the development of the industrial interest of the whole country: and we commend that policy of National exchanges whi<h secures to the workingmen liberal wagers, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate* reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and to the Nation commercial prosperity and independ(»nce.

THE SECOND NATIONAL CONVENTION. 95

13. That we protest aj?ainst any sale or alienation to others of the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the homestead policy which regards the* settlers as paupers or supplicants for public bounty; and we demand the passage by Congress of the complete and satisfactory homestead measure which has already passed the House.

14. That the Republican party is opposed to any change in our naturalization laws, or any State legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving full and efficient pro- tection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or nat- uralized, both at home and abroad.

15. That appropriations by Congress for river and harbor improvements of a National character, required for the accommoda- tion and security of an existing commerce, are authorized by the (.■onstitution and justified by the obligations of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.

16. That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively demanded by the interest of the whole country; that the Federal Gov- ernment ought to render immediate and eflficient aid in its construction; and that as preliminary thereto, a daily overland mail should be promptly established.

17. Finally, having thus set forth our distinctive principles and views, we invite the co-o])eration of all citizens, however differing on oth<'r questions, who substantially agree with us in their affirmance and support.

Nominations were the order of business for the third day, and were awaited with int(»n8e interest, not only in Chicago, where people had been wrought u]) to a high pitch of excitement by the Convention and its surroundings, but throughout the country. William H. Seward was gen(»rally regarded as the strongest man. He had been among the first to take the advanced position on the slavery question to which the party had now attained. He was an attractive speaker and had b«H*n on the stump, at different times, in many of the states, and his y>osition in the United States Senate had made him conspicu- ous. He was a good ]>olitician, as well as a statesman, and he had been for years in close alliance with Thurlow Weed, one of the most astute politicians in the country. Probably two-thirds of the dele- gates were in favor of Seward when they were chosen, and much more than half of them were of the same way of thinking at the end of the first day's work in the Convention.

The only other candidate who was regarded as at all formidable was Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln was regarded as a possibility for

})G

HISTOKY OF THE REPl HLirAN PARTY.

the Ti-esidential noniiiiatiou from the time of the eleition following his debates with Douglas iu 1858. His Cooper Institute speech in New York in 18r)l), was made in furtherance of such candidacy, and it <ertainly created a favorable s<*ntiment for him in the East, but it was generally thought that his time had not yet come.

But tlu^re wer(» several movements, some of them entirely unex- pected, that worked against Mr. Seward. Five of the states had put forward favorite sons. These were Pennsylvania, with Simon Cameron; Ohio, with Salmon P. Chase; Missouri, with Edward Bates;

New Jersey, with Wm. L. Dayton, and Ver-

m out wit h Jacob

Col lamer. These rep- resented an uncertain quantity of 140 votes. It was not expected that any of them would be of any use, in the end, to their own candidate, but no one could tell where they would go when it came to the determin- ing ballot.

Wm. H. Seward, Thurlow Weed and Horace Greeley domin- ated the Whig party in New York in its latest days and the Republi- ran party in the same State in its earliest days. But, about this time Greeley became dis- satislied with the combination, announced in the Tribune the dissolution of i\w political firm of Seward, Weed and Gr(*eley, and used the Tribune, as w(»ll as his personal influence, in opposition to Seward's nomination. The rule did not then prevail in Republican conventions that a d(»legat(» must be a resident of the State, and Dis- tri<t, which he re)>r(»s(»nted, and Mr. Greeley, who could not get appoint<Hl on the N(»w York delegation, appeared in the Convention as a delegate from Oregon. His candidate* was PMward Bates, of Mis-

WILT.IAM H. SP:WARD.

THE SECOND NATIONAL CONVENTION. 97

souri, but he wub ready for any other candidate that eould beat Seward.

But there was another set of influences that operated much more stronj!:iy against Seward, cominj^ from, two of tlie close states. In Pennsylvania Andrew G. (^urtin had been nominated for Governor by a People's Convention, the party not even assuming the name liepublican. The i»arty seems to have lost the virility that marked it in 1850. It now contained a powerful "American" element, and American organizations still existed in Philadelphia and some other counties. Curtin questioned whether this element would follow Seward, but thought it might follow any of the other candidates named. His own fate, of course, would be decided by the drift of sentiment on the Presi- dential ticket, lie and A. K. McClure, who was to manage his campaign, were at Chi- cago, and strenuously insisted to every dele- gation to which they could get access, that Seward could not carry Pennsylvania.

A somewhat similar state of affairs existed simon cameron.

in Indiana. Henry S. Lane had been nominated for (Jovernor, and Oliver P. Morton for Lieutenant-(iovernor, with the understanding that, if the ti(*ket was successful, the former would be sent to the United States Senate, and the latter would then become Governor. Both were profoundly interested in the suc<'ess of the ticket. There was a considerable Am(*rican element in the State, and Seward was not strong with that element. Both these candidates thought that Seward's nomination meant their own d(*feat. They, with John 1). Defrees, Chairman of the State Central (Committee, joined their

98

HIHTOKY OF THE KEPUBLKWN PARTY.

remonstrances to those of the Pennsylvania men apiinst the n(»miua- tion of Seward. These remonstrances had i^reat weight with the Convention, more esi)ecially as both States were lost to Fremont in 185G by very small majorities, while if he had carried them he would have been elected.

The New York delegati(m and their friends made the most stren- uous etforts to offset these infiuenees. There never was a <-andidate, unless it was Henry ("lay, who had a more devoted band of supporters. The whoh* delegation were enthusiastic and demonstrative, and the

two leaders were par- t i c u 1 a r I y effective. Thurlow Wei*d was one of the most persuasive of men. and Evarts' e I o q u e nee attracted crowds wherever he spoke.

Ther(» were practi- cally no nominating speeihes at the Con- vention. .Mr. Seward's name was presented by Wm. M. Evarts, Mr. IJncoln's by Norman H. Jiidd, (ren. Cameron's by A. H. Keeder, S. P. (Mmse's by 1). K. Cartter, Edward Hates' by Francis I*. Blair, and \Vm. L. Dayton's THiRLow WEED. by Mr. Dudley. But if

there was no stirring oratory on the jmrt of the speakers, there was plenty of enthusiasm on th<* part of the delegates and spectators. \Vhen Seward's name was first mentioned, a roar of applause went up that filled the vast auditorium, and this was re])eated when Lincoln was placed in nomination. The names of the other candidates were chf*ered, but the cheers were as a gentle breeze to a whirlwind, when compared to the roar that greeted Liui-oln and Seward. Opportunity was given for a rep<*tition of these demonstrations when Indiana seconded the nomination of Lincoln, and Michigan that of Seward.

^^^/trvt'

THE 8ECONI) NATIONAL (H)NVENTION. 99

**I tluMij^lit tho Seward veil could not be surpassed," said one of the sfiectators, *i)ut the Lincoln boys were clearly ahead, and feeling their victory, as there was a lull in the storm, they took deej) breaths all round, and pive a concentrated shriek that was positively awful, and accompanied it with stampinjr that made every plank and pillar in the buildin^^ quiver." As the storm subsided, the balloting began, the three ballots taken resulting as follows:

First. Second. Third.

VV'hole number of votes 4G5 465 465

Necessarv to a choice 2tV^ 233 233

Wm. H. Seward, of New York 173 1/> 184V1, 180

Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois 102 " 181 '^ 2311/2

Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania 50 V> 2

Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio! 49" 42yo 2414

Edward Bates, of Missouri 48 35 22

Wm. L. Dayton, of New Jersey 14 8 5

Jacob rollamer, of Vermont 10

Scattering 6 2 1

This brought Lincoln within one and a half votes of the nomina- tion. The dramatic scene accompanying and following this ballot was thus described by Murat Halstead, of the Cincinnati Commercial:

"While this ballot was taken amid excitement that tested the nerves, the fatal defection from Seward in New England still further api)ea red- —four votes going over from Seward to Lincoln in Massa- chusetts. The latter received four additional votes from Pennsylvania and fifteen additional votes from Ohio. It was whispered about: *Tiincoln's the coming umn — will be nominated this ballot.' When the roll of the states and territori(»s had been called, I had ceased to give attention to any votes but those of Lincoln, and had his vote added up as it was given. The number of votes necessary to a choice was 233, and T saw under my i)encil, as the Lincoln column was completed, the tigure8.231i/M — one vote and a half to give him the nomination. Tn a moment the fact was whispered about. A hundred pencils had told the same story. The n(»ws went over the house wonderfully, and there was a ])au8e. There are always men anxious to distinguish themselves on such occasions. There is nothing that ])olitician8 like b(*tter than a crisis. I looked up to see who would be the man to give the decisive vot(». In about ten ticks of a watch Cartter, of Ohio, was up. I had imagined that Ohio would be slippery enough for the crisis, and sure enough! Every eye was on Cartter,

100 PIISTOKY OF THE REIMBLTCAN PARTY.

and everybody iiiulerstood the matter, as all knew what he was about to do. He is a larj^e man, with rather striking features, a shock of bristling;: black hair, large and shining eyes, and is terribly marked with small-pox. lie has also an impediment in his speech, which amounts to a stutter, and his sele<tion as Chairnmn of the Ohio dele- gation was, considering its condition, altogether appropriate. He had been unite noisy during the sessions of the convention, but had never commanded, when mounting his chair, such attention as now. He said: *l rise (eh), Mr. Chairman (eh), to announce the change of

four votes from Ohio from Mr. Chase to Mr. Lincoln.' The deed was done. There was a moment's silence. The nerves of the thousands w h i c h, through the hours of suspense, had been subje<ted to terri- ble tension, relaxed, and, as deep breaths of reli(»f were taken, there was a noise in the wig- wam like the rush of a great wind in the van of a storm, and in an- other breath the wind was there. There were thousands chtn^ring with the energy of in- sanity.

ANDREW G. CFRTIN. \ man who had

be(Mi on the roof, and was engaged in communirating the ballotings to the mighty mass of outsiders, now demanded by gestures at the sky- light over the stage, to know what had happened. One of the secretaries, with a tally-sheet in his hands, shouted: *Fire the salute! Abe Lincoln is uominattHlI' As the cheering in the wigwam subsided we could hear that outside, where the news of the nomination had just bec»u announced. And the roar, like the breaking up of the fountains of the d(»ep. that was heard, gave a new impulse to the enthusiasm inside. Then the thunder of the salute rose above the

THE SECOND NATIONAL CONVENTION.

101

din, and the shouting was repeated with snrh tremendous fury that some discharges of tlie cannon were absolutely- not heard by those on the stage. Puflfs of smoke, drifting by the open doors, and the smell of gunpowder told what was going on.

^*The moment that half a dozen men who were on their chairs making motions at the President, could be heard, they changed the votes of their states to Mr. Lincoln. This was a mere formality, and was a rheap way for men to distinguish tluMuselves. The proper and orderly proceeding would have l)eini to announce the vote, and then for a motion to have come from New York to make the nomination unanimous. New York was prepared to make this motion, but not out of order. Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky, Minne- sota, Virginia, Califor- nia, Texas, District of Columbia, Kansas, Ne- braska, and Oregon insisted upon casting their unanimous votes for old Abe Lincoln be- fore the vote was read. 'AVhile the votes were being given the applause continued, and a photograph of Abe Lincoln, which hung in

one of the side rooms, iiannibal hamlin.

was brought in and held up before the surging and s(*reaming masses. The places of the various delegations were* indicated by staffs, to which were attached the names of the states, i)rinted in large black letters on pasteboard. As the Lincoln (enthusiasm increased dele- gates tore these standards of the states from their i)la<*(»s and swung them above their heads. A rush was made to get the New York standard and swing it with the rest, but the New Yorkers would not allow it to be moved, and were wrathy at tlu* sugg(»stion.'^

102 HISTORY OP THE KElMJBLirAN PARTY.

After .all changes had been made, the Chairman announced the corrected votes to be: Whole number of votes cast, 406; necessary to a choice, 234; for Abraham Lincoln, 864.

On this announcement, Mr. Evarts, in behalf of New York, and in a j>:raceful speech, moved to make the nomination unanimous. This was suj)[)orted by a number of states, among them Michigan. Mr. Seward was y^^vy popular in Michigan, where he had become known partly through his connection with the gre.at railroad con- spiracy cases, and partly througli the political addresses that he had niade hen*. There was no delegation in the Convention that was more disappointed than that from Michigan. Hut its members accepted tlie situation, and Austin Hlair fairly n^presented them when in supporting the nomination, he said: ''Michigan from tirst to last has cast her vote for the great statesman from New York. She has nothing to take back. She has not sent me forward to worship the rising sun, but she has put me forward to say that at your behests here today she lays down her tirst best-loved candidate to take up yours, with some beating of heart, with some quiv- ering of veins, but she does not fear that the fame of Seward will sutfer, for she knows that his fame is a portion of the American Union; it will be written and read and beloved long after the temporary (»xcitement of this day has passed away, and when Presidents them- selves are forgotten in the oblivion which comes over all temporal things. We stand by him still. We have followed him with an eye single and with unwavering faith in times past. We marshal now behind him in the grand column which shall go out to battle for Lincoln. Mark you, what has obtained today will obtain in Novem- ber next. Lincoln \;ill be elected by the people. We say of our candidate, (lod bless his magnanimous soul. I promise you that in the State of Michigan, which I have tlie honor to represent, where the Republican party from the days of its organization to this hour, never sutf(*red a single def(*at, we will give you for the gallant son of Illinois, and glorious standard-bearer of the West, a round twenty-five thousand majority.'*

The nomination for Vice-President took but two ballots, and was carried on with but little excitement. Tlu^re were nine candidates voted for on the tirst ballot, of whom four rtM-eived less than 10 votes each. T\w others were (\'issius M. (May, of Kentucky, lOiyo; N. P. Hanks, of Massachus(*tts, *5Si/,; A. IL RcmmIcm*, of Pennsylvania, 51;

THE SErONl) NATIONAL CONVENTION. 103

John Hickman, of Ponn8>ivania, 58, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, 11)4. The second ballot gave Hamlin 357, Clay Hil and Hickman 13.

Mr. Hamlin's nomination pive j!;reat satisfaction, and undoubt- edly added strenjijth to the tick(*t. He was a man of sound judgment, of unquestioned integrity, and of strong common sense. He had been in public life long enough to be well-known to the public. Originally a moderate Democrat, he had come over to the Republi- <*an party on account of the drifting of the Democracy toward the Southt»rn ideas on the slavery question. lie was in the Maine Legis- lature tive years, served two terms in the Lower House of Congress, was once elected Governor of his State, and at the time of the Chicago Convention, was serving his third term in the Cnited States Senate.

The nomination for Vice-lM'esidenl was followed by the adoption of a resolution otfered by Mr. (riddings, of Ohio: **That w^e din^ply sym- pathize with those men who have been driven, some from their native states, and others from the states of their adoption, and are now- exiled from tlieir homes on account of their opinions; and we hold tlie Democratic party responsible for this gross violation of that clause of the Constitution, which declares that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states."

The further proceedings consisted in the appointment of a National Committee, of which Austin Blair was the Michigan member, and of a small amount of other routine business. The Convention adjourned ijuietly, but as the members journey(Ml homeward they could see in bonfires, processions and publi<- UHH^tings a reflection of the e^ithusiasm that had inspired their meeting.

VIII. THE LINCOLN AND HAMLIN CAMPAIGN.

The Regular Democratic and Keceders' Conventions — Nominations of Don«:las, Breckinridjjjf* and Hell — Certainty of a Division of the Democratic Vote — Combinations of Democrats and Constitutional Union Men — Seward and His Friends Disappointed, Hut He Does Good Work in the Campaign — Conservative* Appeals to Business Men — Seward's K(*ply — A Torch Light and Parade Campaign — Origin of the Wide Awakes — Douglas on the Stump — Fusion in New York State — The Republicans Win and Have Hoth Houses of Congress.

The i)romise of success which the outcome of the Chicago Con- vention gave was rendered almost a c(»rtainty by the action of the Conventions of the two Democratic factions which separated from each other at Charleston. The regular Convention met in Baltimore, June IS, and continued in session six days. It nominated Stephen A. Douglas for I'resident, by 181 Vi: votes, to TIL' f<>i' John C. Breckin- ridge, and oVo for James Guthrie. Benjamin Fitzpatrick was nominated for Vice-President, receiving every vote in the Convention but oiWy but two days latiM* he declined, and lI(MS<hel V. Johnson, of (Jeorgia, was stibstituted in his place* by th(* National Committee. The SecedcMs' Convention met at Richmond on the 11th of June and adjourned to Baltimore, where John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, was nominated for President and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice- President, both by unanimous vote.

Both Conventions declared in favor of a railroad to the Pacific and the acquisition of Cuba, and both declared, ''That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful cMiforcement of the Fugi- tive Slave Law are hostile in character, subversiAe of the Constitution and revolutionary in their effect." On the subject of slavery in the territori(*s, the Douglas convention resolved: ''That it is in accord- ance* with the true int(*ri)retation of tin* Cincinnati platform that.

THE LINCOLN AND HAMLIN ( AMPAIGN. 105

during the existence of the territorial governments the measure of restriction, whatever it may be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial Legislature ov(»r the subject of the domestic relations as the same has been, or shall hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, should be respected by all good citizens and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the general government."

The Breckinridge Convention resolved: **That the government of a Territory, organized by an Act of Congress, is provisional and temporary, and during its existence all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with their property in the Territory, without their rights, either of jierson or property, being destroyed or impaired by Congressional or Territorial legislation."

The Constitutional T^nion Convention nominated for President, John Bell, of Tennessee, and for Vice-President, Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, and adopted a platform consisting of a single plank, as follows: "That it is both the part of patriotism and of duty to recognize no political principles other than the Constitution of the Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws; and that as representatives of the Constitutional Cnion men of the country, in National Convention assembled, we hereby pledge our- selves to maintain, protect and defend, separately and unitedly, these great principles of public liberty and National safety against all enemies at home and abrojid; believing that thereby peace may once more be restored to the country; the rights of the i)eople and of the states re-established, and the (lovernment again placed in that con- dition of justice, fraternity and equality, which under the example and Constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every citizen of the Ignited States to maintain a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domesti(; trancjuillity, provide for common defense, promote the general welfare, and sec u re the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

It was not expected that this inivty would cut much of a figure in the campaign, and it did not carry mnny electoral votes for its own ticket, but it did give opportunity for combinations, in which it was adroitly used by the* Breckinridge Democrats to take electoral votes away from Douglas. From the alacrity with which some of its leaders, including Bell himself, went into the secession movement, there is reason to suppose that it was organizcnl for jirecisc^ly that purpose.

106 HISTORY OF THE REPFBLTC AN PARTY.

On the Republican side the campaiji^n was opened with great vigor. The initial step was the holding of mass meetings in the large cities, these to be followed by County mass meetings in the country, and by Village and School District mjeetings. The services of the ablest men in the party were secured, to an extent hardly equaled in any campaign since then. The leader among these was William H. Seward, one of the best campaign orators in the country, and still the most popular man in the Republican party, even though he was defeated for the Presidential nomination.

Mr. Seward was bitterly disappointed at his failure to receive the nomination, and was very chilly toward Curtin, of Pennsylvania, and Lane, of Indiana, who had been mainly instrumental in bringing it about. He was never on good terms with them afterwards- Some of his most f>rominent supporters were still more distant. Edwin I). Morgan remained (Chairman of the National (^ommittee, but showed little interest in the 0<*tober election in Pennsylvania and Indiana. So far as he was concerned, Curtin and Lane were allowed to run their own campaigns. Curtin wrote in August: "I called upon Morgan the night after the nomination was made. He treated me civilly, but with marked coolness. 1 then calkHl on Weed, who was very rude, indeed." Part of Weed's rudeness consisted in the remark: ^'You have defeated the man who, of all others, was most n»vered by the i)eople and wanted as l^resident. You and Lane want to be elected, and to el<Mt Lincoln you must elect yourselves."

But Mr. Seward's resentment and that of his friends stopped with these two men and their political aspirations. Seward entered heartily into the general campaign. He not only made many speeches in his own State, but made a political tour of the Northwest, where h<» was everywhere enthusiastically received, and where his addresses were not only of the highest order from an oratorical point of view, but were convincing in argument. In lasting etfect upon the voters his work was more etfective than that of any other campaigner.

Toward the close of the campaign strong appeals were made against the Republican party on the ground that its success would injure business and endanger the l^nion. Vpon the latter subject Mr. Seward said in his closing address of the campaign, at his home in Auburn : '* You may go with me into the streets to-night and follow the ^Little (xiants' who go with their torch-lights and their Haunting banners of *Poi)ular Sovereignty'; or you mny go with the more select and modest band who go for Hreckinridg<» and slavery; or you mav

THE LINCm.N AND HAMLIN CAMPAIGN. 107

follow the music of the t-lanpnf? bells, aud strange to say, they will bring you into one chamber. When you get there, you will hear only this emotion of the human heart appealed to — Fear — fear that if you elect a President of the United States, according to the Constitution and the laws to-morrow, you will wake up the next day and find that you have no country for him to preside over I Is not that a strange motive for an American patriot to appeal to? And, in that same hall, amidst the jargon of three discordant members of the 'Fusion' party you will hear one argument, and that argument is, that so sure as you are so perverse as to cast your vote, singly, lawfully, honestly, as you ought to do, for one candidate for the Presidency, instead of scatter- ing it among three candidates, so that no President may be elected, this Union shall come down over your heads, involving you and us in a common ruin I"

The Chairman of the Seward delegation from New York at Chicago, Wm. M. Evarts, one of the most polished orators in th(» country, was also conspicuous on the stumj). Salmon l\ Chase, of Ohio, one of the pioneers in the Anti-Slavery cause, and a candidate for the nomination at Chicago, was also very active. John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts; George William Curtis, of New York; Galusha A. Grow and David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania; John Sherman, of Ohio, and Lynmn Trumbull, of Illinois, were among the other distinguished men who took part in the campaign. In Michigan one of the most etTectiAC speakers was Austin Blair, who had headed the delegation to Chicago, and who afterwards gained distinction as War Governor of the State. Mr. Lincoln, himself, remained quietly at his home in Springfield, receiving no political delegations, holding no political conferences, making no political speeches, and writing no political letters, a reserve which has since ceased to be expected of Presidential candidates.

One characteristic of the campaign was the great extension of the brass baild and torch-light method of stirring up enthusiasm. The Republicans were especially conspicuous in this. They had their ^'Republican Invincibles,'- ''Rail-Splitters," "Lincoln Defenders'' and '*Wide Awakes/' but the others were finally or nearly all merged in the latter. The Wide Awakes originated rather by accident than by design. The Connecticut State elections were then held in the Spring, and the canvass opened early. February 26, 1860, the first meeting of the campaign was held at Hartford, with Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, as the principal speaker, and it was arranged that, after

108 HISTORY OF THE REPT'RLirAN PARTY.

the meeting he should be escorted to his hotel by a torch-light proces- sion. Two of the .young men who were to carry torches, in order to protect their clothing from oil that might drop from the torches, prepared cambric capes, which th(\v wore in connection with their glazed caps. The marshal of the j)rocession noticed this outfit, and placed the two young men at the front of the procession, where they attracted nni( h attention, the utility of the outtit being no less notice- able than its novelty. Out of this incident came the organization of a band of fifty torch-bearers, wearing glazed caps and capes made of oil cloth, instead of cambric. Their first appearance in parade was when acting as i)art of an escort to Abraham Lincoln, from the hall where he had been speaking, to his hotel, on the fifth of March, 1860, just one year before he was inaugurated as President. The honor of giving a name to the club belongs to William P. Fuller, for many years since that time connected with Detroit newspapers, and still in business in that city. In 1800, Mr. Fuller was city editor of the Hartford Tourant, and in referring to the proposed organization of torch-bearers, spoke of them and of the Young Men's Republican Union, to which they were to be auxiliary, as **\Vide Awakes." The name took, but the torch-bean^rs soon decided to appropriate it to themselves, instead of sharing it with other organizations. The idea, as well as the name spread, and it was not many da^s before there was a uniformed "Wide Awake'' company in every town of any size in Connect itut. After the Presidential campaign opened the idea was tak(*n up in every Northern city, and wherever a torch-light proces- sion was form(»d, then* could be seen the glazed caps and black or red cape of the Wide Awake. Many of the comj)anies were drilled, not only to keep step in marching, but to ])erform military evolutions. Their organization served not cmly to put vim and enthusiasm into the campaign, but to cement the ties of party loyalty and friendship among the young men themselves. Some of the Southern papers denouui-ed the Wide Awake organization as a device for giving the young men military drill, without exciting suspicion, and found in it a purpose, on the j)art of the Republicans, to excitt* a war, between the North and the South. This was a rather brazen assumption on the part of men who were already, under th(» guise of ofiicial position, stealing ammunition and supplies from the (lovernment arsenals at the North, and sending them South. Nothing <ould have been further than this from the thought of th<» men who organized the Wide .\wak(»s. Hut the organization may have h(»lped some in the end,

THE L1N(H)LN AND llAiMLIN TAMPAirxN. 109

after all. The boys who afterwards went into the Army had at least learned to stand and march, shoulder to shoulder.

Notwithstanding the blaze of torch-light and enthusiasm that swept over the North, the situation was not altogether secure. For the first time in the case of a Presidential candidate, Mr. Douglas took the stump in his own behalf. He spoke in nearly all the Free States and in some of the Slave States. He attracted large* audiences, and spoke with all his former eloquence and fire, but he had lost his hold as a political leader. While he had been standing still on the Scjuatter Sovereignty doctrine, the North had been moving away from it in one direction, and the South in another, and he was left alone in the middle. Perhaps the underlying principles of the campaign as represented hy the platforms and si)eeches of the candidates com- bined, were never more <learly defined than in the following from •*(ireeley's American Conflict." With these in mind the dilferent poli- cies of the campaign and subse<|uent events can be better understood*

1. Lincoln — Slavery can only exist by virtue of municipal law; and there is no law for it in the territories and no power to enact one. Congress can establish or legalize slavery nowhere, but is bound to prohibit it in, or exclude it from, any and every Federal Territory, whenever and wherever there shall be necessity for such exclusion or prohibition.

2. Douglas — Slavery or no slavery in any Territory is entirely the affair of the white inhabitants of such Territory. If they choose to have it, it is their right; if they choose not to have it, they have a right to exclude or prohibit it. Neither Congress nor the people of the Cnion, or any part of it, outside of said Territory, has any right to meddle with or trouble themselves about the matter.

.'i. Hreckinridge — The < itizen of any State has a right to emi- grate to any Territory, taking with him anything which is property by the law of his own State, and hold, enjoy and be protected in, the use of such property in said Territory. And Congress is bound to render such protection whenever necessary, whether with or without the co-operation of the Territorial Legislature.

The South had accepted the doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty in 1854, had made all it could out of the doctrine, had thrown it aside, and had taken positive ground in favor of unrestricted slavery in the territories. The North had taken precisely opposite ground. The "Irrepressible Conflict" was on, and the day of compromises was past. Douglas realized, long before the end of the campaign, that his case was hopeless.

110 IIISTOKV OF THE KEPUBLICAN PARTY.

Th(» adroit plans of the Breckinridge campaign managers were much more dangerous. The Bell and Everett ticket was encouraged in the South, with the certaint.v that bv dividing the opposition it would giA-e to Breckinridge part of the electoral vote that would natur- ally go to Douglas. But the Breckinridge party would go into no Fusion movement in the South. In the North the Bell-Everett ticket was expected to draw enough conservative votes away from Lincoln to give some states to Douglas. In other states Fusion tickets were expected to divide the electoral votes. It was certain that neither Bell nor Douglas could be elected. The sole purpose of the different combinations was to defeat Lincoln. In that case, if Breckinridge did not get the retjuisite number of votes in the Electoral College, the choice would have gone to the House of Rej)resentatives, where the Democrats had a majority of the delegations from seventeen states, the Rejiublicans from fifteen, and the Americans from one.

The last desperate assault of the enemy was made on New York State in two ways. An electoral ticket was formed that represented a Fusion of all three opposition parties, and it made a formidable combination. The next part of the assault was an appeal to the fears and the cupidity of the commercial classes. This was an ancient trick of the Southerners. Threat of the **loss of the Southern trade" had made many a New York jobber very conservative in politics. It is told that in isr)4, when the Kansas Rifle and Emigrant Aid Society movenu*nt was in progrc^ss, Henry (\ Bowen, of the then great dry goods house of l»owen, McXamee ^S: Co., of New York, was very active in the movement. II(» received a number of remonstrances from South(M'n custouK^is, and finally a letter from one of them, threatening that the house* should lose its entire Southern trade, if he did not cease his active connection with the Anti-Slavery fanatics. Mr. Bowen acknowh»dged the receipt of the letter and added: **Our goods are for sale, but not our principles.'- The merchants of 18()() were not many of them made of this heroic mould. They were afraid of the loss of their Southern trade, and with the timidity that is apt to accompany concentrated capital, they were frightened at the prospect of any dis- turbance. In New York and rhiladelj)hia particularly, not only the wholesale merchants, but the commercial classes generally, were opposed to th(» Rei)ublicans. The Chairman of the Republican State Ontral Committee in Pennsylvania, said, after election: "I cannot recall five commercial houses of prominence in the City of Philadel- phia where I could have gone for a subscrii)tion to the Lincoln

THE LINCOLN AND HAMLIN CAMPAIGN. 1 11

campaign, with a reasonable exi)eetation that it would not be resented, and of all our financial men I can recall only Anthony J. Drexel, who actually sympathized with the Republican cause/' In New York the merchants contributed liberally to the support of the Fusion ticket, but very little for the Republican. The ^'commercial classes" of the East learned to think differently of the Republican party, when the Greenback and Free Silver coinage wav(»8 swept the country.

The last extreme efforts of the Fusionists to carry New York failed. The tide of Republican sentiment that swept over the rest of the State on election day reached Harlem River with so high a crest, that neither Fusion nor the efforts of the commercial classes could overtop it.

The elections in 1859 had not been as favorable to the Republi- cans as those of some previous years, and those of the Spring of 18()() were equally disai)}H)inting. In the latter, Ccmnecticut elected its Governor by a greatly reduc(»d majority, and Rhode Island was carried by the Fusionists. The results of the early fall elections were awaited with great anxiety, for they came after the issue had been joined, and the campaign opened. The results exceeded the highest exj)ectation8 of the Republicans. Vermont, in August, gave a majority of :Z2,*^70, this majority being larger than the whole Demo- cratic vote, and Maint*, in September, gave the Republican Governor over 18,tH)() majority, the largest ever given up to that time to an^v candidate. The song of victory over these results lost nothing of its volume, when in October, in spite of the indifference of the National Committee, Lane carried Indiana by !),7o7 majority, and Curtin carried Pennsylvania by IV2AM, From that time till the general election in November, the Rt^publican procession was a march of triumph. The final result showed that Douglas had be<»n completely out-maneuvered in the Fusion schemes, for while his pojuilar vote exceeded that of Breckinridge by i')2(),tK)(), his electoral vote was only 12. The full figures were as follows:

Popular Vote.

Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois 1,865,913

Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois 1,874,664

John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky 848,404

John Bell, of Tennessee * 591,500

Electoral Vote.

Lincoln and Hamlin 180

Breckinridge and Lane 72

Bell and Everett 39

Douglas and Johnson 12

112 IIISTOKY OF THE KEPrBLirAN PARTY.

On account of the absence of representation from Southern states which were in rebellion, Conj^ress was strongly Republican through out the next four years. The figures were as follows:

Thirty-seventh ( 'ongress. Senatt» — Republirans, lU; Democrats, 10; Americans, 7. House — Republicans, 100: Democrats, 42; Anu^ricans, 2S.

Thirty-eighth Congress. Senate — Rei)ublicans, :>J); Democrats, 12. House — R(»publicans, KK^; Democrats, 80.

Michigan did nut (juite come up to Austin Hlair's promise of 25,000 majority for Lincoln, but he was not so far out of the way, as the actual plurality was 2:{,42.S. The vote stood: IJnroln, SS,4S0; Douglas, 05,057; Breckinridge, 805; Hell, 405. Th(» Presidential elertors were Hezekiah O. Wells, Rufus HosuuM-, (i(M)rge W. Lee, Edward Dorsch, Philotus llaiydon and Augus- tus Coburn. Th<» vote for Governor was: Austin Blair, Republican, 87,800; John S. Barry, Democrat, 07,221. The Congressmen elected were again all l\e]Miblican, being Fernando i\ Beaman, Bradley F. Granger, Frai»(i« W. Kellogg and Rowland E. Trowbridge.

IX. TUE INTERKEONl'M.

A Couutrv Without a (loveriiiuent — Plots for the Disruption of the Union — Phms for Secession Had Long Heen in Preparation — Utterances in tiie Secession Conventions — Plotters in the Depart- ments at Washington — Arms Sent From the North to Southern Ars(*nals — Vessels of the Navy Widely Scattered — Preparations for Seizing Southern Forts — Vacillaticm of the President over His Message—He Finally Concludes That the (government Has No Power to Prevent Secession — The South Carolina "Embassy'' — Secession of the Southern Stat(»s and Withdrawal of Members of Congress — Union Meetings in the North — The Crittenden Com- promise— Tlie Peace Conference.

From the tinn* of Mr. Lincoln's election till the time of his inau- guration the country might be snid to have been without a government, for some of its most important oltices were centers of plots for its dismemberment, while the Executive looked supinely on without moving a hand to stay the work of the plotters. The election of Lincoln was made the pretext for secession but, as a matter of fact, preparations had been going on for that movement for a long time. This was shown by the debates in the first Secession Conven- tion held, that in South Carolina. In the course of those debates R. Harnwell Rhett declared: **The secession of South Carolina is not the event of a day. It is not anything j)roduced by Mr. Lincoln's election nor by the ncm-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It is a matter which has been gathering head for thirty y(»ars." Lawrence M. Keitt, who had been in Congress several terms, and who was Brooks' abettor in the assault on Sumner, said: **I have been engaged in this movement ever since I engaged in public life.'' Mr. Parker said '•This movement is no spasmodic effort; it has been gradually culmin- ating for a long series of years." Mr. Inglis said: "Most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last twenty years."

114 lllSTOKY OF THE HEIM'HLICAN PARTY.

In October, 18r)(>, a Convontion of 8oiitbi*rii Governors was lield at Raleigh, N. (\, which was kept secret at the time. Governor Wise, of Vir«]jinia, at whose instance tlie mei^inj? was <alled, afterwards said that if Fremont had been elected, he would liave marched with 20,0(M) men to Washington, and taken the Capitol, preventing by force the inan»;nration of Fremont at that place.

Hut it was in Washington itself, and in the Government service, that the <hief plotters were at their work. A number of the Southern Senators were at the Capitol mor<^ for the* purpose of promoting seces- sion than for the jiurpose of legishiting for the general good of the country. They were aided by three conspirators in the Cabinet: Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Sc^cretary of War, and Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, Sec- retary of the Interior. These three m<*n were doing more toward shaping the policy of the Government than Presidi*nt Buchanan him- self, and they commenced thcMr preparaticms early. On the 30th of December, 1S51>, the Secretary of War ordered that one hundred and fifteen thousand muskets be r(»moved from the Northern armories and distributed among Southern arsenals, and the order was speedily carried out. Similar removals w(*re afterwards made, the Southern- ers stealing the arms belonging to the country which they sought to ov<M-throw. On the 20th of October, 18()(), General Scott sent to the President and Secretary of War a letter, (»xi)ressing apprehensions lest th(» Southern people should seize souk* of the Federal forts in the S(mthern states, and advising that they should be immediately garrisoned by way of precaution. According to the subsecpient statenH»nt of one of Mr. Floyd's (Milogists this, if carried out, would liave defeatcKl the conspiracy, and pr(»vented the formation of the Southern Confederacy. Accordingly the Seiretary '^thwarted, ob- jected, resisted, and forbade," and the imbecile President weakly yielded.

Another of the cons})irators in the public service was Wm. H. Trescott, of South Carolina, Assistant Secretary of State, who acted as a sort of go-between for the conspirators in the South, and the conspirators in the Cabinet. Five days before the election he wrote to R. Barnwell Rhett, on authority of Secretary Howell Cobb, that '*ui)on the election of Lincoln Georgia ought to secede from the Union, and she will do so. But he desires me to impress upon you his con- viction that any attempt to precipitate the* actual issue upon this administration will be most mischievous, calculated to produce differ-

THE INTEUKPXINIM, 115

ences of opinion and dentroy unaniniit.v." Secretary Floyd had al8o expressed himself ojiposed to any rash movement, because he thought that Lincoln's administration would fail, and be regarded as impotent for good or (*vil w ithin four months of his inauguration. From Floyd's standjioint this was certainly a rational point of view, for he was then selling to the Houthern states muskets, altered from flint-lock to per- cussion by the I'nited States Ordnance Department. Whether he was putting the money thus received into the United States treasury or into his own pocket, or reserving it for the Confederate treasury is not a matter of r(»cord. Mr. Floyd also knew that Isaac Toucey, Secretary of the Navy, although he was not counted among the con- spirators, was gradually placing the Navy beyond the reach of the incoming administration, in anticii)ation of secession. From every I)oint of view. Secretary Cobb's advice against precipitate action was good, and great complaint was afterwards made by Confederates against the South Carolina Convention for precipitating the issues as soon as it did. lUit the South Carolinians were too hot-headed to wait, as were also many of tlie Southern Senators and Representatives who abandomnl thcMr seats in (^ongress in January following.

President Huchanan had an outline of his message pn^pared soon after election, and showed it to tlie Cabinet on the 10th of November. Secretary Floyd had told him a day or two before that he thought '•disunion inevitable and under the present circumstances, most desir- able.'- S<Hretary Toucey was non-committal as to the form of the message, but had already given his opinion that "retaliatory measures would prove most availing in bringing Northern fanatics to their senses." Secretary Thompson objected to the proposed message because *'lu» misses (mtirely the true States Kights doctrine on the subject of secession."

Amid these and other conflicting opini(ms the President was not able to make uj) his own mind, and asked the Attorney (leneral, Jere- miah S. Black, for advice. Mr. Hlack was not among the conspirators. He hated New England, and dislik(»d the Nortli generally. He loved the South, but did not believe in secession. At the same time he did not think the (lovernment had jmwer to prevent such a movement. He was, in fact, the author of the contradictory doctrines that while a State lias no right to secede, tlie Oovernment has no power to prevent secc^ssion. On the 20th of November, in reply to the inquiries of the President, h(» gave the otlicial opinion that '^Congress had no right to carry on war against any State, either to prevent a threatened

116 IIISTOKY OF THE KEPIHLKWN PARTY.

violation of the Constitulion, nor to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the T'nited States is sni)reme." The reflection of this advice appeared a few days afterwards in the President's message, which was materially modified from the first draft. This extraordinary ^ocunient was referred to by the London Times as '*a greater blow to the American i)eople than all the rants of the Georgian Governor or the ordinances of the Charleston Convention. The President has dissipated the idea that the states which elected him constitute one people." In the message Mr. Buchanan first spoke of the discontent \Nhich extensively prevailed and charged it to the "long-Qontinued and intemperate interference of the Northern people with the (piestion of slavery in the Southern states/' and said that on this account the time had arrived, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country when hostile geographical parties had been formcHl. He continued: *'I have long foreseen, and often forewarned my countrymen of the now impending danger. This does not proce(»d solely from the claims on the i)art of Couj:n*ss or ihe Territoiial l^egislatures to exclude slavery from th(» territories, nor from the efforts of different states to defeat the execution of t\w Fugitive Slave Law. All or any of these evils might have been endured by the South without danger to the Union, as others have been, in the hope that rime and reflection might apply the remedy. The immediate peril arises, not so much from these causes, as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery (|uestion, throughout the North for the last quarter of a century, has, at length, produced its malign influence on the slaves, and inspired th(*m with vague notions of freedom. Hence, a sense of security no l(»nger exists around the family altar. This feeling of peace at home* li.is given place to apprehensions of servile insurrection. Many a matron throughout th(» South retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and her children before the morning. Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and intensify itself until it shall j)ervade the masses of the Southern peoTjle, then disunion will become inevitable.-'

Mr. Buchanan's long argument is fairly summed up in the fol- lowing i)aragraph, though a similar conclusion is reached in various forms: "The question fairly stated, is: Has the Constitution dele- gated to Congress the power to coerce into submission a State which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from the (Con- federacy? If answered in the aftirmative, it must be on the i)rinciple, that the power has been conferred upon Congress to declare and to

THE INTERREGNUM. 117

make war against a Htate. After nnii-h serious reflection, I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has beim delegated to Congress, or to any other department of the Federal (Jovernment. It is manifest, upon an inspection of the Constitution, that this is not among the si)ecific and enumerated powers granted to Congress; and it is equally apparent that its exercise is not necessary and proper for carrying into execution any one of these i)owers/'

The result of this message was not what the conspirators hoped. Its first effect was to bring about the resignation of Lewis Cass, Secre- tary of State. General Cass was a jmtriotic man, of large public experience. But he was well advanced in years, had no knowledge of the secret movements of the conspirators, and if he had understood them would not have been able to cope with them. He felt that he was placed in a false jmsition by the new drift of the Administration, as disclosed in the message, and when it became known that the Government would not insist upon the collection of the revenue in South Carolina, nor strengthen the forts in Charleston harbor, he resigned, and Attorney General Black was appointed to sucrceed him.

Judge Bla(*k was of a rugged, positive character, a warm friend of President Buchanan, but subservient to no one. He was appointed the day when the Disunion Convention met in Charleston. Three days later the Ordinance of Secession was passed, and (lovernor Pickens j)roclaimed South Carolina a separate, free and sovereign State. This independent and sovereign State 8(»nt an "embassy'' to Washington to arrange a treaty with the Cnited States, and to nego- tiate for the peaceful surr(*nder of the armed fortresses of the United States within the limits of the new* sovereignty. The "embassy'' took a house in Washington from which it floated the flag of the Legation, and was actually n»ceived by the President, who was undecided what to do, when Judge Black came upon the scene. The impudence of the demand anmzed and angeriHl him. He had questioned the right of the Government to coerce a State, but to his mind it did not follow- that the (io>ernment did not have the right to defend its own property. He persuaded Buchanan to cease his temporizing i)olicy, and the '^embassy" was disnussed. The ccmspirators in the Cabinet soon x><^i*^'^'ved that a new force had entered into the Government councils, and that their usefulness in Washington had ended, and 8i)e(^ily resigned. Edwin M. Stanton wiis apjiointed Attorney Gen- eral; Horatio King, of Maine, was ap]M)inted Postmaster General, and John A. Dix, of New York, Secretary of the Treasury.

1 18 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC AX PARTY.

Meantime the Secession movement was j^oing on, and continued until after the Republican i)arty came into power. The dates at which the various states went out were as follows: South Carolina, Ihvember 20, 18G0; Mississippi, January 9, 181)1; Florida, January 10; Alabama, January 11; (ieorgia, January 10; Louisiana, January 26; Texas, February 1; Virginia, Ajiril 17; Arkansas, May 6; North Caro lina, May 2(); Tennessee, June 8. The Senators and Representatives in Congress withdrew as their states went out.

While the Southerners were thus becoming more and more aggressive the old si)irit of conciliation, compromise and submission seized the North. Many of those who had voted for Lincoln, who in the campaign had applauded the most extreme Anti-Slavery senti- ments, and some of the speakers who had uttered such senti- ments, b(*fore election, were ready to mob the men who uttered the same sentiments after election. Even after the states had begun to secede Union meetings were held in many places, and the South was implored to come back, with otters of concessions that were absolutely servile. This sudden reaction doubtless had much to do with the Southerners* opinion that the Northerners were cowards, and that "one Southerner could lick ten Yankei*s." These conciliatory and laint-hearted men were not roused from their dream of peace until they heard of the shots tired on Fort Sumter in April following.

One of the largest of the I'nion meetings was held at Philadel phia at the call of the Mayor, on reijuc^st of the City Councils. This was on the 10th of December, before any State had actually seceded. The Mayor, Ah»xander Henry, had this to say in his speech: "The urisplaced teachings of the puljiit, th(» unwise rhapsodies of the lecture room, the exciting app(»als of the press, on the subject of slavery, must be frowned down. Thus and thus only may you hope to avoid the sectional discord, agitation and aniuiosity, which, at fre- (juently recurring periods, have shakcm your [mlitical fabric to the center, and, at last, have undermined its very foundation.'' This was the burd(»n of numy sj^eeches at the Cnion ni(»etings. The South was sensitive, and its favorite institution must not even be talked about.

Charles E. Lex, who had voted for Lincoln, also admonished his hearers to "discountenance any denunciation of slavery, or of those who maintain that institution, as intempi^rate and wrong, whether they are promulgated in the lecture room, at the political gathering, or from the sacred desk.'' Ih* also advocat(»d the (Oimination of the Personal Libertv Laws from the statute* books, and the execution of

THE INTERUEGNUM. 119

the Fugitive Slave Law in its full extent and Hpirit. Rev. Theodore Cuyler went further yet, for in addition to an ajjpeal for the execu- tion of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the repeal of the Personal Liberty l^aws, he addt^d: "Let us receive our brother of the South if he will come among us, for a little time, attended by his servant, and permit him thus to come.''

A long series of resolutions adopt(*d by the meeting, pledged the l»eoi)le of Philadelphia to the carrying out of all the most extreme con- cessions mad(» in ih(»se speeches. A fitting climax to this <H)wardly meeting ^as this; (Jeorge William Curtis had been engaged by the Peopl(»'s Literary Bureau to lecture on the evening after the great meeting, and had announced as his subject, *'The Policy of Honesty," a subject whicli was not apparently calculated to grate upon the nerves of our sensitive Southern brethren. Rut the Mayor addressed a note to the proprietor of the hall in which the lecture was to be given, in which he said: '*The appearance of (jeorge W. Curtis, Esq., as a lecturer before the P(?ople*s Literary Institute, on Thursday evening nc^xt, will be extremely unwise. If 1 possessed the lawful power I would not permit his presence on that occasion." To this the humble re})ly was made: *'J have been olficially informed that in the event of G. W. Curtis' lecturing in this hall, on Thursday even- ing next, a riot is auticijjated. Cnder these circumstances, I cannot I)ermit the hall to be used on that occasion."

Some of the newsi)ai)ers which had been influential in building up the Republican party, either anticipated or followed these meetings, in advising c<mcessions. Tlu^ s(*cond day after Mr. l^incoln's election Horace Ctreeley, who was the author of the phrase, **Erring sisters go in peace," had a long editorial in the Tribune, under the headline, '•Going to Go." In this he said: *'If the Cotton States shall decide that they can do better out of the rni<m than in it, we insist on letting them go in i)eace. The right to secede may be a revolutionary one, but it exists nevertheless, and we do not see how one party has a right to do what another party has a right to i)revent. We must ever resist the assort«-d right of any State to remain in the Union and nullify or defv the laws thereof. To withdraw from the Union is quite another matt«'r. And when(»ver a <onsiderable section of our Union shall deliberately resolv(» to go out, w<» shall resist all coercive measures designed to keej) it in. We hope never to live in a Republic whereof one scM'tion is pinned to anoth(*r by bayonets."

Several other jjapers took substantially the same ground as the Tribum*, while Thurlow Weed, in the Albany P^vening Journal,

120 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLJCAN PARTY.

declared that there was imminent danj^er of a diHSolution of the Tnion, and that the danger originated in the ambition and cupidity of men who desire a Southern despotism, and in the fanatical zeal of Northern Abolitionists who seek the emancipation of slaves, regard- less of consequences. He proj)osed as a remedy a Convention of the people, with delegates appointed by the states, to discuss the subject in an amicable manner.

With this change of sentiment among the people, and in the Republican press, it is not surprising that the Republicans in Congress

were also willing to make some concessions. The movement in the Senate took the form of a committei* of tbir- t(vn, consisting of seven Democrats, five Republicans and one Independent, John J. Crittenden. The latter introduced what was afterwards known as the Crittenden Com- promise, proposing a series of amendments to the Constitution, in substance as follows:

1. Prohibiting slav- ery in all the territory of the I'nited States North of ;^6 degrees 30 JOHN J. CRITTENDEN. uiinutes, and protect-

ing it as j)roperty in all territory South of that line; and, admitting into the I'nion, with or without slavery, as its Constitution might provide, any State that might be formed out of such territory, when- ever its population should be sufticirnt to entitle it to a Member of Congress.

2. Prohibiting Congress from abolishing slavery in places under its exclusive jurisdiction within Slave States.

3. Prohibiting Congress from abolishing slavery within the District of Columbia, so long as slaviMV should exist in Virginia or

THE INTERREGXrM. 121

Maryland; or without the consent of the inhabitants, or without just con)i)ensation to the owners.

4. Prohibiting Congress from hindering the transportation of slaves from one Btate to another, or to a Territory in which slavery is allowed.

5. Providing that where a fugitive slave is lost to his owner by violent resistance to the execution of the process of the law for his recovery, the United States shall pay to said owner his full value, and may recover the same from the County in which such rescue occurred.

(>. These ])rovisions are declared to be unchangeable by any future amendment of the Constitution, as are also the existing articles relating to the representation of slaves and the surrender of fugitives.

These were referred to the Committee of Thirteen, who reported, on the olst of December, that they "had not been able to agree upon any general plan of adjustment." They continued, however, to be the basis of discussion through the session, but were defeated on the last day by a vote of 11) to 20. On account of the withdrawal of Southern Senators, the Senate had then become strongly Republican.

In the House, on the lirst day of the session, a committee of thirty-three was appointed to consider such portions of the President's message as related to the perilous condition of the country. This committee, after a few days' consideraticm, reported a series of resolu- tions in substance as follows:

1. All attempts on the part of ilu» Legislature of any State to obstruct the recovery of fugitives from labor are in derogation of the (Constitution of the United States, inconsistent with comity and good neighborhood between the slates, and dangerous to the i)eace of the Union.

2. That the several states be requested to cause their statutes to be revised, with a view to ascertain if any of them are in conflict with the Laws for the return of Fugitive Slaves, and if so to rej)eal such laws.

H. That we recognize slavery as now (existing in fifteen of the States, and recognize* no authority outside of any of these States to interfere with such slaves or slavery.

4. Discountenances all mobs or hindrances to the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law.

5. A faithful observance, on the part of all the states, of all their Constitutiimal obligations to each other, and to the Federal Government, is essential to tlu* peac(» of the country.

122 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

(). It is the duty of the Federal CJovernment to enforce the Federal laws, protect the Federal property, and preserve the Union of the States.

Sections seven and eijifht nHjuest the states to enact laws for the protection of travelers from one State to another, and to prevent or punish any attenjpt to set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or Territory.

These resolutions, which nii^ht have calmed the apprehensions of the Southerners, if they had not been bent on secession in any event, passed the House by a vote of IM to oS. That body also, by a vote of 1:3:5 to (>5, proposed a Constitutional amendment providing that, **Xo amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize, or give to Congress the power to abolish, or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.'' This was the only measure on the whole subject that passed both houses, and this never became operative. The House also passed, at this session, acts pro- viding Territorial governments for New Mexico, Colorado and Dakota, without any provision as to slavery.

The last etfort at compromise was nmde through th(» agency of a Peace ("onference which met in Washington February 4, and consisted of IH:\ delegates from 21 states, none of the seceded states being rej)- resented. It was in session a fortnight and adopted resolutions (1) Resloring the old Missouri Compromise line, with its former limita- tions as to slavery in the territories; (2) Providing that no territory should be accpiired by the United States except by discovery, without a concurrence of a majority of all the Senators from the Slave States, as well as a majority of all the S(»nators from the Free States. CJ) Declaring that Congress shall not have the power to interfere with slavery in any State; or in the District of Columbia, without the consent of the State of Maryland, and without the consent of the owners, or making comj)ensation to the owners who do not consent ; nor to prevent persons frouj other states from taking their slaves into the District of Columbia; nor to abolish slavery in places under the jurisdiction of the I'nited States in any State or Territory where it already existed; nor to jirohibit the transj)ortation of slaves from one State or T(M*ritory to another. (4) The third i)aragra])h of the second section of the fourth artich* of the (constitution, shall not be con- strued to j)r(»vent any State from enforcing the return of fugitive slaves; [i}) Prohibits the foreign slave trade: (H) The first, third and

THE INTERRECJXrM. 12;^

fifth sections of these amendments shall not be abolished without the consent of all the states; (7) Provides that the Tnited States shall pay full value for any fugitive whose return to slavery is prevented by vio- lence or intimidation.

These resolutions were received by the Senate on the 2d of March. For the next two days that body played battledore and shut- tle cock with them, and the Crittenden Compromise resolutions. It finally, by a vote of 3 to 34 refused to substitute the former for the latter, and then defeated the latter by a vote of 19 to 20.

These were almost the last votes taken in the Senate of the Thirty-sixth Congress, for the end of the Buchanan Administration was at hand. A President, feeble and vacillating, and a Congress controlled first by rebels, and after they had left, controlled by its fears, were about to give place to a strong man in the Executive and a strong party in control of Congress. The interr(»gnum was about to end.

There was just one redeeming act near the close. There was a deficiency in the Government revenues and the first Morrill Tariff Act, intended to increase the re venules fr>5,000,000 was ])assed to meet the emergency. It was based on the Kejjublican idea of protection and was passed by Uei)ublican votes; but th(» money was needed, and on the 2d of March Uw President reluctantly signed it.

PRESIDENT LIX(H)LN S ADMINISTRATION.

Liiuolu*s Journey to the Capitol — His Puipose as Regards Slavery — Forimitioii of the Cabinet and Discordant Elements There — Prominent ^len in Congress — Divided Opinions About the Southern Forts — S(*ward's '^Thoughts for the President's Con- sideration''— Th(> South Carolina Embassy — The Bombardment of Fort Sumter — The First Call for Volunteers — Prompt ResjK)nse by Congress to the President's Requests — Important Acts of Oeneral Ijegislation — The Question of Returning Fugi- tives— The President Puts the (^nion Above the Slavery Question — Events Leading Cp to the Emancipation Proclamation — Vary-- ing Fortunes of the War.

The President-elect left his home in Springfield on the 11th of February, acconjpanied to the depot by a large number of his friends and neighbors, to whom he addressed this bri(*f farewell: **My Friends- No ()n<* not in my positi(m can appreciate the sadness I feel at this jjarting. To this people I owe all that I anu Here I have liv(Hl more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolv(»s upon me, which is, perhaps, greater tlian that which has devolved upon any man since the days of Washington. He n(»v<»r would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Provi- dence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I can not succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty PiMUg I j)lace my reliance* for support; and I hope you, my friends, will all piay that I may receive that Divine assistance, with- out whi<li I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again 1 bid you all an atfectionate farewell."

Mr. Lincoln's journey to Washington occupied twelve days, from February 11 to 2:^ He was greeted everywhere along the line with enthusiasticcrowds, and made many short speeches fromthe platforms

12G HISTORY OF THE HEPUBLKWN PARTY.

A larjce part of tlu* message was devoted to an argument against the right of secession, and in favor of the i)erpetuity of the Union, in respect to which th(» President was very much in earnest. The message closed as foHows: **The mystic chord of memory, stretching from. (»v«M*y battle field and jjatriot grave to every living heart and hearthston(» all ovov this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the I'nion, vvhen again touch(»d, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.*' The message gave general satisfaction throughout the North and the border states. Ihere was nothing in it that could offend ri^asonable men in the S(uith, but the extreme South(*rners were already beyond reason.

Four members of the President's Cabinet, as announced soon aft(»r the inaugural and confirmed by the Senate, had been rival aspir- ants for the Presidential nomination. These were \Villiam n. Seward, of New York, Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, S(Hr(»tary of Hie Treasury; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Secre- tary of War, and Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney General. The other three members wen* Gideon \Yelles, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy: Caleb 1?. Smith, of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior, and Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster General. None of these attained gn^at distinction in their respective j^ositions, except Chase, who took rank with the greatest of American financiers, and Seward, who conducted the attairs of state with great ability, after he had ascertained that he was not the (jovernment, and could not control the President, but had best c(mfine himself mainly to his own depart- ment. The Cabinet, as a whole, did not strike people favorably at tlu» tim<\ Thaddeus Stevens describc^d it as an assortment of rivals for the Presidency, one stump sjieaker from Indiana, and two repre- sentatives of the Blair family, the second representative of this family being Attorney General Bates, who was supposed to owe his appointment to the influence of Francis P. Blair, Jr. Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, the "Anci(»nt MariniM*," as he was called, was said to have ow(h1 his a])pointment to Vic(»-President Hamlin. He was old, and slow, and knew nothing about naval affairs. But he had one recommendation. He never made any disturbance in the Cabinet. It is said that he always agreed with the last man that spoke, but always <»nded up by supporting the I*residenCs views. Simon Cam- (*ron was a good iH)litician, but not a strong Secretary of War, and the war had not been long in progress before the President felt obliged to ask for his resignation.

t .illsllH-f* iu.t* 1 UlSill I*'

^^ GIL3^

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMINISTKATION. 127

But if the Cabinet was not a tower of strenji^h, tbe trying times were productive of great men, and the high character of the princi- ples advocated by the Rei)ublican party, brought most of them into the Republican ranks. The Senate included Zachariah Chandler, who held the confidence of President Lincoln and of President Crrant after him, and who was about the only man in the Senate who could not be repelled by Stanton, when he sought information or wanted to give advice; John Sherman, of Ohio, who in the course of his life-time was a consj)icuous figure in the House, in the Senate, in the Cabinet, and as a Presidential candidate; Wm, Pitt Fessenden, of Maine, emi- nent as a financier, both on the Senate Finance Committee, and later as Secretary of the Treasury; Henry R. Anthony, of Rhode Island, just beginning a long and useful service; Jacob M. Howard, of Michi- gan, who had recently succeeded Kinsley S. Bingham, deceased, and who speedily took rank as a great Constitutional lawyer; Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, one of the sturdiest defenders of Lincoln; John P. Hale, of N(»w Hampshire, one of the first of the Free Soilers, and their candidate for the Presidency in 1852; Charles Sumner, of Massachu- setts, who first entered the Senate on the strength of a small balance of power which the Free Soilers held between the Whigs and Demo- crats in the ^lassachusetts I^»gislature, but who became one of the most conspicuous of Republicans; Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, *'The Natic Cobbler'' who rose, through various positions, from the shoemaker's bench to th«' Vice-President's chair; Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, one of the two candidates for Governor, who so successfully ])ushed Lincoln's fortunes in the Chicago (\mvention; Ira S. Harris, of New York, who succeeded Seward when the latter went into the Cabinet; David Wilmot, of Proviso fame, who succeeded Simon Cam- eron when the laiter became Secretary of War; the veterans Solomon Foote and Jacob CoUamer, of Vermont; and Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, James Harlan, of Iowa, and Preston King, of New York, all of whom became pronnnent in other positions as well as in the Senate.

The House of the Thirty-seventh Congress contained among its leading members: E. B. Washburne, Isaac N. Arnold and Owen l^vejoy, of Hlinois; (Jeorge W. Julian, Albert G. Porter and Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana; James F. Wilson, of Iowa; Samuel C. Fessenden and Anson P. Morrill, of Maine; Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts; William Windom, of Minnesota; William A. Wheeler, Roscoe Conk- ling and Elbridge G. Spaulding, of New York; James M. Ashley and John A. Bingham, of Ohio; William 1). Kelley and Galusha A. (rrow,

128 HISTOKY OF THE REPUBLirAN PARTY.

of Pennsylvauia. Ainon^ these will be recognized two who after- wards IxMjnne Vice-Presideut, several who entered the Senate, one Speaker of the House, and three who were in the dii)lomatic service. In this House, also, were Francis P. Blair, Jr., leader of the Anti- Slav(M y movement in Missouri, and then a Republican, but afterwards Demoi ratic candidate for Vic(»-President, and Horace Maynard, who was elected as an American, but who was now headinj^ rapidly toward the Republican party, and who, in reconstruction times was the most I^rominent man in Fast Tennessee.

The times also found strong men in the Executive offices of a number of the states, and several of the AYar Governors were as con- spicuous for their services in u])holding the Presid(»nt-s hands as were any of the Senators. The most prominent of these were Andrew <r. Curtin, of Pennsylvania; Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana; John A. Andr(»w, of Massachusetts, and Austin Blair, of Michigan.

The war occui)i(»d so much of public attention at the time, and has oc< upied so much of th(* sjmce in historical writings since then, that the l(»gislation (»nacted on other subjects does not occupy large space in the public mind. But the fact is, that aside from the conduct of the Wiir, there was more* useful legislation carried to a conclusion during the first four years of Republican administration, than had been pass(Ml by the Whig, Democratic or mixed administrations in thi* ] previous thirty years. The party vvvy speedily vindicated the wisdom of the voters in putting power in its hands. When it came into ]H)wer it found the public credit impaired and the revenues insufficient for the supi)ort of the (iovernm(»nt. In the last year of Buchanan's administration, (lovernment sev(»n jier cent, bonds, put on the market to help pay current exj^enses, sold at twelve per cent, discount. Tnder the new Administration (lOvernment six per cents sold at a premium. The* businc^ss of th(» country had been greatly hampered by the illogical and ill-arranged tariffs of 1S4() and 1857. The emer- gency tarifl*. A\hirh was pass(»d late in the last session of the Thirty- sixth Congress, now gav(» way to the second Morrill tariff, in which \]w rates were high (Miough to furnish a war revenue. Although the rates were reduced, from time to time, as the diminishing needs of the (rovernment i)ermitted, its protective princij^le remained the basis of safe mer/antiU- oi)erations for a (luarter of a century. Under the administraiions of Pierce and l»uchanan, the commercial demand for tho iiMprov(M)ioiit of the great waterways of the country had been ettVctually ch(Mked. A]»proi>riations for such improvements were

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. 129

now (sstiibjisiied as a rule, wiiieb became i)ermaneut. The construc- tion of the first Pacili(* railroad was begun, with Government aid, under this admiiiislration. Pnnious to this time there was nothing that could be called a banking system for the country, and the notes of banks in one State were all the way from par to 40 or 50 i)er cent, discount in anotlier State. A man might know how much money he had in his j>ocket in Indianapolis, but he couldn't guess what it would be worth when he reached New York. The new (Congress enacted a uniform banking system, under which any National bank note was then, and has been ever since, worth its fac(* value at any point in the country, from Bangor to San Francisco. The Thirty-sixth Congress passed a yery fair Homestead Act. Huchanan vetoed it. The Thirty- seventh Congress passed a better Act, and Lincoln signed it.

It took some time for tlie new Cabinet to adjust itself to the unusual conditions that existed and to ascertain its relations to the President. SecretarA' Seward had not forgotten that he was one of the founders of the Republican party and for a long time its recognized leader. lie was well aware of the facts that \vj to the time of the Chicago Convention h(» was the popular favorite, and that, during the campaign, his work ui)on the stump had b(H*n more elfective than that of any other speaker. He had been waiting the time, when, to use the words of Charles Francis Adams, after his death, he would dismiss *'the noblest dreams of an ambition he had the clearest right to indulge, in <»xchang(» for a more solid iM)wer to direct affairs for the benefit of the nation, in the name of another.-' Mr. Seward, at first, sought to strengthen himself with the President by declining the a])j)ointment ofT(*r(»d him, intimating that certain changes in the pro- pos(Hl Cabin(»t might make the position more acce])table to him. This was on the 2d of March. Mr. Lincoln waited until the 5th before he answer(»d, and th(»n declined to make the suggested changes. Whether Sew\ard stayed out or stayed in, he was not to be allowed to dictate the Cabinet at that late hour. Seward concluded to stay in, but at the outset he acted in some matters independently of the President. The full extent of his intermeddling with the affairs of other depart- ments was not known until after his death. An authority having access to all th(» papers b(*aring on the case, made, in a recent publi- cation, the following statement of his maneuvers:

"Seaward was for publicly T)roclaiming the surrender of Fort Sumter, and secretly preparing for war at Pensacola and in Texas. He felt himself fully able to direct operations by land and sea — to

\W HISTORY OF THE KEPrHLKWN PARTY.

become, as it were, the (Jeneral of the Army and the Admiral of the fleet. On the 21Hh of Mareh, with the o.nestion whether Sumter should be provisioned or evacuated still undecided, the President ordered an expedition to be made ready at New York, to sail on the Gth of April. Althonji:h the Secretary of War and the Sei*retary of the Navy were directed to co-operate in preparing the expedition, neither was informed of its object or destination. The Secretary of States however, was determined that it should be his expedition. While Lincoln was made to seem to act, Seward acted. On the same day that the order for the secret expedition was made he took Captain M. C. MtMSfs, an enjrineer officer in charji^e of the new wings of the Cap- itol to the White House. On the way he explained his wish that Sumter should be evacuated, and Pickens defended. His object was to secure the appointment of Meigs as military commander of the expedition. The President asked Captain Meigs if Fort Pickens could be held. 'Certainly, if the Navy would do its duty/ was the answer. Lin<()ln then asked Meigs if he would go down there and take command, but Meigs pointed out that there was a number of majors already there, and he was only a captain. *1 understand how that is,' said Seward de<isively, 'Captain Meigs must be promoted.' As this was understood to be impracticable. Colonel Keyes, General Scott's Military S<»cr(»tary, was associated with Seward's plans. On Sunday, March 31, the Secretary accompanied the two officers in a call upon deneral Scott, in pursuance of the great scheme of military and naval adventure. 'Oeneral Scott,' said Seward, \vou have formal- ly reported to the President your advice to evacuate Fort Pickens. I now come to bring you his order, as Comnuinder-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to re-enforc e. and hold it to the hist extremity.' 'Sir,' replied the deneral, 'the great Fr(*dt»rick used to say "when the King

commands all things an* possible.

As a naval expert Lieutenant David 1). Porter was ordered to join Keyes and Meigs in preparing and executing the Seward scheme. The expedition originally ordered by the President was intended for the relief of Sumter. As neitlnr the Secretary of War, nor the Sec- retary of the Navy was taken into the contidence of the Secretary of State, the two expediticms naturally came into conflict. One morning the Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard received two orders to fit out the Powhatan to go to sea at the earliest possible moment. Tlu* two orders seemed identical, although one was signed by the IMesideut and the other by Secretary Welles. In fact the

i

PRESIDENT LIN('OLX'S ADMINISTRATION. l.U

Presidrnt intiaided the Powhatan for the IMckens exi)editioii, and tht* Navy Dopaitinent intended her for the relief of Sumter.

Rut thiH was not the full extent of Seward's intermeddling. On the same day that Mr. Lincoln signed the order for the Powhatan, he signed other orders, at Mr. Seward's request, that were still more remarkable. One of them dc^tached Captain Stringham for service at Pensacola, and the other contemplated the sending of Captain Pren- dergrast to Vera Cruz on account of "important comi)lirations in our foreign relations." The President sign(*d these, without reading or understanding them, and upon Secretary Welles' indignant remon- strance, he recalled them, but without giving the Secretary his confi- dence in regard to thcMr significance. Mr. Seward also submitted to Mr. Lincoln ''Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration." In this renmrkable paper he proposed to change the issue from the im- f sending domestic war to an unnecessary foreign war, and virtually invited the President to abdicate in his favor. To his suggestion that (»ither the l*resident must direct the preposterous policy "himself, and be all the time active in it, or devolve it upon some member of his Cabinet,'' Lincoln answered: "If this must be done I must do it/'

While Seward was indulging in these visions he was coquetting with the "embassy" from South Carolina. He would not receive them officially, nor informally, but n(*gotiated through Justice Campbell, lie gave them to understand that Sumter was to be evacuated, when Lin(H)ln had no such i»urpose. He also had some negotiations with a member of the Virginia Ccmvention, in which he gave assurances which the President had not authorized, and in which he was over- ruled. It finally dawned upon him, however, that in the end the Presid(»nt decided matters according to his own judgment, and that his attempts to "dire<t affairs for the ben(»fit of the nation in the name of another" were more mischi(»vous than fruitful. He ceased to attempt to run the Army and Navy and in i\nn\ by <onfining his atten- tion to liis own department became mw of Lincoln's most trusted advisers, nnd made a reputation as one of the ablest of diplomatists. This e])iso(le was a curious freak in the mental operations of a really great man, and it caused great (Mubarrassment to the President.

Secretary Chase was also a discordant element in the Cabinet. He hiid be(*n a member of the Peace Conference where he voted against the i»ropos(Hl concessions to slavery, but in the Cabinet councils he believed in disunion as preferable to war, and urged a virtual sur- render to the Confederacy, although unless that was decided upon, he was with those members of the Cabinet who advised the provis-

132 HISTORY OF THE REPrBLICAN PARTY.

ioning and relief of Fort Sumter. He ranked among the ablest of our financiers, and was of great service to tlie country in evolving and formulating those financial plans, which E. G. Spaulding, **the father of the CJreenback," introduced in the House, but he was never friendly to Lincoln, whom lie hoped to succeed in the Presidency, was never satisfied with his position, and tendered his resignation so often that he was surprised when it was at last accepted.

Montgomery Blair, a conservative from a Slave State, was the first to oppost* th(» pea<e policy of these two old radical Anti-Slavery

Senators from Free States. He evidently understood the South better than they.

A\'ith a Cabinet thus divided and discordant, with the party which had elected him and the papers which had sup- ported him weakening in the North, it looked as if Lincoln's Adminis- tration would go to pieces at the very out- set.

The bombardment of Fort Sumter on the morning of the 12th of April, and its surren- der after thirty - three hours of heroic defense, SALMON p CHASE. changed all that. It

unified the Cabinet. It woke the North from its dream of peace, roused its latent patriotism and h(M*oism, and led to a prompt response to the President's proclamation, which came three days later, calling for 75,000 volunteers. The same proclamation called a special session of Congress to meet July 4. Congress, thus convened, the President s(*nt a long messng(*, reciting the events that led to o;)en hostilities, repeating souk* of the arguments against the right of a^ State to secede, and recommending the placing at the control of thes* Governmc^nt of at least 400,000 mcMi, and $400,000,000 as a *'nieans for^ making the contest a short and d(*cisive one."

1.-^4 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

instructt^d General Butler not to surrender to their masters slaves that eanie within his lines, but to **eniploy them in the serviees to which they may be best adapted." The President tacitly sanctioned this, and after the passage of the Confiscation Act, he wrote to Gen- eral Butler at length explaining the views of the President and the Administration on the subject. All existing rights in all the states were to b(» fully maintained. Cases of fugitives from service in states and territories that still remained in the Cnion were to be dis- posed of by civil process, under existing laws. Fugitives from the s(Hed(Hl states w(»re to be kept within the lines, a record made of them, and the G(»nerars action with rt^gard to them reported to the War Oepartment ar least twice a month. The letter ended with the injunc- tion: ''You will, however, neither authorize nor i>ermit any interference, by the troops under your comuuind, with the servants of peaceful citizens, in house or field, nor will you, in any way, encourage such servants to l(»av(» the lawful service of their masters; nor will you, exc(»pt in cases where the public safety may seem to require it, prevent the voluntary return of any fugitive to the servire from which he may have escaped.-'

Aside from the actual work of prosecuting the war the subject of slaverv continued to occupy public attention more than any other. August 31, 1S»>1, three weeks after the Confiscation Act was passed. General Fremont, in command of the AVestern Department, issued a pro<Iamation, freeing all the slaves in Missouri, b(*longing to men in the Conf(»d<M*ate service and derlaring that th(» property of all such p(*rsons was confiscated to the public us(». The President told Fre- mont that this transcended the Act of Congress, that it would ruin the Cnion cause in Kentucky and ask(»d him to modify the order so as to make it correspond to that Act. Fremont, not desiring to take the r(*sponsibility of changing his own action, desired an explicit order on the subject, which the President gave. This action on the part of the President, produced a bitter feeling throughout the North. Rei»ubli<ans, both in Ccmgress and in private life had generally applauded t\w proclamation, and even the <*onservative Democratic press had approved it, and its revocation was a terrible disappoint- ment. Men *'could not see why loyal slaveholders in Kentucky should b(»ofT(Mided been use the slaves of reb(»ls in Missouri were declared free." May JK 1802, General David Hunter, who was in command of a depart- ment, incltiding South Carolina, issued a proclanmtion abolishing slavery in his de])artment. This also was disavowed, and the disa-

13G HISTORY OF THE REPUBLirAN PARTY.

pensation to the owners. At this time he would have been willing to pay f400,000,000, if it would have suffieed to purchase peace and remove this disturbmf:^ cause which had brought on the war. No response was made by the South to this overture, and he soon became convinced that compulsory emancipation was the only thing that would render complete restoration of the Tnion possible. August 1, 18()2, he submitted to the Cabinet the draft of an Emancipation Proc- lanmtion, which Seward indu<ed him to postpone, on the ground that if issued then, while the North was depressed, and the South elated over I'nion defeats, it would be considered a despairing appeal. The Fnion victories at South Mountain, September 14, and at Antietam on the 17th, changed this aspect of affairs. Lincoln called the Cabinet together, and with great solemnity informed them that his mind was fully made up that the time had <()me for proclaiming emancipation. That question was settled, but he was willing to receive suggestions as to the phraseology of the proclamation. But few changes were made from his first draft of the paper, and it was issued September 22. This A\as warning that unless the states in insurrection returned to their allegiance by January 1, 18G3, the slaves in them would be declared frtns and their fri»iHh)m would be maintained by the military and naval f()rc(*s of the United States. As the Southern states took no action in response to this, the proclamation proper followed in Jan- uary. It (juoted the substance of the former proclamation, and dedariKl that the slaves in all the states in insurrection, except the forty eight counties in Virginia, subsequently formed into the State of West Virginia, and in the districts in the other part of Virginia and in Louisiana within the I'nion lines, were* free, and that the Executive (lovernment of the United States, including the military and naval authorities ther(H)f, would recognize and nuiintain the freedom of such persons. Congress subsequently gave legal sanction to this procla- nuition. That was the last of completed h^gislation on the subject of slavery und(»r Lincoln's first Administration. The Thirteenth amend- ment was introduced in the Thirty-eighth Congress, (Oected in 18(52, but did not pass until January, lS(>r), and did not become operative till December 18, 18G5.

The elections of 1S(>2 were \{*vy discouraging to the Administration, as various forms of dissatisfaction among the people found expression at the polls. There was a strong peace party among the Republi- cans and a much stronger* one among the Democrats. One set denounc(»d th(» war as an abolition war. Another denounced the

138 HISTORY OF THE REPI BLICWN PARTY.

looking toward the admission of Nevada, ralifornia and Nebraska to statehood; confiscating property used for insurrectionary purposes; providing for (he punishment of treason; granting lands for the estab- lishment of Agricultural Colleges, and establishing the Department of Agriculture at AVashington; punishing polygamy; providing for the return of dead letters except where the contents are clearly worthless; authorizing the President to take charge of railroads and telegraph lines, when public 8af(*ty requires it; prohibiting the Coolie trade in \merican vessels; carrying into effect the treaty of (Jreat Britain for suppressing the slave trade; admitting West Virginia as a State; organizing the Territories of Idaho, Montana and Arizona; revising the postoltice laws and reducing the rates of postage; author- izing the President to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus whenever he shall dei*m it necessary; granting lands for a number of railroads running through Kansas, and other Western states and territories; prohibiting the sale or gift of spirituous liquors to Indians; inaugurating the postal money order system; providing for a National currency, and establishing a separate bureau to execute all laws relating to it; encouraging immigration; enlarging the scope of the pension laws; providing for revenue cutters on the lakes; pro- viding for mail steaniKhip service between the United States and Japan; levying dire<t taxes on the insurrectionary states and estab- lishing a bur(*au for the nwo of freedmen refugees and abandoned lands.

Th(» only serious danger of complications with any foreign power was in lSt;i, when Commodore Wilkes detained the British steamer Trent on the high seas, and took from her the Rebel Commissioners Mason and Slidell. To the British protest against this a prompt response was made, disavowing the act and returning the prisoners to British jurisdiction. In making the surrender. Secretary Seward wrote a very polite note, in which he fully concurred in the advanced position which the British (lovernment had now taken, and stating that it was the position which this (lOvernment Imd alw^ays main- tained.. He thus adroitly not only satisfied the demand made by the British Oovernnu^nt, but put that Crovernment in the wrong, in the <laim which it had maintained for sixty years, of the right of search and s(»izure on the high seas, a claim, which more than any other singl(» thing had led to the War of 1S12.

140 HISTORY OF THE RErrHLlCAN PARTY.

Mr. Lineoln received me, as ever, kindly and courteously; but his manner was quite ehanj^ed. It was not now the country about which liis anxiety prevailed, but himself. There was an embarrassment about him which he could not quite conceal. I thouffht it proper to state in the outset that I wished simply to know wiiatever he was free to tell me in re^G^ard to his own willinj?ness or unwillinj?ness to accept a renomination, and also as to the extent to which a Senator who had referred me to him, was authorized to speak for him. The reply was a monoiojjuc of an hour's duration, and one that wholly absorbed me, as it seemed to absorb himself. There was very little for me to say, and 1 was only too willinj? to listen.

He remained seated nearly all the time. He was restless, often chanj!:inp: position, and occasionally, in some intense moment, wheel- inji: his body around in his chair, and throwinji: a lej; over the arm. This was the only ^rotes([ue thing 1 recollect about him; his voice and manner were very (earnest, and he uttered no jokes, and told no anec- dotes.

He be«:an by saying that, as yet, he was not a candidate for renom- ination. He distinctly denied that he was a party to any effort to that end, notwithstanding I knew that there were movements in his favor in all parts of the Northern states. These movements were, of course, without his prompting, as he positively assured me that, with one or two exceptions, he had scarcely conversed on the subject with his most intimate friends. He was not quite sure whether he desired a renomination. Such had been the responsibility of the office — so oppressive had he found its cares, so terrible its perplexities — that he felt as though th(^ mom(»nt when he could relinquish the burden and retire to private life would be the sweetest he could possibly experi- ence. But, he said, he would not deny that a re-election would also have its gratitication to his fcvlings. He did not seek it, nor would he do so; he did not desire it for any ambitious or seltish purpose; but, after the crisis the country was passing through under his presidency, and the etforts he had made conscientiously to discharge the duties impos(»d upon him, it would b(^ a very sweet satisfaction to him to know that he had secured the approval of his fellow-citizens, and earned the highest testimonial of contidence they could bestow.

This was th(» gist of the hour's monologue; and I believe he spoke sincerely. His voice, his manner, armed his modest and sensible words with a power of conviction. H(» seldom looked me in the face while he was talking; he seemed almost to be gazing into the future. I am sure it was not a pleasant thing for him to seem to be speaking in his own interest.

But wluitever Mr. Lincoln's mental attitude was at that time, he was, before* the Convention uk^, an avowed candidate for the Presi- dency, and it became known to many of his intimate friends that he d(»sired also to name the candidate for \hv Vic(» Presidencv.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RENOMINATION.

Ul

While the people were j!:enerally for him, many of the politieiaiiB, either throufi:h i>ersonal ambition, or on aeeount of fancied personal slights, or from a belief that a change would be better for the country, w^ere opposed to him. Horace (Ireeley, who had been, alternately, an impertinent adviser and a captious critic, was working as hard against Lincoln now as he was against Seward in 1800, but his utter- ances, and those of his paper, had ceased to have great weight. An exhibition of hostility that at first appeared more formidable, was the *'Pomeroy Circular," which was issued in February in the interest of Secretary Chase, who had, ever since 1860, cherished the ambition of being Mr. Lincoln's successor. The circu- lar is said to have been written by J. M. Win- chell, who sought the interview with Lincoln, from which an extract is given above, but it was signed by Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, as Secretary of a secretly organized c o m m i 1 1 e e of Mr. ( 'base's friends. The circular accused the friends of President Lincoln of using party and the machinery of official influence t o secure the perpetuation of the present Administration, and it was asserted that ^*those wiio conscientiously believe that the inter(»sts of the country and of freedom demand a change in favor of vigor and purity and nationality, have no choice but to appeal at once to the people, before it is too late to secure a fair discussion of principles." It called for "counteraction on the part of those unconditional friends of the Fnion who differ from the poli(»y of the Administration, and ended with five conclusions, of which the first four were as follows:

SAMUEL C. POMEROY.

142 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLirAN PARTY.

1. Ev(»ii w<M*c tile le-eliM-tion of Mr. Lincoln desirable, it is prac- tically impossible against the union of forces that will oppose hiuj.

2. Should he be re-elected, his manifest tendency toward com- pr<mus(»s and temporary expedients of policy, will become stronger during a second term than it has been in the first, and the cause of human liberty, and the dignity of the Nation will suffer proportion- ately, while the war may <ontinue to languish during his whole Administration, till the public debt shall become a burden too great to be borne.

.3. The patronage of the (lovernment, through the necessities of the war, has been so rapidly increased, and to such an enormous ext(»nt, and so loosely placed, as to render the application of the one- term principh* absolutely essential to the certain safety of our Re- j»ublican insti^^utious.

4. We find in the H<m. Salmon P. Chase more of the qualities needed in a President, during the next four years, than are combined in any other available candidate. His record is clear and unim- peachabl(\ showing him to be a statesman of rare ability, and an administrator of the highest order, while his private character fur- nishes the surest available guarantee of economy and purity in the management of public affairs.

The fifth con<lusion declares that *'the discussion of the Presi- d<'ntial questions, already commenced by the friends of Mr. Lincoln, has developed a jiopularity and stnnigth in ^Ir. Chase, unexpected cv(»n to his warmest admirers, and while its strength is at present unorganized, and in no condition to manifest its real magnitude, it only needs a systemati<' and faithful elTort to develop it to an extent sul!i<ient to overcome all opposing obstacles." It was further stated that a central organization had been perfected, and persons in sym- pathy with th<* movement were invited to corresjumd with the coni- mitt(»e with a view to forming State organizatitms.

Mr. Chase was shamed and mortitied at the publitatiou of this circular. II(* had been in active correspondence in promoting his own candidacy, and had exj^ressed somi* of the sentiments contained in the circular, but the* expression had been in choicer language. This coarse and brutal assault upon the Administration in behalf of one of its members was not what he at all approved. In a letter to (fovernor Sprague, of Rhode Island, he hud expressed doubts as to the expediency of (»1( cting any one to the Presidency a second time, and had intimated his willingness to be a candidate, but had also said

PRESIDENT L1N(X)JA'S KENOMINATION. 148

that h(» would not permit himself to be driven into any hostile or unfriendly position as to Mr. Lincoln. This eircular placed him in the attitude which he had souji^ht to avoid; and lu* at once wrote to the President disavowinji: the document and addinjj:: *'For yourself I cherish sincere respect and esteem, and, permit me to add, affection. Differences of opinion as to Administrative action have not changed these sentiments; nor have they been changed by assaults upon me by ]»ersons who proft»ss themselves the special representatives of your views and policy. You are not responsible for acts not your own; nor will you hold me responsible, except for what I do or say myself." Mr. Chase had hoped to have the endorsement of his own State as the initial movement of his active campaign, but February 25, 1S()4, the lA*gislature of Ohio adopted resolutions favoring Lincoln's renomina- tion, and Mr. Chase withdrew as a candidate.

What at tirst appeared to be a more formidable movement was made by the ''*r'nion Republican l*arty,-^ which, under calls from three separate organizations, met at Cleveland, May 31, with about 150 dele- gates, representing fifteen states and the District of Columbia. General John Cochrane, of New York, presided over the Convention which adopted a platform of thirteen brief planks, among which were the following: Declaring that the Rebellion must be put down by force of arms and without <-ompromise; that the rights of fre(» speech, free press and habeas corpus be held inviolate, sav(» in districts where martial law has been proclaimed; that the Rebellion has destroyed slavery, and that the Constitution should be so amended as to pro- hibit its re-establishment; that the right of asylum, except for crime and 8ul)je< t to the law, is a recognized principle of American liberty; that the Monroe doctrine must be maintained; that the one-term policy for the Presidency should be maintain(»d by Constitutional amendment; that the President and A'ice-l*resident should be <»lected by a direct vote of the people; that the reconstruction of the rebellious states belongs to Congress, and not to the Executive; and that the confiscation of the lands of the rebels, and their distribution among the soldiers and settlers, is a measure of justice.

The Convention nominated General John C. Fremont for I^reei dent by acclamation and (leneral John Cochrane for Vice-President, and named the new organization the Radical Democracy. General Preraont'S letter of acceptance made a bitter attack upon Mr. Lincoln for unfaithfulness to the princijiles which he was elected to defend, Upon his Administration for incapacity and seltishness, and for *'its

144

HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICWN PARTY.

disrepiid of Constitutional rights, its violation of persona] liberty and the liberty of the press, and, as a <-rowninf? shame, its abandon- ment of the right of asylum, dear to all free nations abroad." He approved the j)latform, with the exception of the eonfiseation plank. He intimated that if the Re]>ubli(*an Convention nominated anyone except Lincoln, he would not stand in the way of a union of all ui>on that nominee, but added: **If Mr. Lincoln be renominated, as I believe it would be fatal to the country to indorse a policy and renew a power which has cost us the lives of thousands of men, and need- lessly put the country on the road to bank- ruptcy, there will re- main no alternative but to organize against him every element of con- scientious opposition, with the view to pre- vent the misfortune of his re-election." The R a d i (* a 1 Democracy made no headway at all in the East, and but lit- tle in the ^Ve8t. The magic of Fremont's name was gone. After the Democratic Con- vention had been held, and McClellan had been nominated on a peace p 1 a t f o rm, Fremont's GEN. u. 3. GRANT. patriotism and Repub-

licanism induced him to withdraw from the contest, and urge his sup- porters to vote for Lincoln.

Later on a meeting was called in New York, ostensibly to express the gratitude of the nation to General Grant and the soldiers under his command for their labors and successes. The real purpose of the meeting was to take the initial step toward bringing him forward as a Presidential candidate. Mr. Lincoln was invited to attend, and in his reply, stating that it would be impossible for him to do so, he said: "I approve, nevertheless, of whatever may tend to strengthen and

140 HISTORY OF THE KEIM BLK/AX PARTY.

Stevens, Andrew U. Reeder and (ruhisha A. Grow, of Pennsvlvania; John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland; Columbus Dt^lano, David Kilgore and ^Villianl H. Tpson, of Ohio; G. W. M<*('rary, of Iowa; James H. Lane, of Kansas; Anjijua Cameron, John F. Potter and Philetus Sawyer, of Wisconsin. The Michigan delegation consisted of Austin Blair, Marsh (liddings, Neil Gray and Charles ^V. Clisbee, at large, with the following from the several districts: (1) Herman Kiefer, William R. Noyes; (2) L. P. Alexander, J. H. Kelsey; (3) Charles T. Gorham, Edwin Lawrence; (4j Osmond Tower, W. I. Camwell; (5) Charles Draper, Omar 1). Conger; (0) J. B. Walker, R. Sheldon.

Robert J. Breckinridge, the "Old War Horse of Kentucky," was temporary Chairman, and (iovernor William Dennison, of Ohio, was permanent Chairman. The Michigan members of the various com- mittees were* Credentials, Marsh (Jiddings; Permanent Organiza- tion, Edwin Lawrence; Resolutions, Omar D. Conger; Vice-President, Charles T. Gorham; Secretary, William R. Xoyes; Chairman of the Delegation, Austin Blair.

The first day and a half were almost entirely occupied with the routine proceedings of organization, and the settling of contested seats from the border states. These being disposed of, the Commit tee on Resolutions reported a platform, which it is understood was written by Henry J. Raymond, Chairman of the Committee. The first signs of enthusiasm or even of great interest in the Convention, appeared during the reading of these resolutions, every one of which was received with applause, in some cases vociferous and long-con- tinued. The writer of the platform was given the unusual compli- ment of having his production adopted by acclamation, without amendment and without a word of discussion. The declaration was, in full, as follows:

RESOLVED. That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the I'nion and the paramount authority of the Constitution and Laws of the T'uited States, and that laying aside all dilTerences and political opinions we pledge ourselvi^s as I'nion men, animated by a common sentiment, and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our power to aid the government in quelling, by force of arms, the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment due to tlnMr crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it.

RESOLVED, That we approve the determination of the Govern- ment of the L^nited Stat<*s not to con)promis<* with rebels, or to offer any terms of peace, except such as may be based upon an uncondi-

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RENOMINATION. 147

tional surrender of their hostility, and return to their first allegiance to the Constitution and Laws of the Ignited States, and that we call upon the (Tovernment to maintain this position, and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor to the comjilete suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrifices, the patriotism, heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to the country and its free institutions.

RESOLVED, That as slavery was the cause and now constitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be, always and every- where, hostile to the principle of republican government, justice and the National safety demand its utter and complete extiri)ation from the soil of the Republic; and that we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed a death blow at the gigantic evil. We are in favor further- more of such amendment to the Constitution to be made by the people, in conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever pro- hibit the existence of slavery within the limits or jurisdiction of the United States.

RESOLVED, That the thanks of the American people are due to the soldiers and sailors of the Army and Navy who have periled their lives in defense of their country and in vindication of the honor of the flag; that the nation owes to them some per- manent recognition of their patriotism and their valor, and ample and permanent provision for those of their survivors wiio have recently received disabling and honorable wounds in the service of the country, and that the memory of those who had fallen in its defense shall be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance.

RESOLVED, That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, the unselfish patriotism, and unswerving fidelity to the Con- stitution and the principles of Am(»ricau liberty, with which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under (*ircumstancesof unparalleled difficulty, the gre:it duties and responsibilities of tlH» Presidential office; that w^e approve and <*ndorse as denuinded by the emergency, and essential to the preservation of the Nation, and as within the Constitution, the measures and acts which he has adopted to dc^fend the Nation against its oj)en and se<ret foes; that we approve, especially, the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the employment as Union soldiers of men here- tofore held in slavery; and that we have full confidence in his deter- mination to carry these and all other Constitutional measures, essen- tial to the salvation of the country, into full and complete effect.

RESOLVED, That we deem it essential to the general welfare that harmonv should j)revail in the National councils, and we regard as worthy of public c(mfidence and official trust, those only who cor- dially endorse the iirinciples ])roclaiu)ed in these resolutions, and wiiich should chara<*terize the administration of the Government.

RESOLVED, That the (Jovernment owes to all men employed in its armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protec-

148 HISTORY OF THE KEPrULKWN PARTY.

tioii of the laws of war, and that any viohition of these hiws. or of the usages of civilized nations in the time of war by the rebels now in arms, should be made the subjert of full anil ]»rompt redress.

RESOLVED, That the foreijrn emigration, whi<*h in the past has added so much to the wealth and dt^velopment of resources and increase of power to this Nation — the asylum of the oppress(*d of all nations — should be fostennl and encouraged by a wise and just iM>Iicy.

RESOLVED, That w(» are in favor of the speedy constru4tion of the railroad to the Pacific.

RESOLVED, That the National faith i)led^ed for redemption of the National dehi must be kept inviolate*, and that for this purpose we recommend ec<momy and ri^id responsibility in the public expendi- ture, and a vigorous and just system of taxation; and that it is the duty of ev(»ry loyal State to sustain the credit and ])romote the use of* the National currency.

RESOLVED, That we approve the jmsition taken by the Gov- ernment, that the peoj»le of the Tnited Statics can never repird with indilTerence the attempt of any European power to overthrow by force, or to supplant by fraud, the instituti<m of any republican gov- ernment on the Western Continent, and that we view with threat jealousy as menacing to the j)eac(» and independence of this, our country, the efforts of any such powtM- to obtain new footholds for monarchial governments, sustained by a foreign military force, in near i)roximity to tin* I'nited States.

The nomination for Presid(»nt was attended with but little excite- ment, as it was a foregone cone lusion. A motion of Simon Cameron's that Abraham Lincoln be renominated for President, and Hannibal Hamlin for Vice-President, by acclamation, was cpiietly tabled. A motio?i that Mr. Lincoln 1m* renominat<Ml by acclamation was objected to, on the ground that it had too much tlu* appearance of rushing the nomination through, without giving opportunity f<u' individual choice, and it was th(»refor(» order<»d that the roll of stat(»s be called. This was done without excitement, and with but very few remarks in announcing tin* v<»tcs of the states. The n^sult was 484 votes for Abraham Lincoln and 1*2 for Llyssc^s S. Orant, the latter being the instructed vote of the Missouri delegation. Mr. Hume, of Missouri, then announced that the* deh*gation from that state changed their vote to Lincoln. Tin* ScM-rcMaric^s announccMl that the vote was unani- mous, 500 votes for Abraham Lincoln, and the Convention received th(» announcement with vo( iferons a]>plause. as the band struck up "Yankee Doodle" and •Hail Columbia."

The nomination for Vice-l*r(*sident was attended with much niort»- interest. Vice-l*resident Hamlin had not been countcnl among Mr^ Lincoln's earnest supporters, and the relations betwet^n them werc^

150 HISTORY OF THE UEPUBLKWX PARTY.

Cameron, had not dulled bis political wits. He took bis most inti- mate political friends into bis confidence, one at a time, witbout tellinj]^ one wbat be bad said to anotber, but in eacb case urging the advisability of Jobnson's nomination. Tbere was no organization in Jobnson's favor, no general conferc»nce in promotion of bis candi- da< y, yet wlien tbe Convention met it bad come, somebow, to be well understood tbat tbe President desired Jobnson as bis associate on tbe ticket and it was tliis understanding tbiit gave him tbe nomina- tion. Tbe ballot for a candidate for Vice-President, as first footed up, stood as follows:

Andrew Jobnson, of Tennessee 200

Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine 150

Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York 108

Benjamin F. Butler, of Massa<bus<»tts 28

Lovel H. Rousseau, of Kentucky 21

Scattering among five candidates 12

Before tbere was opportunity to announce tbe result different states rapidly changed to Jobnson. until bis vote counted 494, to 17 for Dickinson, U for Hamlin, and 1 for David Tod, of Ohio. The nomination was then made unanimous, a National Committee was appointed, of which Marsh Giddings was tbe Michigan member, a little routine business was transacted and tbe Convention adjourned. Hamlin did not learn till cpiarter of a century afterwards that Lincoln bad secretly opposed bis reuomination. *'I was really sorry to be disabused." be said in ISSJ).

152 HISTORY OF THE KEPlHLirAN PARTY.

to quell the riots, wliirh raj^ed with destniclive force for four days, promised the rioters that he would endeavor to have the draft sus- pended. It inrluded William Wallace, of Pennsylvania, whose con- nection with t\w rotl'ee-stained and fraudulent naturalization papers, which ^ave the State to the Democrats in October, 1850, had earned him the name of '*('olT(M»-pot Wallace." It contained (Mement L. Vallandiji:ham, of Ohio, who had be<m tried for treasomabk* utter- ances, and sent within the rebt^l lines; and it included Joseph E. McDonald, of Indiana, who was Iik(*ly to profit by the work of the secret and disloyal order of *Knij»:lits of the Oolden Circle," even if he had no connection with this treasonable set.

Horatio Seymour, the permanent I*resident of the Convention, put the whole responsibility of the war upon the North, i^norinji: the acts of a^^ression on the \n\vi of the South. ''Four y€»ars ajjfo," he said, *'a Convention n)(»t in this City when our country was peaceful, pro8])erous and united. Its delegates did not mean to destroy our (iovernment, lo ov<m wh(»lm us with debt, nor to drench our land with blood; but they were animat(»d by intolerance and fanaticism, and blinded by an ij^norancc of (he spirit of our institutions, the character of our peoi)le, and tlu* condition of our land. They thought they might safely indulge tlu'ir passions, and they concluded to do so. Their passions have* wrought out (heir natural results. . . The Administration will not h»t the sluMlding of blood cease, even for a little time, to sec if Christian charity, and (he wisdom of statesman- ship may not work out a method to save our country. Nay, more, they will mit list(»n to a proposal of peaie which does not offer that which this (iov<»rnmcnt has no right to ask." He closed with the cov<Mt threat: 'Hut for us, we jue resolved that the party which has made the history of our country since its advent to power seem like sonu* unnatural and tt»rrible dream shall be overthrown. We have forborne much, b<Maus(» those who are now charged with the conduct of public alTairs know but little about the princij)les of our Govern- ment."

The platform adoptcMl declarcnl the d<*votion of the party to the Union; arraigniHl the Administration for military interference with the recent elections in D<*laware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, **for the subversion of civil by military rule, in states not in insurrec- tion; for the arbitrary military arrest, imprisonment, trial and sentcmce of American (ilizens in states \vh(»re the <ivil law is in full force; the suppression of fr(H*dom of speech and the press; the denial

THE LINCOLN AND JOHNSON CAMPAIGN. 153

of the right of asylum; the open and avowed disregard of State rights; the employment of unusual test oaths, and the interference with, and denial of, the right of the people to bear arms in their defense. It declared that all tliese were calculated *'to prevent a restoration of the T'nion, and the i>erpetuation of a Government deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed/' But the plank upon which the campaign most largely turned, was the following:

RESOLVED, That this Convention does explicitly declare as the sense of the American people, that after four years of failure to restore the T'nion by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretense of a military necessity or war power higher than the Con- stitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired; Justice, Humanity, Liberty and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to the ulti- mate Convention of the states, or other peacable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Cnicm of the States.

George H. McClellan, of New Jersey, was nominattnl for Presi dent, and (Jeorge H. Pendleton, of Ohio, for Vice-President. The nomination of General McClellan was unsatisfactory to a consider- able minority in this Convi'ution of ])eace-makers. He had arrested the Maryland Legislature, when it was on th<» point of passing an ordinance of secession. A Maryland delegate stood u]) in the Con- vention, proclaimed McClellan a tyrant, and added: **All the charges of usurj:ation and tyranny that can be brought against Lincoln and Hutler, (an be made and substantiated against McClellan. He is the assassin of states rights, the usurper of liberty, and if nominated will be beaten everywhere as he was at Antietam.''

In view of McClellan's military cancer there was something of grim satire in the declaration that the war was a failure, for although, at one time he was the idol of the Army of the Potomac, and his mili- tary failures had been condoned by the* Democrats and many of the Republicans, the fa<t had, by this time, been quite g(»nerally recog- nized that he, more than anyone else, was responsible for the early disasters to our armies in Virginia. With 2(M),(MM) of the best equipped, and best drilled volunteer soldiers ever put in the field, he had hesi- tated, through all the pleasant fall w<»ather of IStJl, to attack an army, never exceeding fitMMIO, at his front. He had done this in si>ite of great urgency on the ]mrt of the President to advance. His men were enthusiastic, and eager to fight, but his long delay had a depressing

\

154

HISTORY OF THE KEPLBLICAN PARTY.

effect upon the troops. He finally sent them into winter quarters in tents, on the plea that if they were allowed to build huts, it would disclose to the enemy that they did not expect to commence operations till spring?. Durinjr the time that he was disregarding the President's appeals to advance, he was sending to Washington impertinent letters of advice in regard to politii-al matters and the operations of the armies in other parts of the country.

Still there were many who charged upon the Administration at Washington the responsibility of McClellan's defeats before Rich- mond. The draw^n bat- tle of Antietam was magnified into a great vi<'tory by his friends and admirers, but dur- ing the campaign the fact became generally known that after the battle the President visited McC'lellan in the camp on the Potomac, and vainly urged him to cross the river and give the enemy battle, leaving his tent early in the morning with a friend, Lincoln went to an eminence that over- looked the vast en- campment. "Do you know what that is?" he asked, pointing to the host that was encjniiped below them. "It is the Army of the Poto- ma<*/' was the answer. "That is a mistake," l^incoln said. **It is only McClellan's body guard." While McClellan lay there Stuart, with his cavalry. sw(»pt completely round the army, sacking towns and villages on his march, without losing a man.

While the President was chafing at Mcriellan's delay, McClellan himself occupied a portion of his time in writing letters criticising the Administration. In one of these he said: "The President's late proclamation, and the continuation of Stanton and Halleck in offici*.

GKORGE B. McCM.KLLAN.

THE LIN(T)LN AND JOHNSON CAMPAIGN. 155

render it almost imiKJSsible for iiie to retain my commission and self- respect at tlie same time/' But Ik* neither resipied nor attacked the enemy, and the President removed him. He afterward took credit to himself for not heading a mutiny of his troops, because of his removal. ^'Many were in favor of my refusing; to obey the order/' he wrote, **and of marchinjr upon Washinj^ton to take possession of the Government." He seems to have heard these counsels without rebuke, thouji^h he had not the courage to heed them. Althouji:h all these facts were brought out during the campaign they were not fully known at the time of his removal, which had caused a storm of indig- nation in the Peace Party. "This dismissal," Lord Lyons wrote to his Government, '^caused an irritation not unmixed with consterna- tion and despondency. The General had been regarded as the representative of conservative principles In the Army. Support of him has been made one of the articles of tht*- conservative electoral platform.''

"With reverses in the field, the cause is doubtful at the polls," Raid President Lincoln. **With victory in the field the election will take care of itself," and the tide began to turn at the very time the Peace Convention was in session. Before it adjourned news of the capture of Fort Morgan came. Shortly afterwards intelligence was received of Shennan's victory in the battle of Atlanta and his occupa- tion of that City.

"Sherman and Farragut," Seward said in a sp(»ech at Auburn, **have knocked the planks out of the Chicago platform." A few days afterwards Sheridan commenced his brilliant dash through the Shen- andoah Valley and thrilled the North with the victories at Winchester and Fisher's Hill.

With Farragut in control of Mobile Bay, with Sherman's plan of marching from Atlanta through Georgia already known; with Sheri- dan in full control of the "granary of Lite's army," and with Grant ^•onstantly on the aggressive against Lee, McClellan set about the task of writing his letter of acceptance. He could not well placw himself upon the platform of the party that nominated him. He made a cautious and guarded dissent from portions of that platform, and in opposition to the most important part of it, declared himself in favor of preserving the I'nion by a vigorous prosecution of the war, if i\U the "resources of statesmanship," which should be first employed, should prove inadequate. This declaration angered the men who had l^iven tone to the Chicago Convention, and who expected to control

15(;

HISTORY OF TUE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

the Presidont if <»le(tiMl. Mr. Vallandij^ham fairly represented this element when he said: ''The Chicagro Convention enunciated its platform and principles by authority, and it is bindinf^ on every Democrat, and by it the Democratic Administration must and should be governed. It was the only authorized exposition of the Democratic creed, and all others should be repudiated."

Neither did the declaration attract those conservative Republi- cans whom it was hoped to draw to the support of the ticket, for they recoj:nized th<^ fact that, with his flexible character, McClellan, if

elected, would certain- ly be dominated by the stronger men who con- trolled the Convention. McClellan was practi- cally held to the plat- form throuj^hout the cam])ai^n.

Vallandi^ham liim- s(*lf had as much rea- son as anyone to as- sent to that clause in the platform which de- nounced what were calh^l "arbitrary ar- rests." He was a member of the Thirty- seventh Congress from Ohio. \Vhen set*ession came he opposed coer- cion, and was ceaseless in his endeavors "to restore the Cnion throuj^h peace." Hv was violent in his language, in Congri^ss and out of it. For "publicly expressed sympathy for those ill arms against the government of the I'nited States, and declared disloyal sentiments and o])inions with the object and purpose of weakening the power of the OovcM'nment in its efforts to su])press an unlawful rebellion," uttered in a s])eech at Mount \'< rnon, i)hio. A'allandigham was arrested by order of (leneral Burn- side, in May, lSt»:». tried by a military c(unmission, and sentenced to confinement in Fort Warr(»n, in Boston Harbor. President Lincoln

CLKMKNT L. VALLANDIGHAM.

THE LINCOLN AND JOHNSON CAMPAIGN.

157

modified this sentence, and directed that h(» should be sent through the military lines to the enemy. This action caused ji:reat excitement and indignation among the Democrats, and at a meeting of that party at Albany, over which Erastus Corning presided, this and other acts of the Administration were denounced, in the sev(*rest terms. To these denunciations the President replied in detail, the following being part of his reply: *'One of the resolutions expresses the opinion of the meeting that arbitrary arrests will have the effect to divide and distract those who should be united in suppressing the rebellion; and I am specifically called on to discharge Mr. Vallan- digham. I regard this as at least, a fair appeal to me on the expedi- ency of exercising a Constitutional power which, 1 think exists. In response to such ap- peal I have to say it gave me pain when J learned that Mr. Val landigham had been arrested — that is I was pained that there should have seemed to be a necessity for ar- resting him — and that it will afford me great pleasure to discliarge

him so soon as I can, david g. FARRAcrT.

by any means, believe the public safety will not suffer by it."

That same fall the Ohio Democracy nominated the exile* for Oov- ernor, but he was beaten at the polls by more than ltM),tM)() majority. Mr. Lincoln a])parently judged that this re])udiation of Vallandighau) by the p<M)])le of his own state, had deprived him of his ]>ower to imperil the public safety, and released him. This case, and a number of others, were much discussed by Democratic orators during th(» <am- paign, but without great elTect; for the p«-ople understood well enough that war cannot be conducted without measures that Avould not be admissible in time of peace.

158 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

An interestinjj: episode of this i)eriod, roimn^ between the War Convention at Baltimore and the Peace Convention at Chicago, was (Ireeley's famous peace negotiations with emissaries of the Rebel (rovernment. There were three of these then at Niagara Falls, <Menient C. Clay, of Alabama; Professor Ilolcombe, of Yirginia, and <feorge N. Sanders. Their agent was W. Cornell Jewett, an irresjion- sible and half crazy adventurer. They did not attempt to <ommuni- cate directly with the (lovernment, but opened negotiations with Mr. (Ireeley. The latter had, almost from the beginning of the war, been an officious intermeddler in war and (lOvernuH^ntal affairs. His asso- ciation with Jewett had some elements of the humorous and the ridiculous, and <ould hardly have been expected to provoke any serious results. Yet it led to a long correspondence and to consider- able anxiety among the Republicans as to the immediate political future. It open<*d with a letter from Jewett to Greeley, in which the former said: "I am authorized to state to you, for our use only, not for the jmblic, that two ambassadors of Davis & Co. are now in Canada, with full and complete powers f<ir a p<»ace, and Mr. Sanders requests that you come on immediately to me at the Cataract House to have a private interview. Or, if you will send the President's pro- tection for him and two friends, they will conu* on and meet you. He says the whole matter <-ould be consummated by me, you, them and President Lincoln."

Mr. Greeley enclosed this letter to the President, together with a long letter of his own, deploring the evils of war, and suggesting the following plan of adjustment:

L The Union is restored and declared perpetual.

'2. Slavery is utterly and forever abolished throughout the same.

l\. A complete amnesty for all political offenses, with a restora- tion of all the inhabitants of each State to all the privileges of citizens of the United States.

4. The Union to pay |4(M),(MM),(MM> in five per cent. United States bonds to the late Slave States, loyal and secession alike, to be appor- ti<med, pro rata, according to their slave population respectively by the census of 1800, in compensation for the losses of their loyal citi- zens by the abolition of slavery; each State to be entitled to its quota upon the ratification, by its Legislature, of this adjustment; the bonds to be at the absolute disposal of the Legislature aforesaid.

5. The said Slave States to be entitled henceforth to representa- tion in the House on the basis of their total, inst(»ad of their Federal population, the whole now being free.

IGO HISTORY OF THE KEPUKLKWN PARTY.

The President felt deeply the injustice done to himself, nud the injury done the country by Mr. Oreeley's suppression of essential facts in his intercourse with th<* coniniission(»rs. He therefore asked Mr. Oreeley for permission to publish the whole correspondence, omittinj; only certain passages not necessary to a full understanding of the subject. The most important of these was the following?, in Mr. Greeley's lett<»rof July 7, which the President thought would injure the Union cause on account of th<» despondency which it showed concern- ing the prospects of the country: **l v(»nture to remind you that our bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying country, longs for peace, shudders at the prospect of fresh conscripticms, of further wholesale devasta- tions and of new rivers of human blood. A widespread conviction that the (iovernment and its jirominent sujjporters are not anxious for peacr, and do not improve prolfered opi)ortunities, is doing great harm now, and is morally certain, unless removed, to do far greater in the approaching election."

Mr. (rreeley declined to give his consent to the publication of the corresi)ondence unless these phrases should also be published. The President, accordingly, submitted in silence to the injustice which had been done him, and the full facts were not known until the correspcmd- ence was publish(»d, a year later, in Henry J. Raymond's **Life, Public Services and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln."

This p(»riod was marked by some turmoil in the Cabinet. During the discussion in regard to the correspondence, the President invited Mr. (ireeley to Washington, but (Irei^ley declined to go on the ground that Mr. Lincoln was surrounded by his "bitterest personal enemies." 'I will gladly go," ]w said, "whenever- I feel a hopi» that their influence has waned." This evidently meant that (Jreeley wanted a promise from th(» President that Sec retary Seward should be dismissed from the Cabinet. Hut instead of being dismissed, Mr. Seward was, at that time, probably, the most influcmtial member of that body. The first change that actually was made in the Cabinet was the acceptance of Mr. Chaser's rc*signation as Secretary of the Treasury, tendered bcnause he insistcnl on nominating a candidate of his own as Assistant Treasurer in New York. The other change in th(» Cabinet was th** removal ol Postmaster (JcMicral Plair, in compliance* with the demand of the* Paltimorc* i>lalform and the* pressure of prominent Republicans. Mr. Blair was loyal to PresidcMit Lincoln, and his support of the Eman- cijiation Proclamation was uncMjuivocal; but he was an acrimonious

THE LINCOLN ANJ) JOHNSON TAMPA ION.

101

i-ritic and liad a jjjreal faculty for inakiiij» enemies. TIh^ President was relnetant to remove him, and at one time said: **I propose con- tinuing to be myself the judge as to wlien a member of the Cabinet sliall be dismissed;" but alonjj: in September the letters asking the dismissal came lik(» an avalanche. Among others, Henry AVilson wrote: "Everyone hates Blair. Tens of thousandsof men will be lost to you or will give a reluctant vote on account of the Hlairs." At last Lincoln yielded. Ulair accepted his dismissal gracefully, and gave Mr. Lincoln his most earnest supjiort in the campaign.

The September and Octol>er elections set- tled beyond question, the result of the Presi- d e n t i a 1 contest. In Se[>tember Maine and Vermont gave largely increased Rejiublican majorities. In October Pennsylvania changed her representation in Congress from twelve to twelve in the Thirty- eighth to fifteen Re- publicans and n i n (» Democrats in the Thir- ty-ninth. Indiana passed through one of the most exciting cam- paigns in its history, in which (fOV(n*nor Mor- ton made a magnificent <anvass, aid<*d by pnmiinent Iiei)ublicans from all parts of the <-ountry. He was re-elected by over :ii),(MM) majority. Ohio, which had sent fourteen Democrats and five Uepubli<ans to Congress in lSt)*J, now chose seventeen Republicans to two Democrats, and the Cnion ticket had a majority of 54,754. Maryland gave great satis- faction to the <»ntire North by adojiting a n<*w Constitution abolish- ing slavery.

The tide from this until tlu» November (election was r(»sistless. In that election McCieilan carried the three States of New Jersey,

OMVER p. MORTON.

162 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Delaware and Kentiirky, with twentv-one ele<-toral votes, while Lincoln received the votes of all the New Enj^land States, of New York and Pennsylvania, West \'irginia, ^laryland, Tennessee, I^uisi- ana and Arkansas, and of the new Btate of Nevada, which was, on the 81st of October admitted to the Union. Their electoral vote, as finally counted, was 212. The ])0|>ular vote was:

Lincoln and eJohnson 2,216,067

Mcdellan and Pendleton 1,808,725

Republican majority 407,342

The claim had been occasionally made that the Democrats con- tribut<*d more soldiers to the Union armies than the Republicans. If this had been so the vot(» of the soldiers in the field ought to have been larger for McUh^llan, the "idol of th(» soldiers" than that for Lincoln. The result was very ditTerent from that. Fourteen of the states bad authorized, their soldiers to vot(* in the fi(»ld, those of New York sending home their ballots sealed to be cast by their next friends. The vote of the Minnesota soldiers did not reach her State canvassers in time to be counted, and were probably destroyed unopened. So with part of the Vermont soldiers' vote. Of the states whose soldiers voted so that their ballots can be distinguished, the army vote was returned as follows, and Lincoln's majority was 85,46*^:

States. Lincoln. McClellan.

Maine 4,174 741

New Hampshire 2,0G() 690

Vermont 245 49

Pennsylvania 26,712 12,459

Marvland 1,800 321

Kentucky 1,194 2,823

Ohio. ..." 41,146 9J57

Michigan 9,402 2,959

Iowa 15,170 1,364

Wisconsin 11,372 2,458

Kansas 2,8(>7 543

Ualifornia 2,600 237

Total 119,754 34,291

One of the most gratifying results of the election was the defeat for re-election as (lovernor of New York, of Horatio Seymour, who^

164 HISTORY OP THE REPUBLICAN PAx^x ^

elei'tion was a niH'essity. We cannot have free frovernnient without elections; and if the rebellion could for<*e us to forejjo or postpone a National election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife of the election is but human nature, prac- tically applied to the facts of the caise. What has o<'curred in this case must ever recur in similar (-ases. Human nature will not change. In any future great National trial, compareil with the men of this, we will have men as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as gocwl. I^t us, tlu»refore, study the in<-idents of this as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wr<mgs to be avenged.

"But the election, along with its imidcntal and undesirable strife, has done good, too. It has demonstrattMl that a |NM»ple's (lovernment can sustain a National election in the midst of a great civil war. I'ntil now, it has not btHMi known to the world that this was a possi- bility. It shows, also, how sound and how strong we still are. It shows that even among the candidates of the sanu» party, he who is most devoted to the I'nion, and most oppose<i to treason, can re<-eive most of the jK'ople's vott^s. It shows, also, to the extent yet known, that we have more men now than we had when the war began, (iold is g(M)d in its place; but living, brave and patriotic uhmi are better than gold."

Of the various letters of congratulation which Mr. Lincoln received none touched him more than those which <-ame fnmi the Christian churches. His own religious fe4*ling, his sense of reliance u\Hm Providence, had been intensifying for some time, and his responses to these church congratulations give full expressi<m to it.

XIII.

THE TUIKTEENTEl AMENDMENT.

Importaut Events Attending; the (Mose of President Lincoln's Admin- istration— Prominent Members in the House of the Thirty-eighth Congress— The Tliirteenth Amendment Introduced by an Old Democrat — Its F:asy Passage in the Senate — Prolonged Contest <)v(»r the Measure in the House — Being Defeated Its Parlia- mentary Standing Was Preserved by James M. Ashley— The Leading Speakers for and Against It — The President and Secre- tary Seward Use Their Influence In Its Favor— Final Adoption of the Amendment.

The period from Lincoln's second election to his assassination was fraught with more events of great importance than any other five months in the history of the country. It witnessed the final extinc- tion of slavery by the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the final defeat of the rebel armies, the complete collapse of the rebellion, and the first steps toward reconstruction.

In the House of the Thirty -eighth Congress, which occupied a large amount of time in the discussion of the Thirteenth Amndment, a f(»w of the most distinguished members of former Congresses had disappeared, among them K. G. Spaulding and Roscoe Conkling, of New York, and Sj)eaker (Jalusha A. Orow, of IVnnsylvania. To take their places there appeared an unusually large number of new members who afterwards attained National distinction, including James G. Blain<s of Maine; George S. Houtwell, Samuel Hooper and William P. Washburn, of Massachusetts; Thonuis A. Jen<k8, of Rhode Island; Charles O'Neil and (ilenni W. Schofield, of Pennsylvania; John A. J. Creswell and Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland; Robert C. Schen<k, of Ohio; William B. Allison, John A. Kasson and James F. Wilson, of Iowa. Mr. (J row's retirement gave opportunity for the election to tlu» Sp(»akership of Schuyler Colfax, who for many years after this was among the nnist i-onspicuous figures in National poli- tics. A number of the new members nuide their first Congressional

166 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLirAN PARTY.

speeches of any importance during the pendency of the Thirteenth Amendment, which in form was as follows:

Be it Resolved, etc.. That the following Article be proposed to the Ivegislaturt^s of the several states as an Amendment to the Consti- tution of the Ignited States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of said Constitution, namely:

Article XIII.

Section I. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a imnishmeut for crime, wlu^reof the party shall have been duly con- vi<ted, shall exist within the Tnited States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Sec. II. Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation.

It is a striking comment on the changes which the war had brought in individual and party politics, that this Amendment should be introduced in the Senate, not by one of the old Abolition or Free Soil Senators, but by an old Douglas Democrat from a Slave State. Oen. John R. Henderson had been appointed a Senator from Missouri in January, 1S62, after Trusten Polk was expelled for joining in the Secession movement. He was a Douglas Democrat up to the close of the campaign of ISCJO, but when the Secession movement began to take form, he became one of the most active Unionists in the State, and was of great service in frustrating the schemes of the Secession- ists. In the Senate he acted with the Republicans, except on what he considered as extreme measures. The Confiscation Act of 1862, for instance, he oppostnl, because it would "cement the Southern mind against us, and driv<* new armies of excited and deluded men from the border states to espouse the cause of the rebellion," but he earn- estly supported Mr. Lincoln's Compensated Emancipation policy, and labor<*d strenuously to secure the i)assage of the Missouri Compensa- tion Hill. With the failure of half way measures his Anti-Slavery sentiments grew, and he finally became a fit leader in the Senate of the movement for securing the complete abolition of slavery.

The Amendment had an easy road in that body. After its intro- duction it took the usual course of reference to the Judiciary Commit- tee, whi<h reported it favorably, and it passed by a vote of 38 to 6, as follows:

Yeas — Fessenden and Morrill, of Maine; Clark and Hale, of New Hampshire: Sumner and ^Vilsolu of Massachusetts; Anthony and Sprague, of Rhode Island; Dixon and Foster, of Connecticut; Colla- mer and Foot, of Vermont; Harris and Morgan, of New Y^'ork; Ten

1()S

HISTOKY OF THE KEPUBLirAN PARTY.

the r^iiion could not be preserved without it. \Yheu the vote on the Amendment was announced, Saulsbury said: "I bid farewell to all hope of reconstruction of the t'nion." Hendricks, of Indiana, opposed the Amendment and objected to anv interference with slavery, because the eleven stat(»s in n^bellion wer<» not represented in Congress. McDoujjall succeeded in the Senate, William M. (rwin, the rabid Seces- sion leader of California. He entered the Senate as a \Yar Democrat, but soon fell ba( k into the ranks of the regular conservative Democ- racy. The only really rami)ant Southern sympathizer among the six

n a y s was Garrett Davis, an old Ken- tucky \Yhig. When the bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia was before Congress in 1862, he wanted it amended so as to [)rovide for coloni- zation beyond the lim- its of the United States, on the ground that the residence of liberated slaves among the whites wcmid result in a war of races. When (ien. Henderson's reso- lution was introduced he moved an irrelevant amendment, excluding a 1 I descendants of negroes, on the mater- nal side, from all places of ofhce and trust under the Oovernment of the I'nited States. His hostility to the strimgest Anti-Slavery section of the country was so great that he proposed a consolidation of the six New England States into two States, to be called East New England and Wc^st New England. He was erne of the extremest, as he was one- of the last, of the irrec oncilables.

The* amc»ndnic*nt did not (are so well in the House. It was intro duccHl hcMc\ Deccmhci 14, IMI.J, by James M. Ashley, of Ohio, who afterwaids became famous as the prime mover in the effort to

JAMKS M. ASHLEY.

THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT. 169

iiiil>oach President Johnson. Ashley was as ardent an Anti-Slavery man as that other famous Ohioan, Joshna R. OiddinKS had been before him. He was a forcible speaker, supported his resolution with great earnestness, and was persistent in its advocacy, although it was evident that the House was not favorable to its adoption. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee and there remained in repose. A se<()nd resolution of like purport was introduced by Isaac N. Arnold, of Illinois. Mr. Holnuin, of Indiana, who had already earned the title of the great objector, had objected to the second reading of Mr. Ashley's resolution, but was overruled. He now took another form of obstruction, and moved to lay Mr. Arnold-:^ resolution on the table. This was negatived by a vote of 79 to 58. As it requires a two-thirds vote to adopt a Constitutional Amend- ment, this vote was not encouraging, and the resolution was not further pressed.

When the Senate resolution reached tlu* House its reception was even more discouraging. Mr. Holman objected to its sec<md reading, but was overruled, and the measun* remained before the House for consideration. The first test vote showed 76 members in favor of the measure, while it would take 110 to pass it. In the discussion which followed the principal speakers in the opposition W(»re Fernando Wood, Samuel J. Randall, (leorge H. Pendleton and Robert Mallory. The latter, a Kentucky Whig, not only opposed this measure, but insisted that the Emancipation Pro<lamation did not represent Presi- dent Lincoln's best judgment, but was forced up<m him by the War tfovernors who had met in Altoona in 1862. Fernando Wood was naturally hostile to this measure. He represented the New York City Democracy, and cultivated tlie favor of the mob, who had been educated into hostility to nearly everything that was favored by the Cnion side, during the war. Randall, who afterwards became one of the most broad-minded of the Demo< rats in the House, entertained the fears that possessed many of the young men at that time, that the abolition of slavery was the forerunner of all sorts of usurpations. Pendleton took the ground that, as then constituted, the Union had no power to abolish slavery.

The jirincipal sp(»akers in favor of the amendment were Daniel Morris, of New York; E. C. Ingersoll, of Illinois, and CJeorge S. Rout- well, of Massachusetts. It seems (extraordinary that the older members- of the Hous(» should hav(* Mt the consideration of this JDiportant measure entir<»ly to new nu^i. The hopelessness of the

170 HI8TORY OF THE KEl'UBLU AN PARTY.

ease may have been one reason. At any rate the sluggishness of the debate, on this occasion, was in marked contrast to its earnest- ness, when the subject again <ame up in the same House, a year later.

The vote, when taken, gave JKi yeas to 04 nays, 106 votes l>eing required to pass it. Mr. Ashley, who kept careful watch of the measure at every stage, and who had voted no for that purpose, moved to reconsider and thus preserved the parliamentary status of the measure. He also announced that when Congress met again, in December, 1804, he should press the resolution, and expected that it would be adopted.

President Lincoln earnestly desired the ado]>tion of this Amend ment. He thought it essential to the safe reconstruction and j>eriH^- tuity of the I'nion, and he found in it also a vindication of his judgment in issuing the Fhuancipation Proclamation. He person- ally urged his views upon Members of Congress who were friendly to him, and in liis annual message to Congress, December 6, 1864, he said:

**At the last session of Congress, a propos(Mi Amendment of the Constitution, abolishing slavery throughout the Cnited States, passed the Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vot<* in the House of Representatives. Although the i)resent is the same Congress, and nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or ])at riot ism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to ncommeud the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session. Of course the abstract question is not changed, but an intervening election shows almost certainly that the next Congress will pass the measure, if tliis does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the proposed Amendment will go to the states for their action, and as it is to go at all events. n:ay \\e not agree that the sooner the better? It is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on members to change their views or their votes any further than as an additional element to be < onsid<*red. Tlieir judgment may be affected by it. It is the voice of the peoj)le, now, for the tirst time, heard on the ojiestion. In a great National crisis, like ours, unanimity of action among those seeking a (ommon (*nd is very desirable, almost indispensable; and yet no apjiroach to such unanimity is attainable unless some def(»rence sliall be paid to the will of the majority. In this case the <ommon end is the maintenance of the Union, and

TEIE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT. 171

among the moans to secure that end, such will, through the election, is most clearly declared in favor of such Constitutional Amend- ment/'

Mr. Seward had added his influence to that of the President in behalf of a measure which he considered **worth an army."

AVith this new supjmrt for the resolution Mr. Ashley called it up on the Gth of January, 18()5. He opened the debate with a forcible speech, but aft<^r that confined his efforts mostly to [personal work among the members, laboring chiefly with the Democrats. When this Congress was first ele<ted it consisted of 103 Republicans and 8^* Democrats, and but few changes had been made after that, so that the Republicans alone could not carry any measure requiring a two thirds vote. The task of securing the necessary number of Demo crats, by any amount of persuasion, would have been hopeless a year earlier, but circumstances had changed greatly in twelve months. The end of the rebellion was a])parently near, for one thing, and there were a few Northern Democrats in the House who had always bt»en in favor of [)utting down the rebellion, who did not agree with the Republicans on the slavery question, but who did now recognize the fact that the passage of this Amendment would strike the dead- liest blow to the Southern cause. The utterances of the most vio- lent South(-rn leaders aided in promoting this view. Jefferson Davis wrote to (lovernor Vance, of North Carolina, a few months before: '*\Ve are not fighting for slavery, w<» are fighting for independence; and that, or extermination, we will have." The natural inferenci* was that if the South was not fighting for slavery there was no reason why the North should continue it in order to pa<ify the South. The whole attitude of the Secession leaders was such as to finally con- vince observing Northern men that further compromises and concessions on the slavery question were useless. That was no longer the main question in issue. The first Democrats to speak in favor of the Amendment were Odell, of New York, and Yeaman, of Kentucky. In order to rally the Democrats against it, Mr. Pendle- ton, the leader of the minority, spoke, three days later. He put the issue squarely, not on the wisdom or expediency of the Amendment, but on the ]K)wer to amend, which he denied. He held that the power to amend was limited in two ways: (1) by the letter; (2) by the sjurit, scoi)e and intent of the Constitution. It was a question of compact. One State, the smallest, Rhode Island, could of right resist such an Amendment by force.

172 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

This extreme ground called out a number of long and some- times tedious arguments from young Republicans who were making their tirst stand for a reputation, but the tediousness of the debate was relieved by the diversions of S. S. Cox, of Ohio. Mr. Cox was really a fine Constitutional lawyer, but he often chose to take the role of the gad-fly, and he had a particular fancy for stinging men who assumed leadership. One of his first utterances on this question was: "The party to which I belong loves the Union as dearly as the South loves slavery. If they can let slavery go for independence, tlu* Democracy can let it go for the sake of the Union." Mr. Cox's logical action after su<h an utterance would have been to vote for the Amendment, though he did not. His adroit way of stating the case at issue, and at the same time of enlivening the debate, and of stirring uj) his oj)j)onents was illus- trated by this passage in one of his speeches: '*It was with some amusement that I listened to my two colleagues (Messrs. Pendleton and Ashley) yesterday. How adroitly the Democratic member sought to catch the Republican. How he j)lied him to admit the power to establish slavery I How shrewdly my colleague on the other side evaded I On the other hand, members on the other side sought to entangle my colleague (Mr. Pendleton) with some of his former votes I How both evaded the issues presented in their former positions I While the humbler member, who now addresses you, sat complacently consistent amid the melodramatic perform- ance, ready to admit the power to change the fundamental law is unlimited, under the guards and modes prescribed, even to the estab- lishment of slavery or a monarchy, of entiin^* freedom or entire democracy. Both of my friends deny this as extreme and heterodox; the one because he would have nothing but limited republicanism as the form of (iovernment — that is my Democratic colleague; the other IxMausi* he would have nothing but sweeping democracy as the basis of our Constitution — that is my Republican colleague, who is so deniocratic. The wishes of each color their present arguments as to the power. Wlu^n slavery is t^o !><» guaranteed, my colleague from Cincinnati believes, with me, in the power to amend, and my colleague from Toledo denies it. When it is to be abolished, my colleague from Toledo believes, with iiie, in the power to amend, and my colleague from Cincinnati denies it. Roth deny the power when slavcM-y is to be atTcM-ted, and both admit ii when slavery is not to be atTcMtcMl. I have them both on eithc*r side*, and (*ach cm both sides, and both with me.''

THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT. 173

The power to amend was the question upon which the Constitu- tional part of the debate finally turned, and this had been first brouj;ht in issue, in the broadest terms, by Mr. Cox, two days before Mr. Pendleton made his argument. Mr. Cox had then said: "I earry the Democratic doctrine to such an extent that I maintain, that the people speaking through three-fourths of the States, in pur- 8uan<e of the mode prescribed by the Constitution, have the right to amend it in every particular, except the two specified in that instrument; that this includes the right to erect a monarchy; to make, if you please, the King of Dahomey our King.*' He pointed out that this power over the Constitution was conceded by Madison and by Calhoun, and that it was the power invoked by the Peace Confer- ence of 18(51, and by the Crittenden Compromise.

Mr. Bout well argued that the power to amend was limited only by the preamble, while Mr. Thayer, of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Dawes, of Massachusetts, agreed that there were absolutely no limitations; that three-fourths of the States could alter the preamble, as well as any other part of the instrument.

When the debate was over, there was very little left of the theory advancc^d by Mr. Pendleton. The only question remaining was whether there were enough Democrats who would follow their real convictions to give the necessary two-thirds. The time of voting was fixed at 4 p. m. January 31, and in anticipation of the event, there was great excitement on the floor, and in the galleries, which were filled. Most of the members kept tally on the vote, which had a few disappointments. Eight Democrats were absent, and as they were all unpaired, the inference was that they were unwilling to vote against the amendment, and not quite ready to vote for it. Mr. Cox gave the House a surprise and the friends of the measure a disappointment. He had a speech prepared explaining his vote in favor of the measure, and then voted against it. The explanation, afterwards given, was that he learned, after he reached the floor of the House, that the Peace Commissioners were on their way to Washington, and he thought that the Amendment would prove an obstacle to peace and union. The following Democrats, fourteen in number, voted for it: James E. English, of Connecticut; Anson Herrick, William Radford, Homer A. Nelson, John H. Steele and John Ganson, of New York; Joseph Bailey, A. H. Caffroth and Archi- bald McAllister, of Pennsylvania; Wells A. Hutchins, of Ohio; Augustus C. Baldwin, of Michigan; J. S. ]{ollins and King, of Mis souri, and Wheeler, of Wisconsin.

174 HISTORY OF THE RErUHLICAN PARTY.

The Anieiidiiieiit was adojitcd, IIJ) yeas to 56 nays, seven more tlian the necessary two-thirds. There was jj:reat applause in the galleries, and many congratulations on the floor. When order was restored Mr. Ingersoll, of Illinois, said: "Mr. Speaker, in honor of this inmiortal and sublinu^ event, I ui.ove that the House do now adjourn.'' So far as Congress was ((meerned, the final act for obliterating the instituticm which had been the cause of ccmtention for four score years, was consummated.

Other measures at this session of Congress may be briefly men- tioned. Early in the session E. H. Washburne, of Illinois, intro- duced a bill to revive the rank of Lieutenant Oeneral. Mr. Washburne was a resident of the same town as (jSeneral Grant, was instrumental in securing his tirst appointment in the army, and it was considered certain that the passage of this bill meant the appointment of (Jeneral Orant to the positicm. it was strongly opposed by Uenerals Schenck and (Jarlield, but was adopted.

The bill establishing the Freedmen's Bureau was one of the measures that belong to the latter part of this session. The House also passed a bill rejiealing so much of the Confiscation Act, passtHl July 17, 1H)2, Jis i>rohibited the forfeiture of the real estate of rebels beyond their natural lives. The Senate failed to take similar action, and the law reujained unchanged. It ceased to be a matter of any imiuutance before the next Congress met.

A further reminder of the changes that a few years had wrought came in the death of (Miief Justice Taney, of the Supreme Court, and the appointment in his place, of Salmon 1». (Miase, ex-Secretary of the Treasury. One of the most extreme upholders of th<» right of slave- holding had given place to one of the earliest Anti-Slaverv leaders.

176 HISTORY OF THE REPrBLICAN PARTY.

be had with a recognition of the Confederacy. In negotiations and correspondence which followed, there was constant fencing on this jioint. Tluis, in January, Francis P. Hlair went to Ri<-hniond to induce Jefferson Davis to send, or receive, commissioners to treat for pea<e. He returned to Washington January 16, bringing with him a written assuranie, addressed to himself, from Jet!Vrson Davis, of his willingness to enter into negotiations for pea<*e, to re<-eive a I'oniniis- sioner whenever one sliould be sent, and of his readiness to appoint sucli a commissioner, minister, or other agent, and thus "render the effort to enter into a conference, with a view to secure peace between the two countries." Mr. Hlair prcstmted this letter to President Lin<*oln, who at once authorized him to return to Richmond, carrying with him his written assurance that he had constantly bet^n, was then, and should continue to be, "ready to receive any agent whom Mr. Davis, or any other person now resisting tlie national authority, may informally send uu\ with a view of securing pc^ace to the |)eople of our ccmimon Country."

Xotwitlistanding this emphasized difference on the essential point, Mr. Davis appointed as ]><»ace commissioners Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter and J. A. Campbell, who jUHuet^ded to Fortress Monroe, whcMe Secretary Seward met them, under instruc- tions to insist upim three things as indispensable (D The restoration of the national authority throughout all the* states, (2) No receding from the position of the National Executive cm the subject of slavery, ill) No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war and the dis- banding of the forces hostile to the (lovernment. Tpon this basis Mr. Seward was to hear what the Conunissioners had to say, and report to the President, but he was to consummate nothing. Witli this as a starting point, negotiations continued for several days, the President himself visiting Fortress Monroe at one time to take part in them. They were of no use, excej>t as showing to the people of the North that President Lincoln, while ready for peace, was not ready to yield any of the principles for which the North had contended and to show them also that the Southern leaders were still bitter and implacable. After the Commissioners returned to Richmond a great meeting was held in that City, which was addressed by (Governor Smith of Virginia and by Jef!*erscm Davis, who said: "In my conv- spondence with Mr. IJncoIn, that functionary has always sjioken of the Cuited States and the ConfechMacy as *our aftiicted Country,' but in my re])lies I have never failcMl to refer to them as separate and dis-

THE END OF THE WAR. 177

tinct Cioveriiiiioiits; and sooium* than we should ever be united again^ I would be willing to yield up everything I have on earth, and, if it were possible, would sacrifice my life a thousand times before I would succumb/' He conclud<»d by exhorting those at lionie, who were able to bear arms **to unite with those already in the army in repelling the foe; beli(*ving that thereby we would compel the Yankees, in less than twelve months, to petition for peace upon our own terms."

This meeting unanimously resolved "that we, the citizens here assembled do spurn, with the indignation due to so gross an insult, the terms on whi<h the l^resident of th<» I'nited States has offered peace to the people of the (\)nf(Mlerat<» States,'' and " That the circum- stances, under which that ]>roffer was made, add to the outrage, and stamp it as a designed and premeditated indignity to our people.''

A "War Meeting'' was held in Richmond, three days afterw^ards, at which several addresses were made, and resolutions were adopted, among them one "that the* events which have oc<*urred during th»? ju'ogress of the war have but confirmed our original determination to strike for our indei)endence; and that, with the blessing of God, we will never lay down our arms until it shall have been won;'' and this was received with wild and long continued cheering. The people were as infatuated as tluMr leaders were bitter. The story of these negotiations may, v(My api>ropriately, be followed by the closing words of President Lincoln's second inaugural, wliich came three weeks later, and which arc* in such striking contrast to the bitterness of the Rebel leaders: "With nuili<e toward ncme, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as (lod gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow^ and his orphan, to do all whi<h may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

From some developments that have since been made, it is believed that the confident tone which the Rebels assumed, during and aft(»r the negotiations mentioned, was based upon the existence of a conspiracy among the Democratic generals of the I'nion Arniy to suj)- plant the civil by the military i)ower. That such a conspiracy existed has often b<»en asserted, and it has even been said that the conspira- tors made overtnres to (J(»neral (irant with a view to making him Dictator. If such overtures were made the "Silent Captain" never told of them, and he certain 1\ never showcnl signs of anything except unwav(*ring loyalty to the Country and the Commander-in-Chief. That

178

HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

such a tonspirai y ever existed, except in the brains of a few vision- aries, is not at all probable. That some of tlie Rebel leaders believed it to exist is quite certain.

Tj>on whatever basis (he Rebels placed their illusive hopes and defiant language in February, they were rapidly undeceived after the middle of March. On the nineteenth of that month Sherman, who had marched from Oeorgia into North Carolina, effected a union with General Terry's forces, thus present inj» a front to (Jeneral Johnston, which not only prevented that officer from reinforcinj? Lee, but which

put his entire com- mand in peril. On the twenty-fifth General Lee took Fort Sted- man by surprise, but a few hours afterwards was driven out with .ureat loss. On the first of Aiiril (Jeneral Sher- idan ro\ited the enemy at Five Forks with a loss to them of nearly six thousand prisoners, besides the killed and wounded. On the sec- ond of April our forces pushed the enemy with success, almost all ahmg the line, and that night Lee abandoned both Petersburg and PHILIP ir. SHERIDAN. Richmond, which were

occupied by our troops the next day. A week later, April 9, I^ee sur- rendered.

The President had been either with or near the Army during the first jiart of these stirring events. He entered Richmond the day after it was evacuated by tlu* Rebels, being rowed from a man-of-war to a landing about a mile below the City and th<*nce, accompanied by his young son and Admiral Porter, went to the City in a boat. The \n\viy th(Mj walked up th(» street toward G(»n(»ral Weitzel's headquar- t(*rs accompanied only by the sailors who had rowed him up. His

THE END OF THE VVAK.

179

coDiinji: was uiianuouiued, but news of bis arrival spread rapidly, and from all sides the colored peoi)le ranie running together. A maga- zine writer of the time thus described the scene:

"They gathered around the Presid<*nt, ran ahead, gathered upon the flanks of the little company, and hung like a dark cloud upon the rear. Men came from all the by-streets, running in breathless haste, shouting and hallooing and dancing with delight. The men threw up their hats, the women waved their bonnets and handkerchiefs, clapped their hands, and sang, '(ilory to (lodl Olory! Glory I' render- ing all the praise to God who had heard their wai lings in the past, their moanings for wives, husbands, children and friends sold out of their sight; had given them free- dom, and after long years of waiting, had [iermitted them, thus unexpectedly, to behold the face of their great benefactor. *I thank you, dear Jesus, that 1 behold President Lin- kum,' was the exclama- tion of a woman who stood upon the thresh- o 1 d of her humble home, and with stream- ing eyes and clasped hands gave thanks aloud to the Savior of Men.

"Another, more demonstrative in her joy, was jumping and striking her hands with all her might, crying, *Hless de Lord; Bless de Lord I Bless de Lord I' as if there could be no end to her thanks- giving. The air rang with a tumultuous chorus of voices. The streets became almost impassable on account of the increasing multi- tude, till soldiers were summoned to clear the way.

"The walk was long and the President halted a moment to rest. 'May de good Lord bless you, President Linkum,' said an old negro.

WILLIAM T. SHERMAN.

180 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLICAN PARTY.

removing? bis liat and bowing, with tears of joy rolling down his clH^eks. The President removed his own hat and bowed in silence; but it was a bow which upset the forms, laws, customs and cere- monies of centuries. It was a death shock to chivalry, and a mortal wound to caste/'

The President returned to Washington on the 9th and for the next four days was occupied with measures of relief from the burdens of the war, rendered jiossible by its rapidly approaching end. The days from the 24th of March till the 14th of April, were probably the hapi)iest of his life. He had passed through days and months of anxiety and d<»pr(»ssion, when the T^nion armies were suffering defeat, when the political skies at the North were dark, and when he was himself misunderslood and traduced. Now the Union armies were on the high tide of victory, the political atmosphere was clear, and he had frequent evidence that he himself stood higher in popular favor than ever before. The great task of his life had been accomplished, and he was already planning for the government and restoration to prosperity of that portion of the country which was about to be restored to peace; plans with the carrying out of which he was to have nothing to do.

The story of his assassination at Ford's Theater on the evening of April 14; of the universal expression of sorrow and grief through- out the North; of the long journey made by the funeral tr«ain; of the demonstrations of respect and sorrow in every Town and City along the route; and of the inrpressive ceremonies and the interment at his old home in Siiringfield, which he had not visited since he left it, four years earlier — the story of all these is too long and too familiar to the public to warrant repetition here.

The surrender of Lee had not quite finished the war, for General Jolinston was still at the head of a large and well equipped army in North Carolina, which might be reinforced fnmi other parts of the Confederacy. Johnston, however, evidently knew^ that it was merely a question of time when he must surrender, and he opened corre- spondence with (leneral Sherman with a view to a suspension of hos- tilities, (ieneral Sheiinan replied that he was fully empow^ered to negotiate, on the same terms as those under which Lee surrendered to Grant. This was not satisfactory to Johnston, and subsequently he had two interviews with Sherman, in which he overpersuaded the latter to sign Ihe following remarkable ^'Memorandum or Basis of

THE END OF THE WAR. 181

Agreement," which Shernian afterwards acknowledged he had no power to guarantee:

1. The contending armies now in the field to maintain the status quo, until notice is given by the rommanding Oeneral of any one to his opponent, and reasonable time, say forty-eight hours, allowed.

2. The Confederate armies, now in existence, to be disbanded and conducted to their several State Capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State Arsenal; and each of!i<*er and man to execute and file an agreement to cease from acts of war, and to abide the action of both State and Federal authorities. The number of arms and of munitions of war to be reported to the Chief of Ordnance, at Washington City, subject to the future action of the Congress of the United States; and in the meantime to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the states respec- tively.

3. The recognition, by the Executive of the Cnited States, of the several State Governments, on their otticers and Legislatures taking the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the Cnited States; and where conflicting State (iovernments have resulted from the war, the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.

4. The re-establishment of sail Federal Courts in the several states, with powers as defined by the Constitution and the Laws of Congress.

5. The people and inhabitants of all states to be guaranteed, so far as the Executive can, their political rights and franchises, as well as their rights of person and property', as defined by the Constitution of the I'nited States, and of the states representatively.

6. The Executive authority or (iovernment of the United States not to disturb any of the people, by reason of the late war, so long as they live in peace and quiet, and abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey the laws in existence at the place of their residence.

7. In general t( rms, it is announced that the war is to cease; a general amnesty, so far as the Executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the distribution of arms and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by officers and men hitherto composing said armies. Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfill these terms, we indi- vidually and oflBcially pledge ourselves to i)romptly obtain authority, and will endeavor to carry out the above programme.

In making these terms General Sherman utterly misapprehended the sentiment of peoi)le at the North. They had thought the terms granted to I^e too generous, and those were granted b<»fore the assas- Hination of President Lincoln. The suggestion of these much more liberal terms, coming after that atrocious crime, was intolerable. In

18l> history of the kept lU.ICAN I'ARTY.

iU'cordaiKe with this sentiment tlie new President and Cabinet, with the hearty concurrence of General Grant, repudiated the agreement for the following reasons:

1. It was an exercise of authority not vestecl in (Jeneral Sher- man, and, on its face, shows that both he and Johnston knew that General Sherman had no authority to enter into any such arrange- ments.

2. It was a practical ac knowledgment of the Rebel Government.

3. It undertook to re-establish Rebel State (iovernments that had been overthrown at the sacrifice of many thousand loyal lives and immense treasure, and phiced arms and munitions of war in the hands of Rebels at their respective capitals, which might be used so soon as the armies of the I'nited States were disbanded, and used to conquer and subdue loyal states.

4. By the restoration of Rebel authority in their re8i>ective states, they would be enabled to re-establish slavery.

5. It might furnish a ground of responsibility on the part of the Federal Government to pay the Rebel debt, and certainly subjects loyal citizens of Rebel States to debts contracted by Rebels in the name of the State.

6. It puts in dispute the existence of loyal State Governments, and the new State of W<*st Virginia, which had been recognized by every Department of the I'nited Stati s Government.

7. It practically abolished confiscation laws, and relieved the Rebels of every degree, who had slaughtered our people, from all pains and penalties for their crimes.

8. It gave terms that had been deliberately, repeatedly and sol- emnly, rejected by President Lincoln, and better terms than the Rebels had ever asked in their most prosperous condition.

9. It formed no basis of true and lasting peace, but relieved Rebels from the presence of our victorious armies, and left them in a condition to renew their efforts to overthrow the I'nited States Gov- ernment and subdue the loyal states, whenever their strength was recruited and any opportunity should offer.

General Grant was sent immediately to Raleigh to announce the rejection of the Shernum- Johnston arrangement and to direct the immediate and general resumption of hostilities. Subordinate gen- erals were ordered to be ready to resume hostilities at noon on the 26th. But Johnston, finding himself now in firm hands, surrendered on the same terms as Lee did to Grant, the terms being as follows: '*Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate; one copy to be given to an officer designated by each of the Commanding Generals; the officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the (lovernment of the United States until properly

THE END OF THE WAR. 183

exchanged; and each eouipan.v or ro^iuu^ntal connuander to sign a like parole for the men of their connnands; the arms, artillery, and public property to be pa<*ked and stacked, and turned over to United States officers. This will not embrace the side anus of officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to b(» disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroh»s, and the laws in force where they may reside."

There were, after this, a few battles and skirmishes in the remote Southwest, but these were unimportant. As a general thing the small bands of Rebels, still in the field, mustered themselves out, grabbed what property they could lay hands on, and started for home. The surrender of Lee made the colhapse of the Confederacy inevitable. The surrender of Johnston made it c(miplete.

It remained to disband the Union armies. There were in the field according to the muster rolls on the 1st of March, 0()5,5J)1 men, of whom 002,593 were present for duty, and 132,538 on detached service. These men had been accustomed, in the Army, to short periods of fierce action, alternating with long iieriods of comparative idleness. They had lost the habit of steady, <]uiet, labor, and many people were apprehensive that the "turning loos(»'' of so many of them at once, would be destructive of good order, good morals and good government. These apprehensions proved groundh*ss. The Union armies were made up, almost entirely, of j)atriotic citizens, and not of bummers, dead beats or 8<ahiwags. The Western armies were mustered out as fast as the condition of the districts in which they were lo<ated would warrant. The Eastern armies were, as far as practicable, concentrated at Washington for the (Irand Review, which has become historic as the most inspiring parade of volunteer citizen soldiery ever seen, and then they, too, were sent to their homes. There was neither disturbance, nor rioting, nor any increase of offenses against person or property. The vast host faded away into the farms, the workshoi)S and the offices of the country, without a sign of disorder, creating for itself only two reminders of its former existence, the Grand Army of the Republic for the living. Memorial Day for the dead.

XV.

ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS I'OLICY.

Forebodings of the Nortli<*rnois in Ki^jraid to Johnson — His Cam- paign S])etHhes Made An rnfavorabU» Impression — His Threats Toward the South — Talk About Making Treason Odious — Sudden Change of Attitude — Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon — Poor Selections of Provisional Oovernors for the Southern States — Misehievous Kesults of the President's Plan — Southern Stat(»s Ke-<Mmet Slavery in Another Form — They Accept the Thirteenth Amendmc»nt and Then Proceed to Nullify H — Discriminations Against CoiorcHl P(M)pl(» in the Punishment of Offenses — The President's Message* — Committee on Recon- struction— Interesting Debates on th(» Southern Question — Passage of the First Reconstruction Act and Procecnlings Under It — The Fourtec*nth Amendment to the Constitution.

In casting about for some consolation for President Lincoln's untimely taking off, many of tin* religious pc*ople of the class that always understand in advance, the purposes of the Almighty, dis- covered in this tragic event a d(»sign of vengc*ance upon the transgressing South. Lincoln's g(»ntle and forgiving nature*, they said, was not adapted to dc»aling with sutlhient severity with the erring brethren. Providence had ordaincnl that the heavy hand of Johnson should rest ui)on tluMn, instead of the soft hand of Lincoln. It did not take many months to convince them of tlu^ir error, for the new President, though truculent and threatening at first, soon inau- gurated a policy, that if <arried out, would have jjut the Secc^ssion leaders in the saddle again, reduced tin* negroes to prac^tical slavery, and have nullified half the efiects of the war. As it was, he kept the country in a turmoil during his whole four years' term of office, set back the work of orderly and durable reconstruction and hindered progrc^ssivi* Ic^gislation in almost every direction. He was one of the worst mischi(*f makers in the whole history of American politics.

ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS POLICY. 185

The election campaign had not progressed far when the Repub- licans who heard him 8i)eak became convinced that the nomination of Johnson was a mistake. Nearly or quite the first set speech he made after his nomination was in the wigwam, at Indianapolis, during the State canvass in Indiana. It was nearly two hours long, was rambling and disconnected in form, and was full of eulogistic and conceited allusions to himself and his career. The contrast between that and the eloquent, forcible and convincing arguments which the people of that section had been accustomed to hear from the lips of Governor Morton, was painful. His whole stumping tour through the west gave the impression of a narrow, self-satistied man, who had done good service to the country when he was obstinate in the right, but who was equally likely to do great harm, if he should ever become obstinate in the wrong. The hope remained that the recog- nition of the War Democracy on the ticket would bring to it many votes, and that Johnson, on the Vice Presidential shelf would, at least, do no harm. As it turned out the votes were not needed, Johnson did not remain on the Vif-e-Presidential shelf, and he did an infinite amount of mischief.

While the new President was distrusted at the North his ante- cedents, as well as his temper, were such as to peculiarly unfit him for dealing with the inlluential men in the South. He was not only a •*poor white," a class which the Southern aristocracy, who were the real leaders, despised, but he was a lead(*r of that class. He con- stantly boasted of his humble origin, and he had first climbed into political prominence on the votes of men of similar origin. He had posed as the workingman's friend, the champion of the poor against the rich. He was the champion of white labor in the Tennessee /-legislature and in Congress, his arguments tending to antagonize ^lave labor, although he never announced himself as an Anti- ^Slavery man. He advocated the Homestead policy, which was espec- ially obnoxious to the Southern leaders, as tending to break up the territories and the unsettled portions of the states into small land l:ioldings, with independent settlers, instead of putting it into large X^ld^ntations with slaves. In his course in Congress he was undoubt- ^=:»dly sincere, and he was certainly courageous. He was a I'niou ^aian, when to be such incurred the hatred of his own section. At '^ lie time of Secession, he was the only Senator from a seceded State "^ hat remained loyal to the Cnion. His firm and courageous discharge

ISfi HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

of his duty, as Military Govenior of Tennessee, had further intensi- lied the hatred aijainst him in the South.

The Southern leaders niii^lit jierhaps have co-operated with such a Southern Kepublican as Henry Winter Davis or Horace Maynard, or Francis P. Blair, in the effort to formulate a reasonable and safe plan of reconstruction, but not with Andrew Johnson. He might, perhaps, when backed by the power of his new position, have over- come this disadvantage, if he had possessed an even temper, tact and jj^ood judgment. He possessed neither. He might have avoided most of his numerous mistakes, if he had taken the course that would luwe suggested itself to any jirudent man, called Congress together in extra sessi(m, conferred with its leaders, and let that body take the initiative. He was too conceited for that.

There had been nothing in his recent utterances that could lead the Southerners to expect clemency at his hands. He protested to President Lincoln against what he called the too easy terms of sur- render accorded by (Jrant to Lee. Before Mr. Lincoln's remains had left th(* White House, he announced that his policy was not to be one of mercy. In a speecli to a delegation of distinguished citizens of Hlinois, on the lS(h of A[)ril, he announced that Lincoln's policy would be his policy, but afterwards struck out that jiortion of his speech from the stenographer's notes. It did not agree with the sentiments in other parts of the address, nor with what he, at the time, felt. In anolher part of his address to these Illinois visitors he said: *'When the (|uestion of exercising mercy comes before me it will be considered calmly, judicially, remembering that I am the Executive of the Nation. I know men love to have their namjes spoken in connection with acts of mercy, and how easy it is to yield to that impulse. But we must never forget that what may be mercy to the individual is cruelty to the State."

His first public si)eech after he became President showed a sin- gular want of tact. He gave no exj)ression of grief or praise for the dead President, beyond the declaration that he was "almost over- whelmed by the announcem(»nt of the sad event which has so recently occurred." But he had much to say about himself, and his career. This was always a ready and temptijig topic to him. "Toil, and an honest advocacy of tin* great princi[)les of Free (iovernment have been my lot,"' he said. "The duties have been mine, the consequences (iod's." And this led Senator John P. Hale to remark: "Johnson

ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS POLICY. 187

seemed willing to share the glory of his ac-hieven)ents with his Cre- ator, but utterly forgot that Mr. Lincoln had any share of credit for the suppression of the Rebellion." Johnson's remark, and Hale's comment on it, were enough to make the new^ President an object of ridicule at the start. In this same speech he had some further remarks about himself, his humble origin, etc., but very little to say about the country, and nothing that was at all conclusive on the subject that w^as uppermost in men's minds, the reconstruction of the Seceded Slates.

For the next few days his utteran<;es, though savage enough to buit the most implacable Rebel-hater, gave nothing definite as to his plan of reconstruction. He had much to say about making "treason odious,'- but nothing about how to make life in the Southern States safe, nor about re-establishing loyal Governments in states that were still under the control of their old Rebel Legislatures, or under no control at all. Members of the Christian Commission called upon him in the (!'apitol, while the dead President's remains still reposed in that structure, and in behalf of the Commission the Rev. Dr. Borden, of Albany, expressed the hope that justice might be tempered with mercy. Johnson replied that he proposed "erecting a standard by which everybody should be taught to believe that treason is the highest crime known to the laws, and that the perpetrator should be visited with the punishment which he deserves." "1 have become satisfied that mercy without justice, is a crime, and that when mercy and clemency are exercised by the Executive, it should always be done in view of justice,'' he said to a delegation of loyal Southerners, a day or two later.

To a delegation of Pennsylvanians, headed by Simon Cameron, he exclaimed: '*But 1 say treason is a crime, the very highest crime known to the law, and there are men who ought to suffer the penalty of their treason. To the unconscious, the deceived, the conscripted, in short, to the great mass of the misled, 1 would say, mercy, clem- ency, reconciliation, and the restoration of their Government. But to those who have deceived, to the conscious, intelligent, influential traitor, who attempted to destroy the life of « Nation, I would say, on you be inflicted the severest penalties of your crime."

This idea of the "severest penalties" clung to him for some weeks. Senator Ben Wade, of Ohio, was one of the old Anti-Slavery guard, was a rough rider in the Senate, was a good hater, and was never accused of being esp^M'ially tender-hearted on any subject. But

\

18S HISTORY OF THE KEPTBLirAN 1\ax». .

Johnson regarded Wade as being too merciful for his own blood- thirsty nature. After Senator Wade had advised him not to be too severe, Johnson said: "Well, Mr. Wade, what would you do if you were in my place, and charged with n)y responsibilities?'' "I think/' was the answer, *'I should t»ither force into exile or hang about ten or twelve of the worst of those fellows, jM^rhaps by way of full measure 1 should make it thirttMHi, a baker's dozen." **Hut how/' said Johnson, "are you going to pick out so snuill a number, and show them to be guiltier than the rest?"

In all this ferocious talk there was no hint at any plan of restora- tion, but on the 2nth of May he announred the tirst of his reconstruc- tion measures. It was not a rail for the "severest j)unishnient," of the "conscious, intelligent influential traitors," nor for the hanging of any of those "guiltier than the rest." On the ccmtrary it was a general "Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon," with, however, thirt#*en exceptional classes as follows: (1) All diplomatic officers and ior(Mgn agents of the Confederate (lovernment. (2) All who left Judicial stations under the liiited States to aid the Rebellion. \}\) All military and naval ofluers of the ( 'onftnleracy above the rank of Colonel in the Army, and Lieutenant in the Navy. (4) All who left seats in Congress to join the Rebellion. (5) All who resigned, or offered lo resign from the Army or Navy to evade duty in resisting the Rehellion. (ti) All who were engaged in treating, otherwise than as lawful prisoners of war, persons found in the United States service* as offic(»rs, soldiers or seamen. (7) All persons who were, or had been ubsent(H*s, from the United States for the purpose of aiding the Rebellion. (Si All graduates of the Military or Naval Academy. (IM OfTieeis of the states in iiisurrcMtion. (Kh All who passed beyond the FtHleral military lines, for the purpose of aiding the Rebellion. (11) All persons aiding in the destruction of the rommerce of the rnitt»d States on the high seas, lakes and rivers. (12i All {>ersons held in iniliTary, naval or rivil continenumt. (i:^) All persons engaged in tlie Rebellion. th<» estimated value of whose property was over :f20,(MMI.

In th(- last clause tin* President showed his old inclination to play the poor against tli<* rirh. Nothing could possibly have bei*n more unpopular than to put undcM* the ban th(» well-to-do people and men of means, who, if th(\v ehos(\ could be vastly more in the work of reconstruction than the poorer classes, who were largely unedu- cated and uninfluential.

ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS POLICY. 189

This, and the subsequeut steps in the President's plan of restora- tion, are credited to the efforts of Secretary Seward, who, it is said, spei»dily aciiiiired «:reat influence over the President, and who, again desired to **direct affairs for the benefit of the nation in the name of another/' If tliat is so, th(» Secretar^^ was never proud enough of the work to boast of it as his, and Johnson was too proud to acknowl- edge that he got his ideas fi'oni anyone but himself. Whatever the cause, the President abandoned his belligerent attitude, and from this time on a pacific plan was adopted. Wheth(»r Seward originated it or not, he fully coincided with it, and the deplorable results that followed caused him the deepest disa])pointment and liumiliation. After the failure of the plan was definitely established, he expressed to his friends great surprise and chagrin that the South should respond with such shameless ingratitude to the magnanimous tenders of symjjathy and fri(Midship from the National Administra- tion.

The Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon was followed, th<? same day, by the appointment of William W. Holden as Provisional Governor of North Carolina, with authority to restore civil govern- ment in the State. It was made the duty of Governor Holden "at the earliest practicable period, to j)rescribe such rules and regula- tions as may b(» necessary and proper for assembling a Convention of delegates who are loyal to the I'nited States, and no others, for the purpose of altering or amending the Constitution thereof, and with authority to exercise, within tlu^ limits of the State, all the powers necessary and ]u*oper to (»nable the loyal people of the State of North Carolina to restore said State to its Constitutional relations to the FiHleral Government, so as to entitle the State to the guaranty of the X'nited States therefor, and to guard its people against inva- sion, insurrections, and domestic vioh^nce.'' This was giving wide latitude to a single^ individual, with no law of Congress for his guid ance, and with no very definite instructions from the President.

Governor Holden was not a good choice of an official for the deli- cate and responsible* duties of a position of this character. He was a shifty politician, who always aimed to be on the winning side. Before the war he was a Democratic editor at Raleigh, and w«a« an original Secessionist. He was ahead of his State in that matter, for, as early as 1850, he advocated disunion in case of Fremont's election. In 1800-1, finding that the sentiment of the State was strong against secession, ho o])p<)sed it. Uo was a mc^mber of the North Car- olina convention, and when he saw that the outside pressure was cer-

\

too HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

tain to earn the secession ordinance throuj]^h, he shifted again, and voted for it. He declared that he would keep the pen with which he signed tlie Ordinance of Secession as an heirloom for his posterity, and for a time was one of tlie most rampant 'iast ditch'' Rebels. After a time he began to express doubts as to the wisdom of the whole mov(»ment, and (criticised the Confederate Government at Rich- mond so savagely that he came to be regarded as an open enemy of the Confederate cause, and he was subjected to persecution and annoyance for that reason. This sourc^d him still more on the move- ment, and he expressed great satisfaction, which was doubtless genu- ine, at the downfall of the Confederacy. Like Johnson, he sprung from the poor white class, and if he had done his best, he could never have been a favorite with the aristocracy. He did not, however, do his best. He did little toward restoring prosperity and orderly gov- ernment to the State, but much toward building u]) a political party for President Johnson and himself. One of his methods for accom- plishing this purpose was what Thaddeus Stevens called "peddling amnesty,'' bringing discredit upon the administration, as well as himself. His arts did not prevail, and at the first election under the new Constitution, he was defeated in the contest for Governor by over six thousand votes.

Less mischief was done in North Carolina by President John- son's loose method of reconstruction, than in the cotton states. North Carolina was almost the last of the seceding states to go out, and then its ordinance was passed through trickery and outside pressure. Its people were ready to accept any well-meant endeavors for the rehabil- itation of the South, and reorganized without much help from Holden. They accepted the President's plan, but repudiated its agent.

In Alabama the outcome was very different. Lewis E. Parsons was appointed Governor and tried to convince the people that the abolition of slavery was a finality. **There is no longer a slave in Alabama,'' he said. '*It is thus made manifest to the world that the right of secession for the ])urpose of establishing a separate confed- eraoy, based on the idea of African slavery, has been fully and effectually tried, and is a failure." But in the convention which was called by the Provisional Governor, quite a different spirit prevailed. It was argued in the debates that the State had committed no crime in seceding; that only individuals could be ])unished; that secession worked no forfeiture of the right of slave owners in their slave prop-

/

ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS POLICY. 191

erty, and that there was no power in the Ignited States Government, by proclamation or otherwise, to destroy slavery. For the sake of securing standing with the Government and representation in Con- gress, the Convention repealed the Ordinance of Secession, and adopted the Thirteenth Amendment, and then proceeded, as far as possible to nullify the latter. It adopted a Constitution without sub- mitting it to the people, and the Governor and Legislature elected under it, went as far as they could toward re-establishing slavery, and promised to go farther in the future. The Governor in his address, on assuming office, desired it to be understood, wiiile commending the policy of the President, that socially and politically the affairs of the State should be controlled by the superior intelligence of the white men. A few inconveniences incident to the situation were to be endured until they could be changed, but in due season Alabama was to control the negro, much as it did before the war.

One of the first acts of the Legislature provided that freedmen, free negroes, and mulattoes, when contracting to labor for a longer time than one month, should enter into a written agreement, wit- nessed by two white persons, and failure to perform the contract was made a misdemeanor. The penalty was loss of wages and sentence for vagrancy, which meant sale to the highest bidder, and virtual slavery. By subsequent enactment a sale for vagrancy was limited to six months, but **stubborn or refractory servants" and "servants who loiter away their time," were added to the class of vagrants. Mobile w as given a charter which made the municipal corporation the direct agent in enslaving men. The Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council were empowered **to cause all vagrants, all such as have no visible means of support, all who can show no reasonable cause of employment or business in the city, all who have no fixt^d residence Or cannot give a good account of themselves, or are loitering about tippling houses, to give security for their good behavior for a reason- able time, and to indemnify the city for any reasonable charge for their support, and in case of their inability or refusal to give secnritjs to cause them to be confined to labor for a limited time, not exceeding ^jx months, said labor to be for the benefit of the city.'- ITnder the V^arious provisions mentioned, with the testimony of white witnesses ^>iily received, it would be easy to secure six months' slavery for ^^ Imost any colored man.

The other Provisicmal Governors were William L. Sharkey, of ^lississippi, James Johnson of Georgia, Andrew J. Hamilton of

1J)2 HIRTORY OF THE REPrBLICAN PARTY.

Texas, Heiijainin F. Perry of Soutli Carolina and William Marvin of Florida. Governors Johnson and Hamilton worked zealously, and with fair success, in giving their respective states a start in the right direction, but in the other three states mentioned the situation was worse than in Alabama.

Governor Sharkey of Mississijipi was a man of probity, and a good jurist, but without executive nualificarions. He was helpless when it came to contact with the lire-eaters in that hot-headed t^tate. The Legishiture chosen in accordance with the Johnson policy rejected the Thirteenth Amendment, and went so far, in direct enact- ments of an objectionable character, as to lead to the impression that it would adopt shivery as a State institution. In fact the old slave code was re-enacted, as far as possible, under another name.

In the South Carolina Legislature a motion to repeal the Ordin- ance of ScM-ession was introduced by the same man who introduced the Ordinance itself in ISGO. The Thirteenth Amendment was accepted only after long delay, and then only at the personal solicita- tion of President Johnscm and Secretary Seward. One of the acts passed made felonies of crinu^s committed by persons of color, which were only misdemeanors if committed by white persons. Many other acts were passed which were unjust and tyrannical, and other special laws were enacted of such an t*xtr(»me character that General Sickles finally interfered, and virtually suppressed the Legislature.

In Florida the Thirteenth Amendment was not ratified until it had already been proclaimed as part of the organic law of the land. Laws rt^lating to vagrancy, similar to those in Alabaum, were passed and among other cruel enactments was one That any negro intruding himself *into any religious or other j)ublic assembly of white i>er8on8, or into any railroad car, or other vehicle set apart for white persons, must stand in the pillory for one hour, and then be whipped with thirty-uin(» lashes on the bare back."

This was the situation when Congress met in December, ISIJ.!. The South had been reconstructed without its knowledge or consent. Schuyler Colfax was elected Speaker by a vote of IHJ) votes to 80 for James Prooks of \(»w York. On assuming the chair, Mr. Colfax refl(Mted t\w tem]»er of the IIous<» by departing from the usual perfunctory (\\pr(*ssion of thanks. He made some positive declara- tions as to th(» work befon* the body, and the declarations were not in th(* line of President Johnson's policy, eitlu^r. Even before tht» President's mc^ssage had been rec(MV(Ml. Thaddeus Stevens made a motion f(u- a joint commit t€»e on reconstruction and his motion was

ANDREW JOHNSON AND IIIS POLICY.

193

immediately adopted under suspension of the rules. The message itself was unexpectedly moderate in tone, and indicated no purpose to break with the majority in the two houses, but it received scant attention. Its words were not in accord with the President's deeds. In the Senate Mr. Sumner outlined a radical policy of reconstruction, without reference to what the President might or might not do or say. Thus in both houses, within the first two days there was every indication that the President's ])olicy would be promptly repudiated.

The joint committee on reconstruction, provided for by Mr. S t e V e n s' resolution, was appointed on the thirteenth of Decern her, and consisted of William Pitt Fessen- den, of Maine; James W. <f rimes, of Iowa; Ira Harris, of New York; Jacob M. How- ard, of Michigan; Hev- erdy Johnson, of Mary- land; and George H. Williams of Oregon, on the ])art of the Sen- ate; and Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsyl- vania; Elihu H. Wash- burne, of Illinois; Jus- tin S. Morrill, of Ver- mont; Henry Grider of Kentucky; John A. Bingham, of Ohio; Roscoe Conkling, of New York; George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts; Henry T. Blow, of Missouri; and Andrew J. Rogers, of New Jersey.

Before this committee reported, the general policy of reconstruc- tion was discussed in the two houses in a somewhat rambling w^ay, as there was great divergence of opinion as to the best methods. Upon one point the Republicans were very g(»nerally agreed: That they wanted no more of Johnson's [lolicy. This feeling was not at all diminished by the character of the men who came to Washington to represent the reconstructed states. Four of Johnson's Provisional

SCHUYLER COLFAX.

11)4

HISTORY OF THE HEPrHLirAN 1»ARTY.

(roveiiiors appeared witli certificates for seats in the Senate, and they were the four whose states had practically be^jun to re-establish slavery. They were Lewis E. Parsons, of Alabama; William Marvin of Florida; William L. Sharkey, of Mississi]»pi; and Benjamin F. l*erry, of South Carolina, while Georgia sent as Senators the Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander H. Stephens, and one of the most conspicuous Rebels, Ilerschell \". Johnson. The House was reminded that there had been a war, by the advent of the following; Rebel military officers: Oeneral Cullen A. Battle, of Alabama; Oen-

eral Philip Cook and

Oeneral Wofford, of

■»; Georgia; General

Samuel McGowan and Colonel John 1). Ken- nedy, of South Caro- lina; Colonel Arthur E. Reynolds and Colonel Richard Pinson, of Mis- Bissippi; Colonel Josiah E. Turner, Jr., of North Carolina, together with a hirge number of men who had been civil lead- ers in the Rebellion.

Thaddeus Stevens was the leader of the House forces on the Reconstruction q u e s- tion. He maintained that the states that se- ceded from the Union must come back as new states, or come back as conquered provinces. **The separate action of the President, or Senator, or House," he said, "amounts to nothing, either in admitting new states or guaranteeing republican form of Government to lapsed or outlawed states. Whence springs the preposterous idea that any one of these, acting separately, can d<»termine the right of states to send senators or rep- resentatives to the Congress of the Cnion?'- Mr. Stevens had not, at that time, got so far as to advocate suffrage for the blacks by Federal action, but he ho])ed, by excluding the entire population from

^^^;^

THADDEUS STEVENS.

ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS POLK^Y. 195

tlie basis of representation in Congress, to compel the States, in tbeir own interest, to extend the suffrage. He gave notice, nion^ over, that the blacks were not to go unprotected. He said: **We have turned, or are about to turn loose, four million slaves, without a hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets. The diabolical laws of slavery have prevented them from obtaining an education, understanding the commonest laws of contract, or of managing the ordinary business of life. This Congress is bound to look after them until they can take care of themselves. If we do not hedge them, around with protective laws, if we leave them to the legislation of their old masters, we had better have left them to bondage. Their condition will be worse than that of our prisoners at Andersonville. If we fail in this great duty now, when we have the power, we shall deserve to receive the execration of history and of all future ages." He denounced, with great bitterness, the cry that this is a white man's Government, saying: **Sir, the doctrine of a white man's Gov- ernment is as atrocious as the s€*ntim(*nt that damned the late Chief Justice to everlasting fame, and I fear, to everlasting tire."

The difficult task of answering Stevens was assigned to Henry J. Kiiymond, of the New York Times. The vagaries of Mr. Greeley, of the Tribune, during the war had de]>rived that paper of its former prestige, and Mr. Raymond had succeeded in bringing the Times to the front as the leading Republican paper. It had now sided with Seward and Johnson, and Mr. Raymond himself was the ablest of the very few Republicans in Congress who were formed in those ranks. He evidently felt that he was in a somewhat anomalous position, in being separated so thoroughly from the gri^at majority of his party associates, but made the best that he could of the situation. **I have no jiarty feeling," said he in opening his speech, *'that would prevent me from rejoicing in the indications apparent in the Demo- cratic side of the House, of a purpose to concur with the loyal Admin- istration of the (fovernment and with the loyal majorities in both Houses of Congress in restoring peace and order to our common country. I cannot, however, help wishing, that these indications of an interest in the preservation of our (lovernment had come some- what sooner. 1 cannot help feeling that such expressions cannot now be of as much use to the country as th(»y might onct» have been. If we could have had from that side of the House such indications of an interest in the preservaticm of the Cnion, such heart-felt sympathy of the friends of the Government for the preservation of that Cnion,

1J)G

HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY,

such liearty denunciations for all those who were seeking its destruc- tion while the war was raging, I am sure we might have been spared some years of war, some millions of money and rivers of blood and tears."

In seeking to controvert Stevens' theory of dead states, he said: "The gentleman from Pennsylvania believes that what we have to do is to cremate new states out of this conquered territory, at the proper time many y(»ars distant, retaining them mefintime in a territorial c'ondition, and subjecting thcMu to precisely such a state of discipline

and tutelage as Con- gress and the Govern- ment of the United States may see fit to prescribe. If I be- lieved in the premises he assumes, possibly, though I do not think probably, I might agree with the conclusion he , "lias reached. But, sir, I cannot believe that these states have ever been out of the Union, or that tlu\v are now out of the Union. If they were, sir, how and when did they become so? By what specific act, at what precise time, did any one of those states take itself out of the American Union?"

After the recess Mr. Shellabarger answered Mr. Raymond on this point with a caustic sunmiary, that is in itself the history and the substance of the debate. **I answer him,'' said the earnest member from Ohio, "in the words of the Supreme Court: 'The causeless waging against their own (rovernment of a war which all the world acknowlc^dges to have bcM^i the greatest civil war known in the history of the* human race.' The war was waged by these people by states, and it went through long, dreary years. In it they threw

SAMUEL SHELLABARGER.

ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS POLICY. 197

oft* and defied the authority of your Constitution, and your Govern- ment. They obliterated from their State Constitutions and Laws every vestige of recognition of your Government. They discarded all their official oatlis, and took in their places oaths to support your enemies' government. They seized, in their own states, all the Nation's property. Tlieir Senators and Representatives in your Congress insulted, bantered, defied, and then left you. They expelled from their land, or assassinated, every inhabitant of known loyalty. They betrayed and surrendered your arms. Th(\v passed sequestra- tion and other acts, in flagitious violation of the laws of nations, making every citizen of the Ignited States an alien enemy, and placing in the treasury of their Rebellion all money and property due such citizens. They framed iniquity and universal murder into laws. For years they besieged your capital and sent your bleeding armies in rout back here, upon tlie very sanctuaries of your National power. Their pirates burned your unarmed commerce u})on every sea. They carved the bones of your unburied heroes into ornaments, and drank from goblets made out of their skulls. They poisoned your fountains, put mines under your soldiers' prisons, organized bands whoso leaders were concealed in your homes, and whose commissions ordered the torch to be carried to your cities, and the yellow fever to your wives and children. They planned one universal bonfire of the North, from Lake Ontario to the Missouri. They murdered, by systems of starvation and exposure, sixty thousand of your sons, as brave and heroic as ever martyrs were. They destroyed, in the four years of horrid war, another army so large that it would reach almost around the globe in marching columns. And then to give to the infernal drama a fitting close, and to concentrate into one crime all that is criminal in crime, and all that is detestable in barbarism, they murdered the President of the Ignited States. I allude to these h('rrid events, not to revive frightful memories, nor to bring back the impulses toward the per])etual severance of this people which they provoke. I allude to them to remind us how utter was the over- throw and the obliteration of all government. Divine and human; how total was the wreck of all constitutions and laws, political, civil and international. 1 allude to them to condense their monstrous enormities of guilt into (me crime, and to point the gentleman from New York to it, and to' tell him that that was the specific act.''

Raymond nuide a rejoinder to Shellabarger before the debate ch»8ed, but without effect. Uis spcnnh was ingenious and it was

198 HISTORY OF THE REPl'BLICAN PARTl .

praised for its cleverness, but it met with no practical sympathy, and when the test vote was taken only one Republican in the House voted with Mr. Raymond — his coUeapc"^ ^nd friend, William A. Darling. While he live<i Mr. Raymond believed he could have made a serious diversion amoni; the Republicans in I'ongress if he could have had the benefit of the hostility of President Johnson's Democratic friends. He was especially indi^j^nant at Mr. Voorh(H*s, whose ill-timed resolu- tion, that "the President is entitled to the thanks of Congress and the country for his faithful, wise, and successful effort to restore civil gov- ernment, law, and order to the states lately in rebellion," was the cause of the break with the President, and the disaster that made Raymond the approved ally of the discredited Democracy.

In the Senate Mr. Sumner UhI in the debates, which covered essen- tially the same ground as those in the House. While there was an almost universal agreement, among Republicans, that some act should be passed that should take the Reconstruction nmtters entirely out of the hands of the President and his Provisional Oovernors, there was great difficulty in coming to an agreement as to the proper method. There was a strong feeling among many against supplant- ing civil by military government, and still, without this, no method of securing a sufficiently strong Government presented itself. The differences among Republicans were not adjusted and the bill passed until near the close of the second session of the Thirty- ninth Congress. The President returned the bill with hii veto, and an argument against military rule. He delayed the veto until the last moment allow^ni by the Constitution, and it did not reach the House until Saturday, while Congress was to adjourn Monday. Dilatory tactics, including talking against time, were attempted by the minority, but the majority was strong enough to overcome, by susjiensions of the rules, this opposition, and the bill passed over the veto by a vote of 1:^5 to 48 in the House, and 38 to 10 in the Senate.

The text of this much-discussed measure was as follows:

WHEREAS, No legal State Government, or adequate protec- tion for life or property now exist in the Rt»bel States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, (Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Arkansas; and whereas, it is neces- sary that peace and good order should be enforced in said States until loyal and n^publican State (iovernments can be legally estab- lished: Therefore,

He it enacted, etc.. That said Rebel States shall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of the

ANDREW JOHNSON AND IIIS POLICY. 199

Ignited States, as hereinafter prescribed, and for that purpose Vir- j^inia shall constitute the tirst district; North ('arolina and South Carolina the second district: (Seorj^fia, Alabama, and Florida the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas the fourth district, and Louisiana and Texas the fifth district.

Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the President to assign to the command of each of said districts an olticer of the Army, not below the rank of Brij;adier (leneral, and to detail a sufficient mili- tary force to enable such olticer to perform his duties and enforce bis authority within the district to which he is assigned.

Sec. *\. That it shall be the duty of each oflHcer assigned as aforesaid to ])rotect all persons in their rights of ])ers(m and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals, and to this end he may allow local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or, when in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he shall have power to organize mili- tary commissions or tribunals for that purpose; and all interference, under color of State authority, with the exercise of military authority under this Act shall be null and void.

Sec. 4. That all persons put under military arrest by virtue of this Act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted: and no sentence of any mili- tary commission or tribunal, hereby authorized, atfe( ting the life or liberty of any person shall be executed until it is ai)proved by the officer in command of the district, and the Laws and Regulations for the (iovernment of the Army shall not be affected by this Act, except in so far as they conflict with its provisions:

i*ROViDED, That no sentence of death under the provisions of this Act shall be carried into effect without the approval of the President.

Sec. T). That when the people of any one of said Rebel States shall have formed a constitution of government in conformity with the Constitution of the Cnited States in all respects, framed by a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of said State, twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident in said State for one year previous to the day of such election, except such as may be disfranchised for participation in the Rebellion, or for felony at common law, and when such Constitution shall provide that the elective franchise shafl b(» enjoyed by all such j)ers(ms as have the qualification h(»r(Mn stated for electors of delegates, and when such Constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the i)ersons voting on the question of ratification who are (|ualified as electors for delegates, and wlu^n such Constitution sliall have been submitted to Congress for (»xaminati(m and approval, and Congress shall have approved the sam(\ and wIhmi said Stale, by a vote of its Legislature elected under such Constitution, shall have adonted the Amendment

200 HICTOKY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

to the Const itiition of the riiited States, ])roposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as Article Fonrteen, and when said Article shall have heconie a ])art of the Constitution of the T'nited States, said State shall be declared entitled to representation in Congress, and Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom on taking the oaths prescribed by law, and then and thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be inoperative in said State:

PROVIDED, That no person excluded from the privilege of holding office by said pro]>osed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States shall be eligible to election as a member of the Con- vention to frame a Constitution for any of said Rebel States, nor shall any such person vote for members of such (Convention.

Sec. G. That until the peojde of said Rebel States shall be by law admitted to representation in the Congress of the T'nited States, any civil governments which may exist therein shall be deemed pro- visional only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the United States at any time to abolish, modify, control, or super- cede the same; and in all elections to any office under such Provis- ional Governments all ]»ersons shall be entitled to vote, and none others, who are entitled to vote under the provisions of the Fifth Section of this Act; and no person shall be eligible to any office under any such Provisional Governments who would be disqualified from holding office under the i^rovisions of the Third Article of said Con- stitutional Amendment.

The Military Governors appointed under this Act were Major General Schofield, for tlu* District of Virginia; Major General Sickles, for the District of North and South Carolina; Major General Pope, for Georgia, Alabama and Florida; Major General Ord, for Missis- sippi and Arkansas; Major General Sheridan, for Louisiana and Texas. The President was hostile to Pope, Sickles and Sheridan, and they were replaced by ^Meade, Canby and Hancock respectively. Tender these Military (Jovernors the real work of Reconstruction com- menced, but it was not until 1S()8, that any of the states were readmitted to representation. Arkansas was the first, and that was followed in their order by North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia and Florida. The bills for their n^ulmission were all vetoed by the l^resident, and promptly passed over his veto. Virginia, Mis- sissippi and Texas did not comj»ly with the terms requisite for re-ad- mission till 1870.

The Joint Committee on R<*c(mstruction also reported an Amend ment to the Constitution, to stand as the Fourteenth Amendment, as follows:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United

ANDREW JOHNSON AND HIS POLICY. 201

States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Sec. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of Electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the Members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a Member of Congress, or an officer of the United States, or as a Member of any State Legisla- ture, or as an Executive or Judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the Ignited States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, or claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 2 of this Amendment was a carrying out of Thaddeus Stevens' idea of securing negro suffrage through State, instead of Federal action, and section one was aimed at the laws which some of Johnson's reconstructed states had enacted , discriminating against the blacks. The various propositions embodied in this Amendment occasioned prolonged discussions which would be of little interest at the present time. Th(» Amendment first passed the House, May 10, 1866, yeas 128, all Republicans; nays .*57, of whom 32 were Demo-

202 niSTORY OF THE REPrJ^JCAX PARTY.

(•rats and 5 ineinbors who were electt^d as Republicans, but classed as Unionists at the time. The Senate aniendtnl it and passed it as an eudtd, June 8, by :^:> yeas, all Republicans; nays 11, of whom 7 were Demoerars, the other four bein^ the Tnionists Cowan, Doolit- tle, Norton and Van Winkle. As amended it apiin passed the House by a vote of \:\H yeas, all Republicans, to tiii nays, all Democrats. It was finally submitted to the States, June Ml lHt;(>. The first states to ratify it wera Connecticut, June IM), and New Hampshire, July 7. Tennessee followed, July 1*J, whereupon Tonjjress promptly restored that State to the Tnion, and her Senators and Representatives were seated July 2S. It was nearly two years before any other of the seceded states accepted the Amendment, thoujrh it was ratified by most of the Northern States as soon as their Legislatures met.

The other great measures of this Congress were the Tenure of Office Act, passed at the second session, and intended to prevent President Johnson from making wholesale removals from office in order to make place s for his friends, the Act Establishing the Freed men's Bureau, and the Civil Rights Act. The latter was designiMl to ccmfer upon the blacks all the civil rights enjoyed by the white men except that of suttrage, to give them equality in all things before the law, and to nullify every State law. North or South, that was in conflict with the Federal statutes. The bill passed the Senate with only two Rejmblican votes against it. Senators Doolittle and Norton. When it < ame to the question of passing it over the veto it had a nari'ow escape in the S(»nate, for Senators Lane and Van- Winkle joined the Johnson forces, and the vote stood :^:^ to 15. Senator Dixon, of Connecticut, who would have voted with the Presi- dent, was absent on account of illness, and Senator Stockton, of New Jersey, who would have voted the same way, had very recently been expelled. Their presence would have reversed the decision. That was as near as the Pn^sident came to g(»tting any satisfaction out of the Thirty-ninth Congress.

Other A(ts ])assed at the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress were as follows: (Jiving colored men the right to vote in the District of Columbia and in the territories; repealing the author- ity of the President to proclaim amnesty and ))ard(m conferred by Section V\ of the Act of July 17, 1S<)2; providing penalties for forging- public securities: amending the course of procedure in habeais- corpus proceedings and establishing a uniform system of bankruptcy

XVI.

THE IMPEACHING CONGRESS.

The Elecrtions of IHGG — The Arm-in- Ann Convention in Philadelphia — A Serious Movement Turned to Ridicule — (Conventions of Southern Loyalists and Northern Republicans — A Powerful Address to the Country by the Former — The President's ^'Swing Around the Circle" — Administration and Anti-Administration Soldiers' and Sailors' Conventions — Large Republican Majority in the New Congress — Johnson's Numerous Vetoes — Charges and Articles of Impeachment — Attempt to Force Secretary Stanton Out of Office — Impear-hment Renewed — Trial of the Case and Benefits Therefrom — The Fifteenth Amendment.

For an off year the campaign of 1806 was exciting and in some resi)ects it was unicjue. The Johnson and the Congressional plans of Reconstruction were squarely before the people, and they presented the sole issue in the Congressional elections. It was hoped, before the campaign opened, that a combination might be made between the Johnson Republicans and the Democrats that would control the Fortieth Congress. l*resident Johnson had been doing his best, though not very successfully, through that powerful instrument, th(» Federal patnmage, to build up a party, and he was in hopes that if the combination succeeded in 1866 it might open the way for his re-election in 1868. It is not likely that the Democrats had any idea of playing into efohnson's hands, but if they could divide the Republi- can party they could themselves reap the benefit in the next election.

The first move looking toward such a combination was the famous "Arn)-in-Arm" Convention in Philadelphia, August 14, 1866. It was intended to bring together, in fraternal union, leading Johnson Re- publicans and Democrats, North and South, and to effect a complete fusion. With the Republicans it was an assertion of the Johnson- Seward plans against the Sumner-Stevens-Wade leadership. With the Democrats, it was the search for an ally. For the use of thr?

204 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLirAN PARTY.

<'oiivention a wiii^wam, calculated to aecoiniiiodate ten thousand persons, was erected on <iirard avenue, near Twentieth street. The white man's trouhl(»s he^an with the construction of the wigwam. A hitter <'amiiai«;n was on for the election of (lovernor and other State officers, and the feeling was running high, particularly in Philadel- phia. Besides that, the old war feeling had been aroused by John- son's furious speeches. A lot of the young fighting Republicans, including, especially, the boys in the Volunteer Fire Department, who were always ready either for a fight or a fire, resented this "Rebel invasion of Philadelphia," this "contamination of the pupils of Girard College." They threatened that the wigwam should never be com- pleted, or if c<mi]»leted, that it should be burned down before it was occupied. These threats were so frequent, that, though no attempt to burn the wigwam was made, the Mayor still feared a riot. On the ojiening day of the Convention, as a precautionary measure, he had in readiness for service, in additi<»n to the poli<'e, a large force of Militia. The feeling of the young Republicans was directed espec- ially against Clement L. Vallandigham, whom they regardini as th^ incarnation of Northern treason, Fernando Wood, and Isaiah Rynders, of New York City. These men finally submitted to the demand that they should not be seen at the wigwanu and that par- ticular causi* (»f disturbance was removed. The threats gradually diminished, and there was no disturbance of any kind.

The opening of the Convention was planned with a view to dra- matic etfect. The d<»legate8 went in, arm-in-arm, and the aim was to bring thos(* who had formerly been of different politics together. Ten years before James L. Orr, of South Carolina, had been cons])icuous as the Speaker of the House at Washington: he hiid been swept into the Secession movement and he had been eminent in the < \>nfederati» civil service. On the other hand, Darius N. Couch, of Massachus- etts, had served throughout the four years of the war with signal gallantry as a Cnion officer, and had risen to the rank of a Major (leneral of A'olunt(»ers. These two men were chosen to lead the nmrch of th(» delegates; the one n^inesenting the Bay State, the other the Palmetto State, as symbolic of bringing together the extremes of the lat(»ly shattered Cnion, and they advanced up the aisle to th«* alternate music of "Dixie" and "Yankee Doodle." Other siniilai* pairs of extremes w<Me effected, and in the procession there were men of every shade and variety of jxilitical belief and association, inso- much that the liepublicans comiKired the grand entry to the Riblieai

TflK IMPEAC^HINO TONdKESR. 205

description of the advent into the Ark of ''clean beasts and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls and of everything: that crc^epeth upon the earth."

General Dix, of ''shoot-hini-on-the-spot" fame, an old Democrat, was the temporary C'hairuian, and Senator James R. Doolittle, one of the pioneer Republicans, was permanent Chairman. Of the pjrand ap:ji;regation of attractions, one of the City paj)ers, in a review of it at a recent date, said: *The Arm-in-Arm (Convention contained many statesmen who were either then or afterward eminent in the Democratic party. In the Girard avenue, wipwam during the three days' sessions sat, for example, Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana; Asa Packer, of Pennsylvania; Joel Parker, of New Jersey; James E. English, of Connecticut; Sanford E. Church, of New York; Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, and James R. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, each of whom was afterward presented to one or more National Conventions as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, while Samuel J. Tilden was there with no thought that in a few years the first great Democratic reaction after the Civil War would place him in the forefront of the j)arty. The sin)ilitude of the animals that went into the ark was, indeed, justified in the strangely varying politi- cal character and past record of the delegates, not a few of wiioni, however, were men of marked ability — Robert C. Winthroj), the once- illustrious Whig, and Judge Josiah G. Abbott, of Massachusetts; the late Edward J. Phelps, of Vermont, Cleveland's first Minister to England; James Hrooks, of the New York Express; John P. Stock t(m, Ashbel Green and Abraham Hrowning, of New Jersey; the veteran Thurlow Weed, of New York, with Seward's Republican friends, lik(^ Henry J. Raymond, of the New York Times; Montgom- ery Blair, Lincoln's first Postmaster General; Garrett Davis, of Ken- tucky; William A. Graham, of North Carolina, who was a candidate for Vice-President in 1852, on the Whig ticket; Senator James W. McDougall, of California; James A. Hroadhead, of Missouri, and AVilliam S. Groesbeck, of Ohio, who afterwards was conspicuous as one of Johnson's defenders in the inipeachment trial. There, too, were such characters as Henry Clay Dean, the eccentric Copperhead, and E. O. IVrrin, whose vast voice until his death gave him distinc- tion as the only Democrat in the country who could fill the place of Reading Cl(Tk in Presid<»ntial < Conventions. Edgar Cowan, who at that lime was Charles R. Huckalew's colleague in the I'nited States Senate from Pennsylvania, and who had gone out of the Republican

2(>G HISTORY OF THE REITHLK \VX PARTY.

liiivty into tlu* Joliiisou ranks, was one of the leadinjij spirits of the Convention, and with him were such noted Pennsylvanians of the day as William Bij^ler, Francis \V. Hughes, David R. I'orter, George W. Woodward, Heister (Mymer, James <'amj>bell and Thomas B. Florence/'

The <'onvention was in session three days, and accomplished nothing. It was as great a tiasco as any in American politics. On account of the name of its Chairman, the Republicans dubbed it the **I)idlittle Convention."

A fortnight later two other Conventions were held in Philadel phia, which were much more significant. One was composed entirely of Southern Loyalists, and the other of prominent Northern Republi- cans. They nun separately, though they were in entire accord in sentiment and action. In the Northern Convention were most of the prominent Senators and Representatives, a number of Governors. n)any active Republicans in j)rivate life, and a good sprinkling of newspaper editors, including John W. Forney, of the Philadelphia Press, Carl Schurz, of the Detroit IV)st, and Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune. Greeley rather lost caste with the party by his vagaries during the war, and the New York Times came to be regarded as the leading Republican paper in the country. Now, by its adher- ence to the Johnson-Seward party, the Times had lost prestige, and the Tribune was restored to its supremacy, hi addition to the classes mentioned the North<-rn Convention contained a number of delega- tions of business men who never took active part in polities, unless in some important crisis. John Jacob Astor headed such a delega- tion from New York, and E. W. Fox from St. Louis. Governor Curtin, of IVnnsylvania, presided and the speeches and resolutions breathed a spirit of determined resistance to Johnson and his policy. The Convention was followed by the most imposing mass meetings ever, up to that time, held in the City.

The Southern Convention carried greater weight even than the Northern, because it represented men who had been loyal in sections where loyalty was maintained at personal sacrifice, and because it represented those portions of the country which were most directly interested in the Re<on8tru<tion problem. "Parson" Brow^nlow*, of Tennessee, one of the most courageous and active of Southern Cnion ists, John Minor Botts, of Virginia, and Andrew J. Hamilton, of Texas, the only one of Johnson's I'rovisional <fOvernors who a<-com- plished n)uch toward the rehabilitation of his State, were among

THE IMPEArillNiJ CONGRESS. 207

those present. There were also the followiug, aiuoug others, who had aided in keeping the border states from going into the Secession movement: Rev. Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge, of Kentucky; Senator J. A. J. Creswell, and Governor Francis Thomas, of Maryland; Gov- ernor Boreman and Nathan Goff, of West Virginia, and Governor Fletcher, of Missouri.

James Si>eed, of Kentucky, who had retired from Johnson's old Cabinet when it went to pieces, two or three weeks earlier, presided, and in his opening address struck the keynote of the Convention. Referring to the Arm-in-Arm gathering, he said: **\Vhy was that Convention here? It was here, in part, because the great cry came up from the white man of the South: *My Constitutional and my natural rights are denied me!' and then the cry came up from the black man of the South: *My Constitutional and natural rights are denied me.' These complaints are utterly antagcmistic, the one to the other; and this Convention is called to say which is right. Upon That question, if upon none other, as Southern men, you may speak out your mind. Speak the truth as you feel it; speak the truth as you know it; speak the truth as you love ])ermanent peace, as you umy hope to establish the institutions of this (Government so that our children and our ( hildren's children, shall enjoy a peace that we have not known. The <'onvention to which I have referred, as I read its history, ( ame here to simply record its abject submission to the commands of one man. That Convention did his commands. The loyal Congress of the United States had refused to do his commands; and whenever you have a Congress that does not abso- lutely and tirmly refuse, as the present Congress has done, to merely act as Recording Secretary of the tyrant at the White House, Ameri- can liberty is gone forever."

The address issued by the Southern Convention was a powerful

arraignment of the President, and the whole Administration scheme

of Reconstruction. It was issued as a campaign document, and was

the most elTective agency in the <anvass save one. That one the

iM'esident himself furnished in his tour through the Middle and

Western States, from Washington, by way of Philadelphia, New

"Vork, Albany, Rochester, liulTalo, Cleveland and Chicago to St. Louis.

He left Washington, August 2Sth, accompanied by Secretaries

AVelles and Randall, Admiral Farragut and (Jeneral Grant. At New

"\'ork the party was joimnl by Secretary Sewaid. Of this party Sec-

fetary Randall, who was rather a blatant supporter of the

208 HISTORY OF THE REPUHLirAX PARTY.

Adininistratiou, and Secretary Seward, who was joint author, with the I'resident, of the Provisional Governor scheme, were willing par- tin])ants in the journey, though the gentlemanly instincts of the latter must have been shocked at some of the antics of the President, as his polished oratory must have blushed at some of the utterances of the same functionary. OflScial etiquette required the presence of (irant and Farragut, but neither oneof these looked as if he enjoyed the trip, which soon came to be known as Johnson's **swing around the circle/-

In this tour the coarser side of Johnson's character, and that was very coarse, found full expression. He commenced with denouncing the Senate and House in unmeasured terms, and added to this personal abuse of individuals who did not agree with him. As he advanced on his journey and found increasing evidences of popular disfavor, he became furious. Some of the met^tings were more like a bear-baiting than a political discussion. Crowds would demand a speech, and then bandy words with the President, until in his rage, his replies were more like a series of growls than like rational speech. The most humiliating exhibition was at Cleveland, where the President was chalTed without mercy by the crowd, and he replied to the taunts and jeers, with <-oarse wit and re])artee, such as would not add dignity nor grace to a ward meeting in municipal poll tics. The most enterprising Republican jKipers took pains to publish the President's speeches in full, and they made excellent campaign material for the Anti-Administration tickets.

Still another feature entered into this remarkable Congressional camj)aign. A Soldiers' Convention in behalf of the Administration was held in Cleveland on the 17th of September. (ieneral Wood, a veteran of the War of 1812, presided, and among the other officers jjresent were Cfenerals Granger and Custer, of the Regular Army, and the following from the Volunteer service: (xenerals John A. McClernand, of Illinois; J. W. Denver, of California; Willis A. Gorman, of Minnesota; John H. Steedman and Thomas Ewing, of Ohio. The priucijnil speech of the occasion was nmde by General Ewing, who was the only Republican of prominence who was present. What(*ver effect this demonstration might have had was neutralized by an interchange of messages between this Convention and a Confed- erate Convention, in session at the same time, in Memphis, which sent a despatch of symjuithy to Uw Cleveland gathering. This was answered with thanks for the ^'magnanimity and kindness" of the message.

210 IIISTOKY OF TllK KEITBI.K AN PARTY.

Si>eaktT. The first work underlaken was the passage of an ameuda tory Reeoustruetioii Act. Tlie A<t passed by the Thirty-ninth Con- jifress was intended to secure impartial sutrrajrt". It declared the ])rinciple plainly enough, but did not j)rovide the machinery for carrying it out. The supplementary Act provided the necessary details for conducting the prescribed elections, administering the oaths of of!ice, making returns and paying expenses. It also declared that if in any State "the Constitution shall be ratiluHl by a majority of the votes of the register<*d electors qualified to vot«^, at least one- half of all the registered voters voting u[)on the <|uesti(jn, a copy of the same, duly certified, shall be transmitted to the President of the United States, who shall forthwith transmit the same to Congress, and if it shall appear to Congress that the election was (me at which all the registered and (jualified electors in th(» State had an op[)or tunity to vote, freely and without restraint, fear, or influence of fraud, and if <\)ngress shall be satisfied that such Constitutiim mtvts the approval of a majority of all the qualified electors in the State, and if the said Constitution shall be declared by Congress to be in conformity with the provisions of the Act to which this is supple mentary, and the other provisions of said A<t shall have be<»n complied with, and the said Constitution shall have been approvcnl by Congress, the State shall be declared entitled to representation, and Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom as therein provided."

This Act was, of course, vetoed by the President, and, equally a matter of course*, was passc^l over the veto. On the :^Oth of March C(mgn»ss took a recess till the :{d of July. Meantime A ttorni\v Gen- eral Stanbery gave two cq^inions tending to neutralize the effects of lioth the Reconstruction Acts. <\)ngress, therefore, passed a second supplementary Act intend<»d to remc^dy the defects thus pointed our. It also add(»d two sections, emphasizing the military, as against the civil rule. One of these gave the commauders of districts the ]»ow*er, subject to the ai)i)roval of the General of the Army, to sus|H'nd or remove from office, or from the j)erformance of official duties and th<» exercise of official powers, any officer holding or exercising any civil or military office oi* duty, under any powc*r, elcMtion, appointment, or authority dcMivcnl from any State or Municipal tiov(»rnment, and to provide for the* temporary filling of the vacancy thus occasionc^d. The other section n)c»nticmcMl, invested the (Jenc^al of the Army with the same jjower in all the distiicts. This also was vetoini, and promptly passed over the veto.

THE IMrEA( HINO ( OXiJKESS. 211

The history of the Fortieth Congress was one of constant (lashing with the President. He vetoed all bills of a political natims and some of a general rliaraeter, bnt th(\Y wei*e in most eases passed over his head bv ninch more than the necessary two-thirds vote. The relations between the two were so strained, and the Presi dent was so inclined to aggressive a<ts, that it is not surprising the impeachment which had j»reviously been often talked of should at last come. The head of the Imi)eachnH»nt moviMnent was the impetu ous James M. Ashley, of Ohio, who had before that been the lead(?r in pushing the Thirteenth Amendment to the t Constitution. On tin* 17th of December, 1S()(>, he introdu<ed a r(»solution for the appoint ment of a select committee to inquire whether any acts had been done by any officer of the ( Government of the Tnited States, which, in the contemplation of the Constitution, an* high crinies and misdemean- ors. The resolution, recpiiring a two-thiids majority for its adoption, was not agreed to. On the 7th of January, 18t)7, Representative H. F. Loan, of ^lissouri, and John K. K(»lso, of the same State, olTered resolutions aiming at impeachment, and late in the same day, Mr. Ashley made formal <harges against IMesident Johnson. In thi* course of his charges, 1h» said: "I charge him with an usurpation of power in violation of law; in that he has <orruptly used the appoin! ing power; in that h(» has corrujitly used the j)ardoning power; in that he has corruptly us<'d the veto jiower; in that he has <*orruptly disposed of the property of the I'nited States; in that he has cor- ruptly interfered in elections, and committed a(?ts, which in contem I>lation of the (Constitution are high crimes and misdemeanors."

It would have been very difficult to maintain in court those sweeping charges, and in any ordinary condition of the public niinri the whole matter would have been promptly tabled. Hut the House was angered at the abusive* speeclu^s which the President had male in his swing around the circle, and was ready for at least an investi- gation. Accordingly the resolutions of Messrs. Loan and Kelso, and the charges of Mr. Ashley were refcMTed to the Judiciary Committee, who, on the 2Sth of February, reported that th(*y had taken testimony of a character sufficient to justify further investigation, but had been unable to disjiose detinit(»ly of the important matters submitted to their investigaticm, and the whole matter was bequeathed to thi» Fortieth Congress. On the Stli of March, in tlu* new Congress, Mr. Ashley, repeatc^d his chargers. Th(\v were i*eferr(»d to the Judiciary Committee, who continued taking testimony at intervals during the

212

HISTOKY OF THE REIM'HLICAN PARTY.

summer and fall. In the meantime there were a number of ugly rumors about the President's intentions. One of these was the report that he had a project for bringing in the Southern Senators and Kepre8entativ(»s, and with them and the Democrats, forming a new^ Congress, ignoring the Republican majority, and tliat he had called on (Irani to sui)port him with the Armv. General Grant was examined by the <onimittee and his testimony showed that the most serious of the actual charges made were without foundation. Not- withstanding this a majority of the committee reported, on the 25th

of November, a resolu- t i o n that: **Andrew Johnson, l^resident of the United States, be i m p e a c h e d of liigh crimes and misdemean- ors." The resolution, after a spirited discus- sion, was defeated by a vote of 101) to 56. Two members of the Judi- ciary Tommittee, Rej»- resentativ(»s W o o d- bridg(\ of \^*rmont, and James F. Wilson, of Iowa, voted against the resolution in com- mittee, tind the follow- ing prominent Repub- licans were among those who voted against it on the floor of the House: Allison, Hanks, Bingham, Blaine, Davis, Garfield, Harper, IVters, Robertson, tlu* three Washburns, and E. B. Wash- burne.

This would liav(* been the last of the impea<'hment if it had not been for the President's attempt to force Edwin M. Stanton out of his position as Secretary of War. A Cabinet which could work with even a moderate* degree of harmony under Lincoln, could hardly be expected to hold together under Johnson. As early as July 1, 186(i, Postmaster (i(»neral Dennison resigned because he CQuld not accept

EDWIN M. STANTON.

THE IMPKACHTNG (^ONCJRESS. 213

Johnson's plan of Reconstruction, and was succecdi^d by Alexander W. Randall, of Wisconsin. A week later Janu^s Spt^ed resigned as Attorney General, because he thoup:ht the Administration was driftini? rapidly toward the Democratic party, and Henry Stanbery, of Ohio, accepted the place for the same reason. Then James Harlan, Secretary of the Interior, resigned and was succeeded by Orville H, Browning. This left of the Lincoln Cabinet, Seward, who agreed with Johnson's plan of Reconstruction, whether he was the author of it or not; **<irandfather'' Welles, who could agree with everything Johnson said, as readily as he could with everything Lincoln said; McCulloch, who was a financier, and not a [)olitician, and Stanton, whom Johnson hated, but who would not resign. Stanton was not a man who would hold an office for the sake of the office, but there was grave ai>prehension that if Johnson had a Secretary of War who was subservient to him, he might plan serious mischief; certainly hitj opportunities for mischief would be greatly enhanced. Stanton, therefore, retained the office on account of the urgency of leading Republicans, and from a sense of duty to the country. August 5, 1867, Johnson asked Stanton to resign, but the Secretary refused. He was then susi)ended under the Tenure of Office Act, General (irant being designated to administer the Department until tho Senate could vote* upon the matter. January IS, 18t>H, the Senate refused to concur in the suspension. <ieneral Grant immediately vacated, and Stanton went back to his office.

The President, however, was obstinate and ugly, and on the 21st of February, sent to Secretary Stanton an order, saying: **By virtue of power and authority vested in nH», as Presid(»nt, by the Constitu- tion and Laws of the United States, you are hereby removed from office as Secretary of the Department of War, and your functions as such will terminate upon re<eij)t of this communication. You will turn over to Brevet Major (General Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant Gen eral of the Army, who has this day been authorized and eni]>owered to act as Se<retary of War, ad interim, all records, papers, and other public property now' in your custody and charge."

Secretary Stanton transmitted a (opy of this to the Speaker of the House, and another copy soon reached the* S(»nate. In both Houses tlie action ui)on it was prompt. In the Senate, the same day after long consultation in executive session, a resolution was adopted that the President had no right to remove the Secretary of War, nor to designate any <»th<*r offi<(T to jM»rform the duties of that

\

214 HISTORY OF THE REPrHLK AN PARTY.

oflfice ad iiitoriiii. The House at onee referred the action of tlie President to the R<^<*onstrnetion Connnittee. The friends of the President then tried to s(*(ure an adjonrnnient till Monday, as the next day, was \Yashinj?ton's birthday. The Repnblicans voted this down, and later in the same day, Rej^resentative John Covode, of Pennsylvania, introduced a formal resolution for impeachment, which was also referred to the Reconstruction <V)mmittee.

\Vhen this defiance of (Nmj^ress, by tlu* President, became known throughout the country, it created the wildest excitement. The

Republicans generally favored imnuHiiate im- peachment, while Dem- ocrats argued that the President's course was justified by the (Consti- tution. Some of the (» X t r <* m e Democrats, ,^^^^^ , gc^nerally of the class

I^^^^^^^^^^H I stayed at

^^^^^^^B^^^^^B urged to go to

■^^M|^^9|M^^| the now urged

^''"^^^^^^*^^^* the President to stand

firm, even to the verge of actual conflict, and made him offers of men and arms. Many alarm- ists predicted civil war. Hut there was little danger of that. Th<^

BKNJAMIX F. BITLER. ,. ^, „ „ ^ ^ y ^^d had

enough of war. Meautiim* Secretary Staut<m, under the impulse of his own sturdy character, and with the advice of leading Republi- cans held his position. He ate and slept in his ottice, and for a few days was virtually in a state of siege. It was on this occasion that Sumner sent the shortc^st message* of his lifetime. It was addressed to Stanton, and consisted of the single w<»nl "Stick."

On the 22d of F<*bruary. tlu* day after Johnsoirs letter to Stanton was receiv(»d, Mr. Stevens, for the Reconstruction Committee, rt^ported that in addition to tl!<* papers nf erred to the committee they

THE IMPEACHING CONIJKESS. 215

had found that tlie President had **si^ned and ordered a commission or letter of authority to one I.orenzo Thomas," directing him to act as Secretary of War ad interin). Tlie (ommittee transmitted a copy of this letter, and added that upon the evidence collected they were of opinion that the President ought to be impeached and reported a brief resolution: *'That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors/' A lively ten-hour debate followed, when the resolution was adopted by a vote of 12() to 47. A committee of two was appointed to notify the Senate of the action just taken, and the foHowing committee of seven was api)ointed to prepare Articles of Imi)eachnient: Houtwell, of Massa- chusetts; Stevens, of Pennsylvania: Bingham, of Ohio; Wilson, of Iowa; Logan, of Illinois; Julian, of Indiana, and Ward, of New York.

The Articles of Impeachment, as presented by this committee, were nine in number, eight of which referred to different phases of the President's action in regard to the War Secretaryship, and one to his advising an officer of the Army that a certain Act of Congress was unconstitutional and should be disregarded by said officer, although the Act in question had never been adjudicated in the courts. On motion of (Jeneral Butler the House added a Tenth Article, covering certain speeches made by the President in his West- ern tour. On motion of John A. Bingham, of Ohio, an Eleventh Article was added. This was considered the strongest Article of th<* eleven, and was the only one voted upon at the end of the trial. It was as follows:

"The said Andrew Johnson, President of the Tnited States, unmindful of the high duties of his office and his oath of office, and in disregard of the Constitution and Laws of the United States, did on the \Sih day of August, 1800, at the City of Washington, and in the District of Columbia, by public speech declare and affirm, in substance, that the Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States was not a Congress of the United States, authorized by the Constitution to exercise l(*gislative power under the same, but on the contrary was a Congress of only part of the states, thereby denying, and intending to deny, that the legislation of said Congress was valid or obligatory upon him, the said Andrew Johnson; except in-so-far as he saw tit to aj>prove the same, and also thereby denying the power of the said Thirty-ninth Congress to juopose Amendments to the Con- stitution of the United States; and in pursuance of said declarations the said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did, on the

2ir> HISTORY OF THE REPrBLirAX PARTY.

21 8t day of February, 18G8, at the Tity of Washinjjjton, unlawfully, and in disregard of the requirements of the (Constitution, that he should take care that the laws be faithfully exe<-uted, attempt to prevent the execution of an Act entitled *An Act regulating the tenure of certain civil oflfices,' passed March 2, 18(h, by unlawfully devising and contriving, and attcMupting to devise and c*ontrive, means by which he should ])revent Edwin M. Stanton from forthwith resuming the functions of the olli<e of Secr(»tary for the Department of War, notwithstanding the rt^fusal of the Senate to c-oncur in the

suspension, theretofore niach* by the said An- drew Johnson of said F'dwin M. Stanton, from said office of Sec- retary for the Depart- mc*nt of \Var; and also by further unlawfully devising and c*ont riv- ing, and attcMupting to devise and contrive, means thc*n and there, to prevent the c*xeeu- tion of an Act entitlcMl *An Act making appro- j)riations for the sup- port of the Army, for the lis<al year ending June :^Oth, 18(58, and for other puriK)8es,' ap- proved ^larch 20, 1867; wiLT.iAM M. KVARTs. .,^1 .^\^q ^^y [)revent the

<»xc*cution of an Act entitled: *An Act to provide for the more effic*ient government of the Rebel States,' passed March 2, 1807, whereby th*> said Andn»w Johnson, Pr<»sident of the Inited States, did then on the 21st of February, IStiS, at the (1ty of Washingtcm, <-ommit, and was guilty of a high misd<Miu»anor in ot!ic<*/'

The House appointed sev<Mi managers to c<induct the case before the Court of Impeachment, which consisted of the whole Senate, with Chief Justice Chase* as the picsiding otticci-. The managers were John A. Uingham. (Worj^e S. r.<nitwcli. Janu^s F. Wilscm, Henjaniin

218 HISTORY OF TFIK REIM'HLK AX PARTY.

Winkle had fallen outside tlie party hn^astwcirks on several previous occasions. Patterson and Ross had not bc^en sufticiently prominent in the Senate to be well placed as n*spcMts their temperament or political convictions. The opinion of the p.eople, who had watched the trial with a jireat chal of iuterc»st, was sntticiently shown h\ the fact that not one of the nine was evc»r apiin sent to the Sc*uate.

The vote on the Eleventh Article showed that the President could not be convicted on any of the othc rs, and the trial abruptly cMided the same day. Secretary Stanton immc*diately resi^^ned, (len- eral John M. Sc-hotield was nominated in his place, and the ncmiina tion was confirmed by the Senate.

In vi<*w of its failure*, the ImpeachmcMit ]u-o(CH'dinjj: has lu-en often criticisc»d as a mistake. Rut the criticism is hardly just. Noi only was thc*re a limit to the patience of Ccmpess, which limit the President had passed, but there was an absolute ncM-essity, for the peace of the c ouutry, that a chc*ck shcnild be placcMl upon his re -kless desij»ns. If he had bc»en allowed to override the laws of Conjrn^s in this case*, it is difiicult to see what limit c-ould have b(*en plaee^l upon his revolutionary schemers. The lmpc*achmc*nt trial did not improve his tcMuper, but it sobercnl him. He was still obstructive, but he ceased to be violent.

Althouj^h the Fortic*th ('onjrress cue upic*d so much of its time with the ImpeachmcMit matter, it accomplishc*d a jrreat dc*al of important lejjislation. Aside frcmi the Supplemc*ntary Reconstrue tion Acts, it passcMl the* followinjr Acts of j:e*neral inte»re8t: Estab- lishinjr the* eijiht-hour law for laborers and mechanics in the (lov- c*rnment e*mploy; pr(*scribiii<; an oath of otlice for p(*rsons whose disa bilities have bee*n re*move*d; providing*: for tilling vacancit*s in the Exe*cutive I)e*i»artments; providing for the eliscontinuance of the Fre*edmen's Bureau on the 1st of January, lSt>I>; providinj? for the e*stablishme*nt of an American line of mail and e*mijfrant steamers be*tween New York and one or more* Europc*an ]K)rts; makinix ini]>orf- ant chanp*s in the* |:e*iisiou laws; prohibit in<x the loaning of money on National Rank uc)te*s; jrivinjr permission to construc^t a bridjre bc*twe^en Xe*w York and Rrooklyn.

Toward the* latter ]»art of Johnson's administration, Se*cretary Se*ward rc*ndere»d to the* country his most valuable se*rvice*, save one, that in which, by his treatment of the Trent all'air, he saved us from a war with Enjrland. This sc*rvice was the* purchase from Russia of the* iuime*nsc* tc*rrite)rv known as Alaska. The* treatv was made

THE IMPEACHING ( OXCiKESS. 219

March *{0, 18f>7, and was con firm od with coiiiimrativoly little opposi- tion in the Senate. It could not he conijileted, how<»ver, until th«' House approi)ria1ed the purchase money, |57,2(KI.(I()(I. This only occurred July 27, 18G8, and that after serious o]»position. It was stated in the debates that there were indications of jjjold in Alaska, but those who favored the purchase advo<ated it chiefly on the p-ound that the control of the seal fisheries would be of ^reat value to us, and that our owncMshij) of Alaska would i>revent any hostile l)ower from ever getting control of that long stret<h of l^acific Coast, so near our own border. There* were, for si* vera 1 years, sneers at the ])urchase, which was call(»d "Seward's iceberp;." After a time the value of the seal fisheries bej^an to be api)reciated. Within the season of ISJM), the value of the ji;old taken out of the Tape Nome nistri<t alone, in a sinj^le month, (»xceed<Hl the purchase price of the whole vast territory.

One of the most important Acts of the Fortieth Congress was the jiassage of the Fifteenth Amendment to th(» Constitution, which came quite the last part of the second session. On the 8()th of Jan- uary, by vote of lot) to 42, it passed the House in the* following form: "The right of any citizen of the Cnited States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the Cnited Stat(*s or any State, by reason of race, color, or previous condition of slavery of any citizen, or class of citizens, of the I'nited States." The* Senate passed a joint resolu- tion for an Amendment to the Constitution, int(*nded to accomplish the same purpose*, but it was huig, involved in its grammatical con- struction, and had additional clauses, containing some extraneous matter. This was not a(«'ei)table to tlu* House, and the whole subject went to a Committee of Conference, which reported the Amendment in the following ecmcise form: "The right of citizens of the Cnited States to vote shall not Ik* denied or abridged by tin* Cnited States or by any State on account of race, color, or ])revious condition of servitude.''

This report of the C<mimiit(*(* of Conference was agreed to in the House, February 25, 18f.J), by a vote of 144 to 44, and in tin* Senate, the next day, by a ^ote of .*{J) to \*\. In a little over a year the Amendment was ratified by a suffici«*nt number of states, and on ihe IMHh of March, 1X7(K Secretary Fish proclaimed its adojjtion as part of the Constitution.

This action has often been criticised as b(*ing ])remature, but the need of it ap]K*ar(*d to b(* v«*ry gr(*at. lU*tween the Nov(*mber (*lec-

220 HISTORY OF THE REPlBLirAN PARTY.

tioDs and the time Congress adjourned, authenticated reiiorts reached AVashinj^on of numerous outraj^es upon white Republicans. Intimidation and violence and even murder were resorted to. In Louisiana, where the condition of affairs was the worst, it was said that 2,00(1 persons were killed or seriously injured within a few weeks i»reviou8 to election. It was partly to pve the white Repub- licans efficient allies, and partly to furnish the blacks with the means f>f self defense, that the Amendment was adopted. Of its necessity (fcneral Grant said in his memoirs: "l do not believe that the majority of the Northern people, at the time, were in favor of negro suffrage. They suppostnl that it would naturally follow the frcH.*dom of the negro, but that there would be a time of probation, in which the ex-slaves could prepare themselves for the privileges of citizen- ship, before the full right would be conferred; but Mr. Johnson, after a comj)lete revolution of sentiment, seemed to regard the Houth not only as an oppressed people but as the i>eople best entitled to consid- eration of any of our citizens. This was more than the |>eople who had secured to us the perpetuation of the Union were prepared for, and they became more radical in their views. The Southerners had the most power in the executive branch, Mr. Johnson having gone to their side, and with a compa<t South, and such sympathy and supimrt as they could get from the North, they felt that they would be able to rontrol the nation at on<'e, and already many of tliem acted as if they thought they were entitled to do so.

"Thus Mr. Johnson, tighting Congress on the one hand, and receiving the supj)ort of the South on the other, drove Congress, which was overwhelmingly Republican, to the passing of first one measure and then another, to restrict his power. There being a solid South on one side, that was in accord with the political party in the North which had sympathized with the Rebellion, it finally, in the judgment of Congress and of the nmjority of the legislatures of the states, became necessaiy to enfranchise the negro in all his ignor- ance. In this work I shall not discuss the (juestion of how far the policy of Congress in this particular proved a wise one. It became an absolute necessity, however, because of the foolhardiness of the Prea- id<;nt, and the blindness of the Southern people to their own interest- As to myself, while strongly favoring the course that would be the least humiliating to the pc^ople who had been in rebellion, I had grad- ually worked up to the point whcM-e, with the majority of the people, I favorcnl immediate enfranchisement."

XVII. THE FOURTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.

The Party at Sea With Rejrard to a Candidat(--A Oradual Turning Toward Grant— His Discretion During Johnson's (\ireer— Meet- ing of the Chicago Convention — Delegates From the Soldiers' and Sailors' Convention — A Ringing, Patriotic and National Platform Adopted — Oeneral Logan's Rrief and Appropriate Pre- sentation of Orant's Name — The (Jeneral Unanimously Nomin- ated—Six Ballots for Vice-President— Speaker Colfax Finally Wins — A Michigan Incident in Connection With the Contest — Brief and Timely Letters of Acceptance — Orant's Defen^nce to th(» Poi)ular Wishes.

The campaign of LStJS was approached under peculiar condi- tions. Although the Repu!)li<an party had l)(»en solidified, rather than divided, by its contest with President Johnson, it was a good deal at sea with reference to a candidate. Some of its old idols had been shattered. Seward, who, in ISno, was the most popular ma?) in the party, had impaired confidence in his judgment by his course during the first part of the Lincoln Administration, and had made tinal wreck of his political fortunes by attaching himself so closely to President Johnson's abortive schemes. Chase, although Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, still had political ambitions, but he was already showing signs of restiveness in his Republicanism. William M. Evarts, who was more lawyer than politi<ian, but wjio had sometimes been talked of as a possible candidate, had gone, along with Weed and Raymond into the Arm-iti-arm Movement. The influence of that section of the party in New York which was of Whig origin, and which was once all powerful, had ceased to be a factor of any consequence at all in Republican politics. The political Arm

222 IIISTOKV OF THE KEPUBLICAN PARTY.

of Seward, Weed and Kayiiiond, siu lessors to the old firm of Sewurd, Weed and (ireeley, was baukru])t.

The eyes of the peopk* naturally turned to Grant. The General, durinjr the war, had attended to his fi^^htin^ and had taken no part in politics, either by at t or speech. Hefore the war he had not taken any interest in ])olitirs, and did not always take the trouble to vote. When he did vote it was the Pemoc rati<- ticket that he took to the polls. l^eadinji: Democrats at one time canvassed the plan of making him the Democratic candidate for President in ISGS, but the Repub Means did not finally give them a <hance.

Probably no man in the country, except the President, had been as closely watched as Grant. He had been placed in a very deli- cate position. As the head of the Army it was his duty to co-oper- ate in carrying out any plan for the Rt construction of the South that Congress and the President agreed upon, liut they agreed upon nothing. The fact that, in his position betwei^n the two, he gave serious otfense to neither, furnished evidence of rare discretion. Thi* President had us«*d various devices to chain Grant to his chariot wheels alongside of Seward, but without success. In 1805. when the General was about to start on a tour of inspection through the South, the President asked him "to harn as far as possible, during his tour, the feelings and intentions of the citiz<»ns of the Southein States, toward the Xatiimal Government." He replied in a report in which he expressed th(» belief that "the mass of thinking men of the South accept the present situation of atTairs in good faith, but four yc»ars of war have* left the pcH)ple possibly in a condition not ready to yield that ol:c»diencc» to civil authority which the American piH>ple have been in the habit of yi(»lding, thus rendering the small garrisons throughout those states necessary, until sui h time as labor returns to its propcM- channc»ls, and civil authority is fully (established." Th«» friends of the Administration profc*ssed to tind in this, and a few hoj)eful c^xprc^ssions, a justification of the IMesidcait's Rcn-onstruetion plan. Thc\v used it to show that Grant was a supportc*r of that plan, a statement which was very far from the truth. He was simply seeking light, and cIoscm* incjuiry did not confirm his first mildly favorable impressions. The enactment into law of the Con- gressional l^M-oiistruction jilau made* his duty cli*ar, and he heartily co-operated in carrying out that law. He was obliged, through ofiicial courtesy, to accompany Johnson on his Wc*stern tour, and lie bore hin»self with a prudence* and discrc^tion that were in marke<l

THE FOrUTH KEPrHLKWN (H)XVKNTK)X. 22;i

contrast to the antics of his ofi1<ial and military sui)erior. He pro- tested against the suspension of Stanton, accepted charj^e of the War Department with reluctance, and reliiHiuished it as soon as the Sen ate annulled the suspension. He had been in contact with Johnson's administration for three years, without beinjj: contaminated. He had sliown himself as prudent in counsel, as he was brave and capable in war, and, lon^ befcuc* the Republican Xaiional Convention assem bl<»d, public opinion liad fixed upon him as the sure nominee for Pres ident.

That f'onventi<»n met in Chi^afto ^1*^' -0, 1808, and was thor- ouj4:hly representative <»f the best and ablest element of the party. The Mi( hi^^an d(*Ie<iation was as follows: At Lar^e — Wm. A. Howard, Hampton Kich, Marsh (iiddings,RandolphStrickland. By districts — (1) R. R. Heecher, Henry Waldron; (2) William H. Williams, K. J. Honine; (8) S. M. Cutcheon, J. W. Lon^year; (4) Morpm Hales, (Jeorjrc* (1. Rrijf^s; (5) S. I). Binjtham, John Divine; {()) John H. Richardscm, Josepli W. Edwards. Carl Schurz was temporary chairman and made a rattling speech on the duty of the party in the exist injij emer- jfency. He was peculiarly fitted for this, for the reason that 1h» had b(»en sent by tin* IMesident to invc^stipite the condition of the South. His report was so unsatisfa<tory to tin- Administration that an effort was nuide to suppress it. This was pr(»vented by the Senate, whicli made j^ood use of it in formulating^ a plan of reconstruction. The permanent chairman was GcMieral Josej)!] R. Hawley, of Connec- ticut, who made a sliort and incisive address.

An interest iiiji: feature of the «*arly proceeding's was the admis- sion to th(* platform of a deleji:ation from a lar^e Soldi<*rs' and Sailors' < '(invention, who presented a n^solution adopted by tliat con- vention: **That we, the soldiers and sailors, steadfast now as ever to the I'nion and the Ma^, fully recojrnize the* claims of (leneral I'lysses S. (rrant to the ccmfidence of the American people, and bcdievinj:^ thai the victories won under his guidance in war will be illustrated by him in peace*, by such measures as will secure the fruits of our exertions and restore the T'nion upon the loyal basis, we declare it as our deliberate conviction that he is the choice of the soldicM's and sailors of the I'nion for the office of l*resid(»nt of the United States of Ameri<a." The communication was rcM-eived with the warmest interest and three cheers were pven for the so]di(»rs and sailors. A series of resolutions ado]»( cd by the* Tnion L<»a.!.ru«» of Anu»rica, favor-

224 HISTORY OF THE REPrULKWX PARTY.

ing Grant for President, were also received and ordered printed as part of the proceedings of the Convention.

On the second day the connnittt*e on resolutions rejmrted a plat- form which, after slight amendment, was ado])ted as follows:

The National Rej)ublican party of the United States assenibietl in National Convention in the City of Chicago on the 20th day of May, 18(58, make the following declaration of principles:

I. AVe <-ongratulate the country on the assured success of tlie Reconstruction poli<y of Congress as evinced by the adoption in the majority of the states lately in rebellion, of constitutions sei^uring equal rights to all, and it is the duty of the governuTent to sustain these institutions and to prevent the people of such states from being remitted to a condition of anarchy.

II. The guarantee by Congress of eijual suffrage to all men at the South was dc^manded by considerations of public safety, of grat- itude and of justice, and must be maintained, while the question of suffrage in all the loyal states proiKn-ly belongs to the people of those states.

III. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime, and the national honor demands the payment of the public indebted- ness, in the utmost good faith, to all creditors at home and abroad. not only according to the letter but in the s]>irit in which it was con- tracted.

IV. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should bi* cqualiz^^l and redu<ed as rapidly as the national faith will j)ermit.

A'. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preserva- tion of the Cnion for all time to come, should be extended over a fair period for redemption, and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon, whenever it can reasonably be done.

VI. The best j)olicy to diminish our burden of debt is to so improve our <redit, that capitalists will loan us money at lower rates of interest than we now pay, and must continue to pay, so long as repudiation, i)artial or total, open or covert, is threatened or sus- pected.

VII. The (lovernment of the Cnitcni States should be adniiuis- tered with the strictest economy, and the corruptions which have b<»en so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson call loudly for radical reform.

VIII. We profoundly deplore th(» untimely and tragic death of .Vbraham Lin<-oln, and regret the* accession to the Presidency of Andrew Johnson, who has a<ted trea<herously to the j>eople who elected him and the <ause he was ]>ledged to support; who has usurped high legislative and judicial functions: who has refused to execute the laws: who has used his high office to induce other officers to ignore and violate the laws: who has employed his executive powers to r(»nder insecure the property, peace, lil)erty and life of the citizen: who has abused the pardoning power: who has denounced

THE FOrUTH KKIM'HLK A\ (H)NVKXTIO\. 225

the National Lejijislatiirc* as unconstitutional; who has |)(»rsistentlv and corruptly resisted, hy c^very nu^asure in his power, every jiroper attenijjt at the reconstruction of the. states lately in rebellion; who has perverted the pu!)lic patronage into an engine of wholesale cor- ruption, and who has justly been impeached for hi^h crimes and mis- demeanors, and properly pronounced guilty thereof by tlie vote of thirty- tive senators.

IX. The doctrine of (ireat liritain and other European powers that because a man is once a subj(»ct he is always so, must be rc^sisted at every hazard by the I'nitt^d States as a relic of feudal times, not authorized by the law of nations and at war with our national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to be protected in all their rijjhts to citizenshi]) as thouj^h they were native born, and no citizen of the I'nited States, native or otherwise, must be liable to arrest and imiirisonment by any foreij^n power for acts done or words spoken in this country; and if arrested and imprisoncnl it is the duty of the Kovc*rnnH»nt to interfere in his b(»half.

X. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, then* were none entitled to more esiK^cial honor than the brave soldiers and seamen, who cmdured the hardships of camimi^n and cruise and imperilled their lives in the service of the country; the bounties and ]>ensions provided by law for tliese brave defenders of the X^ation are oblipitions nev(»r to be forjrotten; the widows and orphans of the j»:allant dead are the wards of the people, a sacred lej^acy bequeathed to the Nation's protective care.

XI. Foreign emigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development and n*sourc(*s and increase of power to this Xation — the asylum of the o])pr(»ssed of all nations — should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just ])olicy.

XII. This convention declares itself in sympathy with all the oppressed jx^ople who are struggling for their rights.

Some members of the convention had b(»en so imimtient to nom- inate (irrant for Pri^sident that two of them had made motions to thai effect before the order of business was rcMiorted or a i)ermanent organization was effected, and another had done the same thing, while the convention was awaiting the report of the committee on creden- tials. The time had now ccmie when this (*ager desire* could be car- ried out and (i(»neral John A. Logan had been chosen to place the name of CI rant before the* convention.

The selection of (leneral Logan for this service was a very appro- priate one. Before the war he representcni the darkest district in Egypt, as Southern Illinois was called. His district was populated mostly by emigrants from tlu» slave* stat(*s. and its people w(*re about as strong for Secession and slavery as their ncMghbors across the

22G HISTORY OF THE KKPrHLK AN PARTY.

Ohio and Mississippi Kivers in Keutncky and Arkansas. He was a Doujjjlas IU*nH)<rat» \i'i the l)i8tri<t used to send him to Congress by {{),{){){) or 11, (MM) majority. After the war broke ont, when he went home to raise a regiment for the Vnion Army his < onstituents resented the act. They would liave preferred a regiment for the Confederate service. His eloquence and persuasive powers carried the day and he got his regiment. After "the Rhuk Eagle of Illinois" returned from the Army his District sent him back to Washington as a Repub- lican, by about the same majority that it had given him before as a

Democrat. It is told of him that when he was home on leave of ab- st^nce, during the war and was making a eani- ])aign spcMM'h, one of his h e a r e r 8 interrupted him with remarks that had a tlavor of Copper- headism, and were in- luilting to the sj)eaker himself. Logan seized t h e w a t e r pitcher, jumped down from the j>hitform, c-hased the in- truder out of the hall, then returned and r^r- sumc^d his siK^ech amid grc»at api>lause. EgApt appreciated that kind of argument. JOHN A. LOGAN. Logau's first battle

with his rc*giment brought a ri»commcmdation from (Trant that he he made a RrigadicM- Oeneral, and he returned home a Major General. He was now in position to return (Jrant's favor by nominating him for President. Rc^cognizing the impatience of the Convention to come to a votc\ he restrained the natural desire* which induces many to n ake a disj>hiy of oratory on such occasions, and confined his speech to a single sentence. Reing informed by the Chair that nominations were in order he said: "Thc*u, sir. in the name of the loyal citizens, soldiers and sailors, of this great Republic of the

THE FOrKTH HEPrULK AN CONVENTION.

United States of America; in the name of lovalty,of libertr, of human- ity, of justice; in the name of the Naticmal Tnion Kepublican party, I nominate, as candidate for the Chief Maj::i8tra<y of this Nation, I'lysses S. Grant.'- If he had talked lialf an honr lie could not have aroused more enthusiasm than he did by this sinjjjle sentence. At the mention of Grant's name, then* was ju-olon^ed applause, and a ^reat waving of handkerchiefs, and then the mass of p(M)ple, delej^ates and spectators, rose and j;ave thr(»e rousinj? cIhmm's for Hie nominee, while the band struck up **llail to the Chief."

The roll of states and territories was then called and the Chair- man announced: **Gen- tlemen of the Conven- t i o n, y o u have six hundred and fifty vot<»s; you liave jjjiven six h u n d r e d and tifty votes for Vlys- ses S. (irant. Nin(» rousing cheers fol- lowed the announce- ment, the band played '•The Hat tie Cry of F reed o m,'' and the who'e C o n V e n t i o n joined in the chorus. Entliusiasm was still further aroused by a song written for the o<casion by George P.

Koot, entitled -'We'll Fight it Out Her<» on the Old Cnion Line," and sung by Chaplain Lozier, Chaplain McCabe and Major H. O. [jonibard.

The contest for the nomination for Vice-President was very s])irited. The nominating speech(»s were nuuu»rous, most of them brief, and generally of a very high order. Virginia nominat(»d Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, and his home State and South Carolina se<onded the nomination. Indiana nominated Schuyler Colfax, and New JtMsey and Michigan seconded the nomination.

BENJAMIN F. WADE.

228 HISTORY OF TUK KEIM'HLK AN PAKTY.

The Micbipui (h^le^aliou had been instructed for Colfax. Ohio nominated Benjamin F. Wade and was 8ui)])orted by Missouri and North Carolina. New York nominated Ex-Oovernor Reuben E. Fenton, and Louisiana supjiorted the nomination. Kentucky named James Speed; Maryland nominated John A. J. Creswell, but Mr. Creswell, who was a delepile, immediately withdrew his name in a stirrinj^ speech favoring **j»:lorious old Hen Wade, of Ohio." Penn- sylvania nominated Ex-Governor A. O. Curtin, Iowa named James Harhui, Maine presented Hannibal Hamlin, and Kansas submitttnl S. C. Pomeroy. The following table shows the course of the bal- loting:

1st.

Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio 149

Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana 118

Reuben E. Fenton, of New York Vi2

James Speed, of Kentucky 22

J. A. J. Creswell, of Maryland 14

A. (i. Curtin, of Pennsylvania 52

James Harlan, of Iowa KJ

AVMlliam I). Kelh^y, of Pennsylvania.. f>

Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine :{()

Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts.... 11!)

Governor Curtin had furnished the Pennsylvania delegation with a patriotic letter, authorizing them to withdraw his name, whenever, in their judgment, such action would '^promote unity and harnion,^ in the Republican party, and its ultimate triumph, which is so essen tial to the perpetuity of the (lovernment, and the prosperity and happiness of the American people.-' It will be noticed that Wade started in the lead, and maintained that position through four ballots. His nomination was expected and probably would have been brought about, had it not been for the chronic habit of Ohio delegates to break away from their own candidates at a critical time, a habit of which Senator Sherman, and half a dozen others, have had reason to complain. Four of the Ohio delegation broke from Wade to Colfax on the s(»cond ballot, and the number increased to six on the fourth ballot. Colfax's nomination, however, was entirely satis factory to the (ountry. He was one of the most popular Republi- cans and one of the best parliamentarians of the time.

There was an incident connected with the Michigan delegation at this Convention which has never before been in print. The Sen-

2d.	M.	4th.	5th.	6th.
170	178	204	15»6	42
140	104	186	224	522
140	139	144	137	75
45	40			. . .
.{0	25	25	15)
1 1:{	101	87	«1	11

THE FOURTH REPUBLK AN CONVENTION. 229

atorial influence from Washington was very stronjjjly in favor of Benjamin F. Wade for Vice-President. Senator Chandler, of Michi- gan, was especially attached to Mr. Wade. They had been comrades in the Senate when the Republicans were in a hopeless minority there. In view of the assault made upon Sumner and of the threats and bluster of Southern Senators after that time, they had be(»n parties, with Senator Cameron, to a written compact, to resist force with force, in case of any assault upon themselves, or upon any of their fellow senators in their presence, and had practiced with the revolver until they were accounted among the best shots in Wash- ington. They had stood together in favor of Lincoln and Grant, and of all efficient war measures, and after that against the aggres- sions of President Johnson. In his earnest desire for Mr. Wade's nomination, Mr. Chandler wrote to the nmuager of the Detroit Post, of which he was much the largest stockholder, and which was devoted to his interests, asking that it come out in support of Mr. Wade. The manager replied that Michigan had already instructed its dele- gation to support Colfax, and it would not be well for the paper, nor well for Mr. Chandler, to go counter to the expressed wish of the Republicans of the State. Mr. Chandler, who often led, but never attempted to drive, the Republicans of Mi<higan, saw the force of this, and made no further efforts in that direction.

Cteneral Grant's letter of acceptance was characteristic. It con- tained only 211 words, and, omitting the introductory acknowledg- ments, was as follows:

**I endorse the resolutions. If elected to the office of President of the United States it will be my endeavor to administer all the la\^ s in good faith, with economy and with the view of giving peace, quiet and protection everywhere.

**In times like the present it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay down a policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an Administration of four years. New political issues, not foreseen, are constantly arising; the views of the public on old ones are constantly changing, and a purely Administrative officer should always be left free to execute the will of the* peoi)le. I always have respected that will and always shall.

**Peace and universal prosperity, its sequence, with economy of Administration, will lighten the burden of taxation, while it con stantly reduc(»s t\w National dei)t. Let us have peace."

2^0 HISTORY OF THE KEmiLirAX PARTY.

The deference here shown to the will of the people, and the dis elaimer of any infiexible plan of meeting the exiji:encie8 of the time, were in striking and pleasing contrast to the self-assertion and obsti- nacy which had characterized the occnpant of the White House for the previous three years.

Mr. Colfax's letttu' of acceptance, addressed to General Hawley. opened with this ji:rac(»ful expression of thanks: *The platform adopted by the patriotic Convention over which you presided, anil the resolutions which so hapi)ily suppleni<»nt it, so entirely ajjree with my views as to a just National policy, that my thanks are due to the delegates, as much for this <lear and auspicicms declaration of principles, as for the* nomination with which I have been honored, and which I grat<»fully accept." Mr. Colfax followed with a brief reference to the issues of the day, and to what the Republican party had already accomplished.

The harmonious character of the Convention, the hearty aceejM- ance of the platform by the candidates, and the popularity of the candidates themselves, most favorably affected the party, and it entered uj)on the camjmign with confidence and zeal.

XVIII.

THE GRANT AND (H)LFAX ( AMPAKJX.

The Democratic Tamnianv Hall (Convention — *'Vour Candidate I Cannot Be*' — T1h» Nomination of Seynionr and lilair — A Very Critical and Fault-Finding IMatform — Blair's Previous Record — A AV(»ak Point in the Ticket— Tlie SoutlnMU Fin»- Eaters Too Out- spoken— An Active and Bitter Contest — A Flood of Campaign Poetry — (SranCs Speeches — Seymour's ElcMtioneering Tour — A (ireat Triumph for the Republicans — A Larp» Majority of the* Popular \'ote, the Vote in the Electoral CoUe^a* and in Congress.

The Democrats, in lS(;s, were more at sea and at sea much longer, than the Republicans. Their course as a party, durinj? the war had thoroughly disiredited them. Their war-is-a-failure cam- paign in 18()4 had ended in complete discomtiture, and their investment in Andrew Jolinson had not netted any dividends. They were out of principles, and th(»ir stock of available candidates had run low. They w(»re in as great need of r<4iabilitation as tin* South was.

The National ('onvention met in Tammany Hall, New York, July 4, and remained in session eleven days. The framing of a platform was no easy matter. All the material in the old platform was rotten or worm-eaten, and it was necessary to cut fresh material and build anew. The declarations of th(» C(mvention, as tinally adopted, <-ontained an enumeration of wrongs, and of outrages \\]nm liberty, and of violations of the Constitution, and of abuses in taxatitm, and of usurpations of power, that might fairly hav«» made Vallandigham and men of his class weep. They did not know before that they ha<l been so cruelly abused. As the lirst pronouncement of the modern Democracy, the declaration is worth giving in full. Here it is:

The Democratic party, in National Convention assembled, repos- ing its trust in the intellig(»nc(\ patriotism, and discriminating justice of the people, standing upon the C<mstitntion as th<» foundation and

2:\2 HISTOKY OF TIIK KEPrHLI(\\N PARTY.

limitation of the powers of the Government, and th<* j;uarantee of the liberties of the eilizen, and reeoj^nizinj^ the questions of Slaverv and S(»(ession as havinji: !>een settled for all time to come by the war or the voluntary action of the Southern States in Constitutional Con- ventions assembled, and never to be renewed or reajjitated, do, with the return of peace, demand:

1. Immediate restoration of all the states to their rights in tlie Tnion, under the Constitution, and of Civil (lovernment to the Amer- ican people.

2. Amnesty for all jmst political otfences, and the repilation of the elective franchise in the states by their citizens.

:\. PayiiHMit of the public debt of the Vnited States as rapidly as practicable; all moneys drawn from the people by taxation, exee]»t so nuK'h as is recjuisite for the necessities of the (iovernment, econoni ically administered, beinj» honestly applitnl to such payment, and where the oblijjjations of the (iovernment do not (»xpn*ssly state ujHin their face, or the Law under which they were issued does not provid** that they shall be paid in coin, they oujrht, in right and in justice, to be i)aid in the lawful money of the United States.

4. Ecpial taxation of every species of propi^rty according; to its real value, including (iovernment bonds and other public securities.

5. One currency for the (iovernment and the pcoj>le, the laborer and the office-holder, the pensioner and the soldier, the producer and I he bondholder.

G. Economy in the Administration of the (iovernment; t\w reduction of the standing Army and Navy; the abolition of the Freed- man's Bureau, and all political instrumentalities designed to secure negro supremacy; simplitication of the system, and discontinuance of incpiisitorial models of ass(»ssiiig and collecting internal revenue. so that the burden of taxation may be ecpialized and lessened; the credit of the (JovcMument and the currency made good; the repeal of all enactments for c*nrolling the State Militia into National foresee in time of j)eace; and a taritf for rc»venue upon foreign imports, and such ecjual taxation under the Internal Kevenue Laws as will afford incidental protection to domestic manufacturers, and as will, without impairing the revenue, impose the least burden u]»on and best pro- mote* anci encourage the grc»at industrial in:erests of the* country.

7. Reform of abusers in the* Adminisiration, the expulsion of corrupt men from otiicc*, the abrogation ol iis;*lc»ss offices, the restora- tion of rightful authority to, and the* iude*i;e*He!euee of, the Exee-utive and Judicial I)(*i)artments of the (iove*rnme*nt, the* subordination of the military to the civil j)owe*r, to the* e*nd that the usurpations of Congrc*ss and de*spotism of the sword may ce»asc*.

S. Ecpial rights and protc*ction. for naturalized and native-born citizc*ns, at home and abroad; the* assertion of Ame*rican nationality which shall ccmimand the resjK*ct of foreign powc*rs and furnish an c*xanii)le* and e*ncourage*me*nt to ]M*o])le struggling for Xaticmal integ- rity. Constitutional libe*rty, anel individual rights, and the nminte-

THE GRANT AND ("OLFAX ( AMPAIGN. 2.33

nance of the riji^hts of naturalized <itizens aji:ain8t the absolute doc- trine of immutable allej^ian<e, and the claims of foreign powers to punish them for allej^ed crime committed beyond their jurisdiction.

In demanding these measures and reforms, we arraign the Rad ical party for its disregard of right and the unparalleled oppression and tyranny which have nmrked its career. After the most solemn and unanimous pledge of both Houses of Congress to prosecute the war exclusively for tlie maintenance of the (Tovernment and the pres- (»rvation of the Tnion under the Constitution, it has rejieatedly vio- lated that most sacred pledge, under which alone was rallied that noble Volunteer Army which carried our tlag to victory. Instead of restoring the I'nion, it has, so far as is in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten states, in time of i)rofound peace, to military despotism and negro supremacy. It has nullified there the right of trial by jury; it has abolished the habeas corpus, that most sacred writ of liberty; it has overthrown the frei^lom of sijccmIi and the press; it has substituted arbitrary seizures and arrests, and military trials and secret star-chamber inquisitions for the Constitutional tribunals; it has disregarded, in time of jxnice, the right of the i)eoi)le to be free from searches and seizures; it has entered the post and telegraph offices, and even the privat*^ rooms of individuals, and seized their private jjapers and letters without any s|)ecitic charge or notice of affidavit, as recjuired by the organic law; it has converted the Amer- can Capitol into a bastile; it has established a system of spies and official espionage, to which no Constitutional Monarchy of Europe^ would now dare to resort; it has abolished the right of a])f)eal on important Constitutional questions to the Supreme Judicial tribunal, and threatens to control or destroy its original jurisdicticm, which is irrevocably vested by the Constitution, while the learned Chit^f Justice has been subjected to the most atrocious calumnies, merely because he would not prostitute his high oftice to the su]>port of the false and ]>artisan charges preferred against the President. Its corruption and extravagan<e have exceeded anything known in history, and. by its frauds and monopolies it has nearly doubled the burden of the debt created by the war. It has stripped the Presi dent of his Constitutional jjower of appointment, even of his own Cabinet. Under its rei)eated assaults the ])illars of the (rovernment are rocking on their base, and should it succeed in November next and inaugurate its President, we will meet as a subjected and con- quered people, amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of the Constitution.

And we do declare and resolve, that ever since the i)eople of the United States threw of? subjection to the I5ritish crown, the ju'ivi- lege and trust of sutTrage have belonged to the several states, and have been granted, regulated and controlled exclusively by the politi- cal power of each State respectively, and that any attempt by Congress, on any pretext whatever, to deprive any State of this right, or interfere with its exercis(% is a flagrant usurpation of power.

2U HICTORY OF THE REPI BLICAN PARTY.

which ran find no warrant in the Constitution, and, if sanctioned b}' the people, will subvert our form of (iovernment, and can only end in a single. <entralized and consolidated (xovernnient, in which the sep- arate existence of the states will be entii*ely absorbed, and an unqual- ified despotism he established in place of a Federal I'nion of co-equal states.

And that we regard the Construction Acts (so-called) of Cou- j^ress, as such, as usurpations and unconstitutional, revolutionary and void. That our soldiers and sailors, who carried the flag of our rountry to victory against a most gallant and determined foe, must ever be gratefully remembered, and all the guarantees given in their favor must be faithfully <arried into exerution.

That the public lands should be distributed as widely as |K)ssi- ble among the people, and should be disjK)sed of either under tin* j>re-emption of homestead lands, or sold in reasonabh* quantities, and to none but actual orcupants, at the minimum ]»ri<e established by the (iovernment. When grants of the publi<- lands may be allowed, necessary for the encouragement of important i)ublic improvements, the proceeds of the sale of surh lands, and not the lands themselven. should be so a])plied.

That the l^resident of the T'nited States, Andrew Johnson, in exercising the power of his high ol!ice in resisting the aggressions of Congress ujum the Constitutional rights of the states and the people, is entitk»d to the gratitude of the whole American jieople, and in behalf of the Democratic party we tender him our thanks for bis j)atriotic efforts in that regard.

rpon this platform the Democratic i)arty appeal to every patriot, including all the conservative element and all who desii'e to support the Ccmstitution and restore the Cnion, forgetting all past differences of opinion, to unite with us in the i>resent great struggle for the liberties of tht» peoi>le; and that to all such, to whatever party they may have heretofore belonged, we extend the right hand of fellowship, and hail all such co-operating with us as friends and brethren.

RESOLVED, That this Convention sympathize cordially with the workingmen of the Cnited States in their efforts to protect the rights and interests of the laboring classes of the country.

RESOLVED, That the thanks of the (\)nvention are tendered to Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase for the justi<e, dignity and inipar tiality with which \w presided over the Court of ]mi)eachment on the trial of President Andrew Johnson.

When the Convention reached the order of nomination for Presi- dent everything was involved in doubt. The nomination of George II. Pendleton would have been the natural outcome, inasmuch as the most important planks of the ])latform were framed to meet his vi(»ws. Put the New York and somi* other Eastern Democrats were

THE ORANT AND COLFAX C AMPAION. 235

8tronj?l.v opposed to him, and put Thomas A. Hendricks in the fiehl to divide the Western vote. I'p to nearly the time of the Conven- tion President Johnson cherished hopes that he mijrht, by reeeivinj^ the Democratic nomination, reap the reward of his adojition of Democratic practices. His plan of framing a new party, with himself at the head of it, had long since been abandoned, and the Conven- tion had not been long in session before that infatuated individual relinquished the hallucination that he could receive the Democratic* nomination. His highest vote in the Convention was sixty-five, on the first ballot, and it dwindled from that to five on the twenty-first. The name of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase was on the lips of members throughout the balloting, and there was hardly a time when a break to him was not among the possibilities, even among the probabilities. It was the plan of some of the leaders to spring his name, if the opportunity offered, but if the opportunity ever came they failed to take advantage of it. Mr. Chase only received half a vote on the twelfth, thirteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nine- teenth ballots, and four on the twenty-first. Sanford E. Church was given thirty-three votes on the first seven ballots, and then dropped. The only object in presenting his name at all was to hold the votes of New York State in reserve, until it was decidcMi how best to use them^ It was apparently for the same reason that Asa Packer, of Pennsylvania, was given twenty-six votes on the first fourteen ballots. The following table shows the first ballot, the eighth when Pendleton reached his highest, the eighteenth when Hancock reached his highest, and the twenty-first which was the last before the break to Seymour:

1st. 8th. I8th. 21st.

George H. Pendleton, of Ohio 105 156 1/> 5(;i/>

Winfleld S. Hancock, of New York. . . . .^'M/o 28 144i/> 135 U>

Thos. A. Hendricks, of Indiana 2K\> 75 87 182 ""

Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee ($5 28 10 5

Sanford E. ( Mmrch, of New York 33

Asa Packer, of Pennsylvania 26 26

Joel Parker, of New Jersey 13 7 3V1»

James E. English, of Connecticut 16 6 10

James R. Doolittle, of Wisconsin 13 12 12 12

Largest number of votes 317

Necessary to a choice 212

Scattered votes were also cast on the different ballots for the following candidates: Keverdy Johnson, Francis P. Blair, Jr.,

236

HISTORY OF THE KEPT BLICAN PARTY.

Thomas Ewin^j, John Quiney Adams, Oeorjre H. Mcriellan, Franklin Pierce, John T. Hoffman, Stephen J. Field and Thomas H. Seymour. It appeared to the leaders that the time had nearly eome when f'hief Justice Chase mi^ht be brought forward, and after a short consultation, it was decided that after the next ballot the Conven- tion should adjourn till the next morning, and that then the Chair- man of the Convention should take the tioor, and formally present Mr. Chase's name. Hut the Convention got away from them. After a ft»w states had be(*n calh*d. vot(»s began to ai>i)ear for Horatio

Seymour, Prc^sident of the Convention, who, at the first mention of his name arose, pro- tested and declined to be a candidate. \Yhen Ohio was reached the delegation surprised the Convention by giv- ing its entire vote for Horatio Seymour. This was another instance of the chronic tendency of Ohio delegations to br(^ak away from can- didates from their own State, at just the time when s u c cess was within their reach. The delegation were feeling ugly because they were obliged to abandon Pendleton, and therefore would have ncme of Chase. I'pon iheir anuouncement of their vote for Seymour, that gentleman arose and in*otest(*d; diM-lared his devotion to the i»arty and his willingness to serv(» it in any other way, and then, with his hand thrust forward, j>alm outward, as though to jmt away the jnoffered honor, said: ''But gentlemen, your candidate 1 cannot be." The tide, however, had turned that way, and nothing could check it. State after State changed its vote, and when the result was announced it was unani- mous, :U7 votes for Seymour. His reluct aure to take the nomination was doubtless genuine, but he was virtually forced to accept it.

HORATTO SEVMOrR.

THE CJKANT AND TOLFAX CAMPAIGN. 237

Francis P. Blair, Jr., was nominated for Vice-President without opposition. Mr. Blair was a man, both of stronj? convictions and equally strong prejudices. He was one of the first men in Missouri to denounce slavery and advocate gradual emancipation. This ground he took on economic rather than on moral grounds. He insisted that slavery was a drawback to the development and i)ros- perity of the State, and that it was especially detrimental to the commercial and industrial interests of St. Louis. He and li. Gratz Brown were largely instrumental in organizing the Republican party in that city. He was elected to Congress as a Kei)ublican, and as late as February, lh05, was entrusted by President Lincoln with an important mission in conncK'tion with peace overtures. After that h(* first *%Johnsonized*- and then went over to the extreme wing of th<» Democratic party. Before the Convention he had writt(*n a letter in which he said: **There is but one way to restore the (lovernment and the Constitution, and that is for the President to declare these Acts null and void, compel the Army to undo its usurjiations in the South, dispossess the carpet-bag State Governments, allow the white people to reorganize their own Governments, and elect Senators and Repre- sentatives." This nmde him a very suitable candidate on a plat- form, containing this clause which was proposed by Wade Hamjiton: **That we regard the Reconstruction Acts of (^ongress, as usur[»a- tions, unconstitutional, revolutionary and void.'*

Robert Toombs, in a speech at Atlanta, declared that ^'these so- called Governments and Legislatures which have been established in our midst, shall at once be made to vacate. The Convention at New York appointed Frank P. Blair especially to oust them.^- From being trusted by Lincoln, to being praised by Toombs, was certainly a great descent. His own extreme utterances and the praise of the Southerners, it was thought, were calculated to injure the ticket. After the October elections the New York World denmnded that he be withdrawn, but he concluded to ^*sti(*k'' and the canvass went on. In the course of the campaign Mr. Blair brought ridicule, as well as hostility, to the ticket. When making a speech at Allyn Hall, Hart- ford, Conn., he was so much **under the influence'' that he found difficulty in steadying himself, and his reniarks were so rambling and incoherent as to cause great chagrin and mortification to his Democratic hearers, and great glee to the Republican i)ress.

The campaign was active and bitter. In the East it lacked the accessories of drilled marching companies and torch-light proces-

2:W HISTORY OF THE KEPrBl.K^VN PARTY.

siona which had inarktHi the canipai^iiH of 18G0 and 1864, but in tbi» West these were maintained. In Detroit there was great rivalry between the two parties over this feature and there were some of the hirgest processions ever seen in the city. The expense was so great, however, that after the campaign was over, the party oonamit- tees agreed for the future to abandon this costly method of rousing enthusiasm. This phin was carritni out, under the agreement, until it became a matter of habit, and the torch-light procession has never been resumed in Detroit as a nuiin feature of the general campaign. The printini docuiuent, the lithograi>h and the local meeting havt* largely supplanted the torch, the transparency and general mass meeting in the effort to reach and convin<e the voter.

One feature of the canvass was the immense amount of campaign poetry that was jioured into it. On the Democrat side this was bitter in the extreme, and some of it indecent. There was frequently used one verse of four lines, in praise of the assassination of Lincoln, which was absolutely hideous in its brutality. There was another, not quite as jjocd as the best and not quite as bad as the worst, which jiraised the "pure soul" of the "martyred and blest," Mrs. Sur- ratt, and added a ribald characterization of some of the Republican leaders.

Th(» Republican campaign verses were on a much higher plant*. They w(»re always decent, and some of them models in verse and song, John (i. Whittier's four stanzas on the Democratic piatforui. for instame. They were generally in praise of their own ticket, rather than in denunciation of their opponents. Hut here are thre«» stanzas addressed "To (reneral F. P. IMair," which are sufficiently keen in their personal thrusts:

You have falsified your record

For the fitful hope of place*; Tlu» sword you drew in honor

You have sheathed now in disgrace; The hand that bore our standard

Has palsied — lost its clasj), .\nd takes the hand of traitors

In its dishonored grasp.

You have left the cause of freedom.

The Union and the laws. To fan th(» fires of discord

And honor the "lost cause,"

THE (IKANT AND (M)LFAX CAMPAIGN. 231)

Affiliate with traitors,

Who with revengeful breath, Are livinj^ unrepentant

And plot the Nation's death.

You are standinji:, hand in hand, with them.

You at Atlanta faeed; And they who stood beside you then

Feel by your act disjjraeed. Oh I in your midnight musings

Y'our thoughts must bitter be, To recollect that once you marched

With Sherman to the sea.

During the cam]>aign (Jrant's reticence was commented on unfa- vorably by some of the Democratic stump speakers, who said that he could not nmke a speech, and that the ability to talk was essential in a man in that exalted position. Before they were through tliey wished they had not mentioned the subject, for Republican stump orators began to quote some of (irant's terse utterances during the war, as si»eech(»s that were at least easily comprehended. Grant's si>ee<h to (leneral Buckner at Fort Donelson was very short, but when he was through talking Buckner understood that 'I'ncondi- tional surrender'' represented the (mly terms he could obtain. In view of the initials of his name, ''Inconditional Surrender" (iranr was the name sometimes applied to tlu» General. "I propose to move immediately upon your works," was another of (rrant's speeches which the Rebel (Jeneral < 'ommanding was able to compn^hend. When Grant's plan of attack on I^tn^'s army and approach to Richmond was criticised, and pressure was brought to bear upon him to change it, he did not make a long si)eech in reply, but his renmrk: **I propose to tight it out on this line if it takes all summer," conveyed a very clear idea of his purjwse. **Let us have peace" expressed a wish which the pf^ople understood, and in which they heartily concurred, it was related that after one of the battles of the Wilderness, when the sol- diers had fought all day with an enemy that they could not see, on account of the woods and brush, General Grant was asked to step backward and reorganize, and that he replied: **We have done very well, gentlemen. At half past three o'clock in the morning we move forward." These and other similar concise expression^ of Grant's when quoted to a mass m(*eting were always effective in rousing enthusiasm. The (flotation was often followed by the suggestion

240 HISTORY OF THE KEPriUJCAN PARTY.

that in tho flood of oratory that sometimes 8Wi*ei)8 over a political iissemhla^e, there wt*re i)eoi»i(* who talked too mueh. If they wonld talk less they would have a <haiu(* to think more, a reference wbieli the audience would readily apply to Francis P. Rlair's loquacity.

The October election went Republican, but by majorities so small as to leave the Democrats some chance. The closest state was Indi- ana, which pive Conrad Haker 1H;1 majority over Thomas A. Hen- dricks, a very meaner figure compared with Morton's :}0,000 at th** election hehl durinj^ the Presidential canvass four years earlier.

In the hoi)e of reversing this result in some of these states. Gov- ernor Seymour made an electioneering): tour through them. His strong j»ersonality and his persuasive eloquence mij!:ht have had the desired effect, but here a new element entered in. Business men were aroused at the threat of i)artial rej»udiation jiroposed in the Pendle ton planks in the platform, and the financial disturbance it would create. An uprising followed, similar in character, though not so wide in extent as that which marked the revolt against the 10 to 1 heresy in IMMi. So in the end it was Pendleton's financial )>lanks, rather than Hlair's (\)i)perheadism that turned the scale.

The result was a triumidi for the Rej)ublicans such as the most sanguine men in the [mrty would not have dared to j)redict six weeks earlier. Orant carried 2i'} states, with 214 ehntoral vot€*s. Seymour had St) electoral votes, of which about half were from his own State and the rest were from N(»w Jerst\v (which usually follows the lead of New Yorki, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Oeorpa, Ix>uisiaua and Oreji:on. it was afterwards proven that the result in Louisiana was obtained by frauds of the most sweeping character. The popular vote was:

(Jrant and (\)Ifax a,tU5,071

Seymour and Blair 2,7t)lK(n8

Durinj^ this period (Nmpess was dividend i^olitically as follows*

Forty-first ('onji:ress. Senate — Republicans, Gl; D(»mocrats, 11. House — Reimblicans, 170; Democrats, 7.'^.

Forty-second ('onjjcress. St»nat(^ — Rej)ublicans, 57; Democrats, 17. Uoust* — Republicans, 1:>J>; Democrats, lf)4.

One of the interestinj^ features of this cam]>ai^n in Michijjau was a s<»ries of county mass meetings in the southern part of the

THE GlIAXT AND (H)LFAX ( AMPAKJN. 241

State, addresBed by Senator Chandler, Henry P. Baldwin, candidate for Governor, and others. The State wan thoroughly aroused, and the vote was much larjjer than any cast previous to that time. (Jrant had lin,221> and S(\vmour S2,;m4: nmjority for (Jrant, :it),S()5. There were also '202 votes cast for David Davis, on a Workinpnan's nomina- tion, which cut no fijfun* during the campaif^n, and which had elec- toral tickets in only a few of the states. The Presidential Electors were: At Larj^e — Charles M. Croswell, John Hurt. By Districts — (1) William Doeltz; (2) Charl(»s W. (Misbee; Hi) (diaries T. (lorham; (4) Byron M. Cutcheon; (5) (iiles Hubbard; (0) Michael (\ T. Plessner. The vote for (governor was: Henry P. Baldwn'n, of Detroit, I2S,051; John Moore, of Sajrinaw, J)7,2J>0; Baldwin's majority, ;i0,701. The Couj^ressional de]ej;:ation was Republican and consisted of Fer- nando i\ Beaman, Austin Blair, Omar 1). Conger, Thomas W. Ferry, William L. Stoughton and Kandolph Strickland.

XIX.

PKESIDEXT (.KAXrS FIRST TERM.

Paragraphs from the JMesideut's Inaugural Messaj^e — A (^abinet that Did Not Lon^ Hold Together — Atteuii)t8 to Solve the Kec-on- struetion Problem — Settlinjj Old Scores with (treat Britaiu — Financial Issues Come to the Front — How to l)isrharj?e the Pub- lic Oblipitions and (iet Hack to Si)ecie Payments — The Act to Strenjfthen the Public ('redit — The Refunding,' A<t— The <'oin- aj^e Act Demonetizing Silver — The Salarv (Jral) — The Treaty of Washington — Tht» Proposed San Dominj^o Purchase Defeated.

President (Jrant's inaugural message was brief and character- istic. It was addressed to the citizens of the I'nited States and the first three sections were as follows:

"Your sutTrajres having elected me to the ofli<e of President of the I'nited States, I have, in <<)nformity to the ('onstituti<m of our coun- try, taken the oath of oftH-e prescril>ed therein. I have taken this oath without mental reservation, and with the determination to do, to the best of my ability, all that it requires of me. The res)K>nsibilities of the position I feel, but ac<ept them without fear. The office has come to me unsought; I cmnmence its duties untrammeled, I bring ro it a conscious desire and determination to fill it to the best of my ability, to the satisfaction of the people.

"On all leading questions agitating the public mind I will always express my views to Congress, and urge them according to my judg- ment; and, when I think it advisable, will exercise the Constitutional privilege of intiM-posing a veto to defeat measures which I opjwse. Rut all laws will be faithfully executed, whether they meet my ap- proval or not.

"I shall, on all subjects, have a policy to recommend, but none tii enforce against the will of the peoi)le. Laws are to govern all alike, those opposed, as well as those who favor them. I know no nietlicKl to secure the rejteal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.''

PKESIDENT GRANT'S FIliST TERM. 2411

The Presideut's Cabinet as tiiHt announced was not considered fortunate in its selection. It was as follows:

Secretary of State — Elibu H. Washburne, of Illinois.

Secretary of the Treasury — Alexander T. Stewart, of New York.

Secretary of War — John A. Kawlins, of Illinois.

Secretary of the Navy — Adoljib E. Borie, of Pennsylvania.

Postmaster General — John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland.

Secretary of the Interior — Jacob I>. Cox, of Ohio.

Attorney General — E. Rockwell Hoar, of Massachusetts.

The Cabinet did not long hold together. Mr. ^^'ashburne was confirmed March 5 and resigned March It), to take the position of Minister to France, in accordance, it was understood, with a previous understanding. He was succeeded by Hamilton Fish, of New York, an appointment which created surju'ise at the time, but which proved to be a most excellent one. Mr. Stewart was found to be ineligible under an act passed September 2, 178J), which provided that the Secre- tary of the Treasury should not be ''directly, or indirectly, concerned or interested in carrying on the business of trade or commerce, or be owner, in whole or in j:art. of any sea vessel or purchase, by himst^lf or another in trust for him, any jniblic lands or other public property, or be concerned in the i»urchase or disposal of any public securities of any State or of thi* I'nited States, or take or apply to his own use any emolument or gain for negotiating or transacting any business in the said l>ej)artment, other than what shall be allowed by law.''

This act is so sweeping in its exclusion of business men as to make it a matter of surprise that the Government has been able to secure many capable men for that imi)ortant position. Th<^ President was anxious to have Mr. Stewart in the Cabinet and Mr. Stewart was anxious to be there. It was pro])Osed, at one time, that he should assign all his business interests to his partner, Judgt* Hilton, but this was regarded as a mere evasion of tin* law, as he would still have an indirect interest in them. Then it was sought to remove his disabilities by a special Act of Congress, but that body would not establish the precedent of breaking down a law that had been in force for eighty years, in order to meet the exigencies of a particular case, and Mr. Stewart was reluctantly droj^ped. The Pres- ident then turned to Captain E. H. Ward, of Detroit, but he was found also to be ineligible, and George S. Houtwell, of Massachusetts, was cappointed.

John A. Rawliys, Secretary of War, gave way, after a few months, to William W. Pelknap, of Iowa. But Borie was a puzzler

244 HISTORY OF THE UErriUJCAN PARTY.

t(» the pe(»i>le, as he was almost unknowu in piihlit- alTairs. The VVest- (*rn Associated Press, in transmit tin jj: the Cabinet list, got a "v" in his name instead of an *'r/' An editor of one of the Detroit dailies, was writing biographies of the members of the Cabinet, and when he eame to the Secretary of the Navy he commenced: '*The Hon.

Adolph E. Bovie, Secretary of the Navy, is — is — well, who in is

Bovie, anyway?" ^Ir. Borie was succeeded, June 25, 18G1>, by George M. Robeson, of New Jersey.

(irant's Administration was confronted with three grave ]>roblems, all inherited from the war. These were an amicable adjustment of the relations between the whites and the blacks in the South, a j)roblem that is ev(»n yet not entirely solved; the settlement of our old scores with (ireat Britain, and the financial problem.

The latter subject was the one first taken in hand by Congress, and the question was how to get back to a sound specie basis, after doing business for sixtet»n years with pai)er that was more or less depreciated. It became evident early in the war, that the Govern- ment <*ould not command the gold necessary for payment of the vast exi)enses incurred in that struggle. We were not only exjiending immense sums for war material and supjilies at home, but we were imj)orting much more than we were exporting, and the balances du«* abroad had to be paid in gold or in gold bonds. As the war proceeded the disjuuity between the exports and imi)orts increased, for cotton shii)ments w(»re almost entirely cut off, and our surplus of breadstuffn and i)rovisions was less than in former years, on a<*count of the largo consumjjtion by the Army. Some form of paper obligation early became necc^ssary, and the necessity increased as the war continued.

The first exj^eriment with pai)er mon(\v was the issue of f50,000,- tK)0 in non-interest bearing Treasury notes. They were payable on demand, were as good as gold then, and continutMi at i)ar during the entire period of gold fluctuations. liut they were a new tiling;, peojjle were not accsutomed to issues of Gov(*rnment pai)er, and were suspicious of them, and even that amount, small as it was in com- parison with the jiaper issues subsequently issued, could not bi* floated. In this same period it was diflicult for the Government to borrow money on bonds, for its credit had been greatly impaired by the events of Buchanan's Administration. When the Secretary of the Treasury secured the first loan made during the war, the I^ndon Times said lu» had 'coerced foO.OtMMKH) from the New York banks, but he would not fare so well on the London Exchange," and for a

PRESIDENT GRANTS FIRST TERM. 245

time Confederate bonds sold better in Eiiroi)e than United States Government obligations. Borrowing on Government gold-bearing bonds afterwards became easier, both in this country and in Europe, but the need of currency for use in business transactions, became more and more pressing.

Out of this need came the creation of the greenback, and, later on, the National Bank Law. The Legal Tender Bill, which estab- lished the greenback, was introduced by E. G. Spauldiug, of the Buffalo, N. v.. District in Congress, December *M), lS(n, and was reported from the Ways and Means Committee, January 22, 1802. It was urged mainly as a matter of temjiorary mn^essity, and not as a judicious permanent system. In fact the expectation was held out that the greenbacks would be permanently retired almost as soon as the war ended. The bill was explained and ably supported by Mr. Spauiding, and other members of the Ways and Means Committee, but was opposed on the ground of expediency or constitutionality, or both, by a few Republicans, and by nearly all the Democrats. Among the latter Clement L. Vallandigham and George H. Pendle- ton took the lead.

In view of Mr. Pendleton's declaration in 18()S, in favor of paying the Government bonds in greenbacks, his attitude toward them in 1862 is interesting. In the course of his remarks he said: **Th(» feature of the bill that first strikes every thinking man, even in thes(» days of novelties, is the proposition that these notes shall be made a legal tender in discharge of all pecuniary obligations, as well those which have accrued in virtue of contracts already made, as those which shall hereafter be nuide. Do gentlemen api)reciate the full import and meaning of that clause? Do they realize the full extent to which it will carry them? Every contract for the payment of gold and silver coin, every promissory note, every bill of exchange, every lease reserving rent, every loan of money reserving interest, every bond issued by this Government, is a contract to which the faith of the obligor is pledged, that the amount whether rent, interest or principal shall be paid in the gold and silver coin of the country."

Among the Republicans opi)osing this bill were Justin S. Morrill, Roscoe and Frederick A. Conkling, and Owen Lovejoy. But it was vigorously pushed, and passed February (>, by 1)3 yeas, of whom 5 were Democrats, to 51) nays, of whom 21) were Demo(;rats, 17 Repub- licans and 13 Unionists. In the Senate the principal contest was over the legal tender clause, but a motion to strike that out was lost

240 HISTORY OF THK RElTHLirAN PARTY.

by 17 yeas, of whom 1) were Rejuiblieans and S DeniocratR, to 22 nays, of whom 18 were Republieans and 4 Democrats. ^Senators Colla- mer, Cowan and Fessenden sjjoke apiinst the lepal tender clause, and Senators Zachariah Chandler, Sherman, Sumner, Wade and Wilson were among the Republicans who defended it. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of :i() to 7, and was signed by the Presi- dent, February 25, 18(52. This Bill authorized the issue of f 150.000. 000 in legal tenders, of which ^50,000,000 was to be in lieu of the denmnd notes authorized in 1801. Two subsequent issues of 1150,000,000 each were authorized, but only f384,000,000 in all were issued.

The greenbacks were a (lod-send to the soldiers in the field, some of whom had not been j)aid for three or four months; and by furnish ing a medium of exchange, in abundant quantity, they stimulated business in every direction. Still the measure was one of inflation, and they <ould not be kept at par with gold. During the darkest days of the war, in 1804, gold was at 280, as compared with the legjil tenders. At the time (irant was inaugurated the process of contrac- tion, and the increase of our (^xjiorts had brought it down to 14:5. The problem before Congress, and the President, was to bring the greenbacks uj) to i)ar with gold, without violent shock or derange- UK»nt to business.

The President had said, in his inaugural message: '*A great debt has been contracted in scMuring to us and our posterity the I'nion. The payment of this, principal and interest, as well as the* return to a specie basis, as soon as it can be accomplished without material detriment to tin* debtor class or to the country at largo, must be provided for. To i)rotect the National honor every dollar of Government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. Let it be understood that no rej)udiator of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in l>ublic place, and it will go far towards strengthening a credit whieli ought to be the best in the world, and will ultinmtely enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest than we now pay. '

In view of the uneasiness caused by the discussions of this subject in the last campaign, and (^specially of the expressions in the Democratic platform. Congress did not wait to elaborate a system, but at once announced the principle by which it would be guided. This was done in a brief "Act to Strengthen the Public Oedit," which speedily passc^l both lTous(»s, the final vote in the Senate being ^\ to

PRESIDENT GRANTR FIRST TERM. 247

24, and in the Hoiine 117 to 50. It was signed by the President, March 18, 18()U, and was the first bill signed by him. It was as follows: ''In order to remove any doubt as to the purpose of the (fovernment to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and to settle conliicting questions and interpretations of the laws by which such obligations have been contracted, it is hereby provided and declared that the faith of the I'nited States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin, or its equivalent, of all the obligations of the Tnited States not bearing interest, known as I'nited States notes, and of all the interest-bearing obligations of the United States except in cases where the law authorizing the issue of any such obligation had expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful money, or other currency than gold and silver. But none of said interest-bear- ing obligations, not already due, shall be n^deemed or paid before maturity, unless at such time United States notes shall be convertible into coin at the option of the holder, or unless at such time United States bonds, bearing a lower rate of interest than the bonds to be redeemed, can be sold at par in coin. And the United States also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision, at the earliest practica- ble period, for the redemption of the United States notes in coin.'-

That was all of importance that was done at the first session of the Forty-first (^ongress, but at the second session of that Congress an Act was passed materially reducing the internal revenue taxes, thus diminishing the direct burdens of taxation upon the people. Still further reductions were made in both these classes of taxes by the Forty-second Congress. Tariff rates were also reduced on a large number of articles. Hut the most important financial Act of the session was the Refunding Act. On Mar<*h 31, 1805, the total debt of the United States was $2,846,000,000, of which $2,381,000,000 bore interest, $830,000,000 of it at seven and three-tenths per cent., $1,282,0(10,000 at 0 per cent, and $209,000,000 at 5 per cent. The annual interest charge was $151,000,000. The Refunding Act of this Congress <-ontemplated a large reduction in the rate of interest. Omitting details, the main i)urpose of the Act is expressed in the following sentence s: "The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized lo issue $200,tl00,000 coui)on or registered bonds, redeemable in coin at its current value at the pleasure of the Government, after ten years from the date of issue; interest five per cent., payable semi- annually in coin; also in like manner and on like terms $300,000,000 at 41/0 per cent., running fifteen years; also $1,000,000,000 at 4 per

248 HISTORY OF THE KEPT BLICAN 1*ARTY.

cent., running IM) years, all these bonds being exempt from taxation by any authority. The Secretary may dispose of these bonds at nor less than their par value for coin, and apjjly the proceeds to the redemption of the outstanding five-twenties at ])ar, or exchange par for par, but the bonds hereby issued shall be used for no other purpose." As the five-twenties were already redeemable at the option of the Government, tliis gave a sure method of reducing inter- est, as fast as the bonds could be sold.

But the Monetary Act of the Forty-second Congress which has since created the most stir in the country, was the revising and con- solidating all the Coinage Laws of the country. It is variously called llie Coinage Act, the Demonetizing Act and **the Crime of 1873." It was ai)proved February 12, 187;^, and consistcHl of sixty-seven sections, going into the whole detail of the ])urchase and deposit of bullion and the minting of all (rovernment coins. But the sting of it was contained in four sections, of which ihe most important was Section 15, which provided that the silver coins of the United States should be a trade dollar of 420 grains, a half dollar or fifty-cent ]>iece, a quarter dollar, or twenty-five-cent piece, and a dime. These coins were made a legal tender, at their nominal value, for any amount not exceeding five dollars in any one payment. Section 17 ])rovided that no coins oth(»r than those specified should be issued from the mint. Section 20 ])rovided that any owner of gold might deposit the same at any mint to he fornu^d into coin or bars, and Section 21 allowed owners of silver bullion to de])()sit it at any mint to be formed into bars or trad(» dollars, but not into any other coin.

It has been claimed since that the omission of the standard silver dollar from the coins authorized was done surreptitiously in com- mittee, and that very few members of the House knew of it. Probably many were ignorant of the full scope of the measure. But the fact that the Act discontinued the coinage of the standard silver dollar was discussed and defended in the House as the reported debates show. At that time silver was at a premium as comimred with gold, there was no demand for its coinage, and that which had been coined was rapidly disappearing. It was only when the product of silver increased so rapidly as to put it at a discount compared with gold, and after its demonetization in some European countries had added to its dc^preciation, that the clamor for its recoinage and fre«» coinage commenced. CndtT the operation of the Bland and Sherman

PRESIDENT (IRANT'S FIRST TERM. 249

Acts the (Fovernmont has coined, on its own account, Ave times as many of the ''dollars of onr fathers" as the peojile are willing? to handle, though they have furnished a basis for circulation in the form of silver certificates. The free coinaj^e on individual account has never, at any i)eriod, been restored since the Act of 1878. The trade* dollar, whose continued coinage was authorized by the Act, w^as coined originally with a view^ to the convenience of trade with Mexico and the South American countries. But it was never poj)ular, and soon droi)ped out of use by its own weiji:ht. Its coinage ceased in 1S76.

There was but little legislation in reference to the situation in the South during this Administration, though one stringent Act to punish frauds in elections, aimed particularly at that section, was adopted. The main efforts of the Administration were devoted to bringing order and obedience to law, under existing statutes, to that turbulent and riotous section, but without great success, as will appear later in this record.

The Act which created the most stir at the time was the "back pay" or "salary grab" Act. This was passed near th(» close of the second session of the Forty-second Congress. It increased the pay of Senators and Re])re8entativ(»s from $5,0(10 to $7,500 a year, and that of the officers and clerks of both Houses by n(»arly a corresponding l)er centage. The offensive feature of the Act was that it was made retroactive, dating the pay back to the beginning of the Forty-second Congress. There was a great publi<- chuuor against it. Some of the members who had voted against the bill refused to take the back l)ay, and after i)ublic opinion began to assert itself other members turmnl their share of the plunder back into the treasury. Rut it cost many of the members the seats to which they aspired in the next Congress, and had considerable effect on the general results in 1874.

In addition to the Acts of special importance, already mentioned, Congress, during President Grant's first term, passed the following measures of general interest: Striking out the word ''white" in all laws relating to the District of Columbia, and from all ordinance's of the City of Washington, thus giving the blacks complete civil rights; providing for an additional Justice of the Supreme Court, and reor- ganizing the Judicial system; giving married women in the District of Columbia absolute control over their own property; ])utting into legal enactment the princi])le of the Fifteenth Amendment to th(» Constitution; establishing a Department of Justice; ])unishing frauds

250 HIRTORY OF THE REPUBLK AN PARTY.

at elections, and extending the Naturalization Laws to persons of African nativity or descent; jjensioninj? ail survivors of the AVar of 1812; providing for I'nited States Supervisors of Election in towns of 2(>,(MM> or more inhabitants, at elections where Members of Congress are to be chosen; enforcing the various clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment; providing homesteads for soldiers and sailors; making appropriation for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia; earr>- ing into effect the provisions of the Treaty of AVashington, and promoting the growth of timber on the Western prairies.

One of the triumphs of (Irant's first term, was the happy settle ment of our numerous difficulties with Great Britain, some of which had been of long standing. The sentiment of the English middle classes was, on the whole, friendly to the Vniteii States during our contest with the South, but the aristocracy and ruling classes were strongly against us. The ( Government was very hasty in recognizing the belligerency of th(* Confederacy. It subsequently went as near to the line of what International Law allows, in showing its sympathy with the South, as it dared, and in the case of the Alabama over- stepped that line. Cnder the Johnson Administration overtures were twice made to the British Foreign Secretary for a friendly arbi- tration of the Alabama claims, but they were refused with scant <ourtesy. A third attemjjt resulted in the Clarendon-Johnson treaty, which was so far from meeting our deumnds, that the Senate rejected it with vi^vy little delay. In his second annual message to Congress in December, ISTO, President (irant referred to the unwillingness of Her Majesty's (iovernm(*nt to acknowledge that it had done us any wrong, ass(»rt(Ml that our firm and unalterable convictions were exaer- ly the reverse, and asked Congress to '^authorize the appointment of a commission to take proof of the amounts and ownership of these several claims, on notice to the representative of Her Majesty at Washington, and that authority be given for the settlement of these claims by the I'nited States, so that the (Government shall have the ownership of the private claims, as well as the responsible control of all the demands against Great Britain."

This suggestion of making it entirely a (Government matter, canio at a time when the European skies were threatening, and a storm center was actually located in the territory occupied by the French and Prussian armies. In view of the jmssibilities of trouble with its Continental neighbors. Her Majesty's (Government was ready to have a settlement with the people on this side the water. The Treatv

PRESIDENT GRANT S FIRST TERM. 251

of Washin^on was the result. It covered the AUibama daiins which were to be settled by arbitration at Oeneva, Switzerland; the claims for compensation for fishing privilefjes, which were to be settled by n commission at Halifax, Nova Scotia; the question of the use, by Amer- ican vessels of the St. Lawrence River and canals; and the claims of American citizens for damaf^es sustained between 1861 and 1865, other than the Alabama claims. The Geneva arbitrators awarded 115,50(1,000 for the claims which came before them. This was after- wards shown to be excessive, but this was partially evened up at a later period by the Halifax award of about |5,000,000 against the United States, which was also excessive. Rut the treaty led to some conclusion on all disputed points, and did more to establish arbitra- tion as a method of settling international diflHculties than any event that had before occurred.

With the San Domingo treaty the President was less fortunate*. He was very desirous of annexing this territory to the United States, deeming it especially important that we should have a safe port in the West Indies, in case of war with any foreign naval power, a con- sideration that was better appreciated when the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 than it was by the men of 1870. A treaty of annexation was framed, but it was defeated in the Senate by a tie vote. The President renewed the subject in his second annual message, and asked that "by joint resolution of the two Houses of (^ongress, the Executive be authorized to appoint a commission to negotiate a treaty with the authorities of San Domingo for the acqui- sition of that island, and that an apjiropriation be made to defray the expenses of such commission." Congi*ess feil short of that, but a commission consisting of Renjamin F. Wade, of Ohio; Andrew D. White, of New York, and Samuel G. Howe, of Massachusetts, was appointed to make incjuiries into the ])olitical condition of the island, and its agricultural and commercial value. They reported in favor of the President's policy, but that was the end of it. Grant was. for once, beaten, and he knew it.

It was when this treaty was before* the Senate that Mr. Sumner made a speech severely criticising the treaty, and abusing the Presi- dent and the agents concerned in making it. When the Senate Committees were nc^xt made up. Mr. Sumner was dro])ped from the Chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee and Senator Cam- eron was substituted. He charged this to the influence of Grant, but there is nothing to show that the Presid(»nt had anything to do

252 HISTORY OF THE REPrBLirAN PARTY.

with it. Ill fact a nniiibor of radical Senators said at the time that he did not. The Senate elects its own committees, and Senator Edmunds declared that in Mr. Sumner's case it was merely a qu€*«tiou ''whether the Senate of the United Slates and the Republican party are quite ready to sacritice their sense of duty to the whims of one sinj(le man, whether he comes from New England, or from Illinois, or from anywhere else."

Of Mr. Sumner's removal Ex-Secretary Routwell f^iwe the follow- \n^ account in a reminiscent article in Mc( 'lure's Magazine for Febru- ary, 1000- '*Mr. Sumner's removal was due to the fact that a tiiM«* came when he did not recognizee the I'resident, and when he declintni to have any intercourse with the Secretary of State outside of official business. Such a condition of aiTairs is always a hindrance in thr* way of good government, and it may become an obstacle to success. Good government can be secured only through conferences with thosne who are responsible, by conciliation, and not infrequently by con- cessions to those who are of adverse opinions. The time came when such a <(mdition was no longer ]>ossibh» betwtn^n Mr. Sumner and the Secretary of State. The President and his Cabinet were in ac<-ord in regard to the controversy with (Ireat Hritain as to the Alabama claims. !Mr. Sumner advocatc^d a more exacting policy. Mr. ^lotley appeared to be following Mr. Sumner's lead, and the opposition t%> Mr. Sumner extended to Mr. Motley. . When we consider the

natures and the training of the two men, it is not easy to imagine agreeable co-operation in public atfairs by Mr. Sumner and General Grant. Mr. Sumner never believed in (ieneral Grant's titness for the oflice of President, and (feneral (Jrant did not recognize in Mr. Sumner a wise and safe leader in the business of Government. Gen- eral Grant's notion of Mr. Sumner, on one side of his character, may be inferred from his answer when, being asked if he had h€*ard Mr. Sumner converse, he said: *Xo, but 1 have heard him lecture.' "

XX.

THE FIFTH RErriJLKWN rONVEXTION.

The Noniinatioii for Prosideiit Determined Beforehand — A Lartr<* Amount of Hjieechmakinj? of a Higli Order — President Grant Unanimously Renominated — A Scene of the Wildest Enthusiasm — Numerous ( 'andidates for Vice-l'resident — Henry Wilson Receives the Nomination on the First Hallot — The Work of Newspaper Correspondents — A Lonjj: Platform Covering a Variety of Subjects — Strong (*ommendation of the Candidates — Modest Letters of Acceptance.

In accordance with tlieir practice of making nominations early in the season, the Republicans opened their tifth National Conven- tion in the Academy of Music in IMiiladelphia, June 5, 1872, Morton M<-Michael, of that City, being temporary Chairman. As in 1868 the nomination for President was decided befor(»hand, and the Con- vention lacked the interest that centers about a close contest for that position. It contained in its nuMubershi]) a large number of the most prominent men in the party.

The following was the Michigan delegation: At Largt* — Eber B. Ward, George Willard, William A. Howard, Perry Hannah. By Districts — (1) New(»ll Avery, John (Jreusel; (2) Nathan N. Kendall, Rice A. Beal; (.'{) Harvey Bush, J. C. Fitzgerald; (4) George* S. Clapp, James H. Stone; (5) Benjamin D. Pritchard, H. A. Norton; (0) Josiah L. Begole, Daniel L. Crossman; (7) Ezra Hazen, Benjamin W. Huston; (8) Charles S. Draper, James Birney; (9) B. F. Rog(»rs, J. F. Brow^n.

Although there was no contest over the nomination for Presi- dent there was a greater display of enthusiasm than in 18(58, and there was a great deal of speechmaking and of an unusually high order. In the interval between the appointment of committees and the first report, rattling speeches were made by General Logan, w^ho was then in the United States Senate; (Jerritt Smith, of New York,one of the original Abolitionists; Senator Morton, of Indiana, who was

254

HISTORY OF THE KEPrBLICAX PARTY.

alwav8 (»loqii(*nt and ahvays welcuiiu*; (ioveriior James L. Orr, of South Caroliua; (Governor O^lesbv, of Hlinois; AVilliam H. Grey, of Arkansas; Congressman R. B, Elliott, a colored delegate from South Carolina, and James H. Harris, a colored delegate from North Car<»- lina. After the permanent organization the following also responded to calls for remarks: (ieneral (ieorge AY. Carter, who commanded a Southern brigade during the Rebellion; Paul Strobach, a (lerman delegate from Alabanm; Emory A. Storrs, one of the most elocpient orators in Illinois; Ex-Senator Henderson, of Missouri; *^tht»

eloquent colored Secre- tary of State from Mis- s i s s i p p i, James R. Lynch," (fovernor E. F. Xoyes, of Ohio.

As in 18G8 the Con- vention was in a hurry to nominate (Irant, and contrary to the usual custom nomina- tions were placed in th<* order of business be- fore the report of tbe Committee on Resolu- tions. Shelby M. C^nl- lom, of Hlinois, made the brief nominating speech as follows: "On behalf of the great Re- publican party of Illi- nois, and that of the HENRY WILSON. Cuiou, iu the name of

liberty, of loyalty, of justice and of law — in the interest of economy, of good government, of peace, and of the ecpial rights of all — remem- bering with i)rofound gratitude* his glorious achievements in the field and his noble statesmanship as Chief Magistrate of this great Nation — I nominate as President of the Cnitejd States, for a second term. Ulysses S. Orant."

The official report of th(* Convention thus describes the recep- tion of the ncmiination: **A scene of the wildest excitement followed this speech. The spacious Academy was crowded with thousand^

THE FIFTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 255

of spectators in exery part, and on the stage, in the parquet, and in tier upon tier of galleries, arose deafening, prolong(Hi, tumultuous eheers, swelling from pit to dome. A perfect wilderness of hats, caps and handkerchiefs waved to and fro in a surging mass, as three times three reverberated from the thousands of voices. The band appeared to catch the prevailing enthusiasm, and waved their instru- ments as though they had been tiags. Amid cries of *MusicI' 'Music!- they stru<k up *Hail to the Chief.' As the majestic strains of this music came tioating down from the bahony, a life size eques- trian portrait of Grant came down as if by magic, tilling tlie entire space of the back scene, and the enthusiasm knew no bounds."

(teneral Stewart L. Woodford, of New York, and M. 1). Horuck, of California, seconded the nomination, the roll was called and announcement made that Clysses S. (Jrant had rcneived the entire vote of the Convention, 752 votes. Tumultuous cheering again burst from the immense audience. The band, at this announcement, played the air of a "(irant Campaign Song,'' the tenor of which was sung by a gentleman standing among the instruments, and the <horus by a large choir of gentlemen. The first v(»rse and chorus were as follows:

Rally round our leaders, men. We're arming for the fight.

We'll raise our glorious standard And battle for the right;

To swell our gallant army. Come from hill and plain,

(Irant shall win the victory For IVesident again.

Chorus — Let the drum and bugle sound.

We'll march to meet the foe; Let our joyous shouts resound

That all the land may know. The sons of freedom in their mighv.

Have come from hill and plain. To make the brave T lysses

Our President again.

When this was concluded, a cry went from the multitude **John Hrown." The band struck up the familiar, electrifying^strains, and the whole concourse rose as one nmss. From the parquet to the upper tier, the vast multitude stood up and rolled out the old hymn of freedom. There was scarcely a dry eye in the great assemblage

250 HISTORY OF TUE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

and then* was not a heart that was not thrilled with the snblinuty of the moment. When this song was at last finished, the erv came for '*Rall.v Round tlie Flag," and the air of that battle song was given by the band, the whole audience singing the words wnth the same fervor with whi<h the hymn had been rendered. This concluded, the band gave ''Yankee Doodle,-' in the midst of tumultuous cheers. Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, was placed in nomination for Vice-President by Morton Mc^Iichael, of Pennsylvania, who was supported by Dr. George B. Loring, of Massachusetts; Ossian Ray, of New Hampshire; Gerritt Smith, of New^ York; J. F. Quarles, of Georgia; (Jovernor E, F. Noyes, of Ohio, and Governor Powell Clay- ton, of Arkansas. The name of Schuyler Colfax was ])re8ented by Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, and supported by William A. Howard, of Michigan; James R. Lynch, of Mississippi, and ('ortlandt Parker, of New Jersey. Virginia, through James B. Sener, pre- sented the name of John F. Lewis; Webster Flannagan, of Texas, presented the name of Governor E. J. Davis, of the same State, and David A. Nunn, of Tennessee, nominated Horace Maynard. At the conclusion of the roll call, the first ballot stood as follows:

Whole number of delegates 752

Necessary to a choice 377

Henry \\ ilson, of Massachusetts 364 Vj

Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana 321^2

Horace Maynard, of Tennessee 20

John F. Lewis, of Virginia 22

Edmund J. Davis, of Texas 16

Jose])h R. Hawley, of Connecticut 1

Edward F. Noyes, of Ohio 1

Before the result was announced twenty of the twenty-two Vir- ginia delegates (hanged from Colfax to Wilson. The Georgia dele- gation had voted sixt(»en for Wilson and six for Colfax. The latter now changed to Wils<m. Nine of the ten votes from West Virginia did the same, making Wilson^s vote :>()Oi,i», a majority of all, and Colfax 306 VL>. Others of the scattering votes went to Wilson and finally his nomination was, on motion of Henry S. Lane, speaking in behalf of the entire Indiana delegation, made unanimous.

Mr. Colfax did not know, at the time, exactly what it was that defeated him. One reason of his turning down was that early in the year he had written a letter, announcing that he should not be a candidate for rcMiomination, but had afterwards changed his mind,

THE FIFTH REPI;BL1(\\N CONVENTION. 257

and re-entered the field. This course always operates against a candidate. In this case it had broiij?ht Mr, Wilson into the field and he secured many states that would naturally have j?one to Colfaiv. But a more potent factor in the defeat of the Vice-President, was the hostility of the newspaper correspondents in Washington. These constitute a strong and intiuential body when they can be induced to work together, which is not often. The leading papers of the country pick from their best men for service at the Capital and except so far as the general iK)licy of the paper imposes limitations, leave the correspondents very much to their own judgment. George O. Seilhamer, Washington correspondent of the New York Herald, who hel])ed engineer the cami)aign against Colfax, gives this story of it in a recent publication:

The selection of Judge Settle, of North Carolina, for permanent I'resident was due entirely to the hostility of the Washington corre- spondents to the renomination of A'ice President Colfax. No public man ever received more favors from this band of intelligent news- gath(»rers than ^Ir. (V)lfax. After his election as Vice President, in 1868, he alienated them by a change of manner that they regarded as unpardonable. They determined to oppose him when he became a candidate the second time, and his defeat was mainly due to their activity and zeal against him. The <TUsade against him was led by J. B. McCullach, then the editor of the St. Louis Democrat, but the preliminary skirmish for the selection of Settle as Chairman of the Convention was directed by O. (). Seilhamer, the Washington corre- spondent of the New York Herald, who was aided by a volunteer staff of young journalists, hotly op])osed to Colfax. The trend of sentiment at the outset was in favor of the selection of Judge Orr, of South Carolina, but Judge Settle's fitness and strength were depicted with su<'h confidence and earnestness in the news columns of the Herald that the honor went to North Carolina, in the belief that it was in response to a j)Oi)ular movement. The episode, from first to last, was one of the most curious in the history of American politics, and it was the first and last time that a band of au:gressive newspaper men, unknown to the general public, controlled the action of a National Convention.

For the Vice Presidency there was only one ballot, and Henry Wilson appears on the final record as the only candidate opposed to Mr. Colfax. As a matter of fact, Virginia had cast its twenty-two votes for Governor Lewis, Tennessee its twenty-four votes for Horace Maynard. and T(*xas its sixteen votes for Governor Davis. Neither Wilson nor Colfax had a majority. Before the announcement of the result the Chairman of the Virginia and Tennessee delegations were asking recognition from the Chair. If Virginia was first recognized

258 HISTOKY OF THE KEPrBLKUN PARTY.

Wilson's nomination was assured; if the i-ourtesy should be extended to Tennessee Colfax would be renominated. The Chair was in doubt, and Judge Settle waited to be ])romi)ted bv tlie <orrespondent to whom he was indebted for his position. A paj^e was hastily dis- patched to th(» staji^e with the legend, **Re<-oj(nize Virginia,'- and then came the recognition of "Mr. Popham, of Virginia." The nomination was made.

The platform was unanimously ado])t(*d, just as it came from the committee, and without discussion. It was as follows:

Tlie Republican party of the T'nited States, assembled in National Convention in the City of Philadelphia on the 5th and Oth daiys of June, 1872, again declares its faith, aj)peals to its history and announces its j>osition upon the questions before the country.

1. During eleven years of su]>remacy it has accepted with grand courage the solemn duties of the times; it suppressed a gigantic rebel lion, emancipated 4,()0(),()0() slaves, decreed the equal citizenship of all, and established universal sutTrage, exhibiting un])aralleled magnan- imity, criminally punished no man for political otfences, and warmly welcomed all who proved their loyalty by obeying the laws, and dealing justly with their neighbors. It has steadily decreased with a firm hand the resultant disorders of a great war, and initiated a wise and humane policy towards the Indians; a Pacific railroad and similar vast enterprises have been generously aided and successfully conducted, the public lands freely given to actual settlers, inmiigra- tion protected and encouraged, and a full acknowledgment of the naturalized citizens' rights secuied from European powers; a uniform National currency has b(»en provid(»d, re])udiation frowned down, tlie National credit sustained under most extraordinjiry burdens, and new bonds negotiated at lower rates; revenues have been carefully col- lected and honestly applied. Despite annual reductions of the rates of taxation, the public debt has been reduced during (leneral (rranCs Presidency at the rat(» of JiflO(),()0(),0()0 a year, great financial crises have been avoided and ])eace and plenty prevail throughout the land; menacing foreign difficulties have been peacefully and honorablx 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 entrust the Government to any party or combination of men c(miposed chiefly of those who resist(»d every ste]) of their beneficial progress.

2. Complete liberty and exact ecjuality in the enjoyment of all <ivil, political and publii- rights should be established and effectually maintained throughout the T'nion, by efticient and appropriate State and Federal legislation. Neither the law nor its administration should admit of any discrimination in respect to citizens by reason of race, cr(»ed, <olor or previous condition of servitude.

THE FIFTH REPT'HLK AN CONVENTION. 251)

;i. Till* recent Aineiidments to the National Constitution should be eordiallv sustained, because tliey are right, not merely because they are law; and should be carried out according to the spirit, by appropriate legislation, the enforcement of which can be safely entrusted only to the party that secured these Amendments.

4. The National (irovernment should seek to maintain honorabh* peace with all nations, protecting its citizens everywhere and sympa- thizing with peoples everywhere 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 z€»al, is fatally demoralizing, and we therefore favor a reform of thc^ system by laws whidi shall abolish i\w evils of patronage, and make honesty, efficiency and fidelity the essential qualifications for public ])08itions, without i)ractically creating u life tenure of office.

6. We are opposed to further grants of the public lands to cor- porations and monopolies, and denuind that the national domain be set apart for free homes for the ])eople.

7. The annual revenue, after paying the current debts, should furnish a moderate balance for the reduction of the ]n*incipal, and the revenue except so much as may be derived from the tax on tobacco and liouors should be raised by duties upon importations, the duties of which should be so adjusted as to aid and secure remuner- ative wages to labor and ]»romote the growth, industries and prosper- ity of the whole country.

8. We hold in undying honor the soldiers and sailors whose valor saved the Fnion ; their pensions are a sacred debt of the Nation and the widows and orphans of those who died for their country an* entitled to the care of such additional legislation as will extend the bounty of the Government to all our soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharged and who in the line of duty became disabled, without regard to length of service or the cause of such discharge.

0. The doctrine of (ireat Britain and other European powers concerning allegiance, **once a subject always a subject," having at last, through the efforts of the Republican party, been abandoned, and the American idea of the individuars right to transfer allegiance having bef»n accepted by European nations, it is the duty of our gov- ernment to guard with jealous <'are the rights of adopted citizens against the assum])tion8 of unauthorized claims by their former gov- ernments, and we urge continual careful encouragement and protection of voluntary immigration.

10. The franking privilege ought to be abolished and the way prei)ared for a speedy reduction in the rates of postage.

11. Among the questions which press for attention is that which concerns the relations of capital and labor, and the Republican party recognizes the duty of so shaping legislation as to secure full protection and the an)plest freedom for capital; and for labor, the creator of capital, the larg<»st opp^Mtunities and a just share of the mutual profits of these two great servants of civilization.

2G0 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLICAN I'ARTY.

12. We hold Ihat Conjjress and the President have only fulfilled an imperative duty in their measures for the sujipression of violent and treasonable organizations in rertain lately rebellious rejcions, and for the protection of the ballot box, and therefore they are en- titled to the thanks of the Nation.

l:}. We denounce the repudiation of the public* debt, in any form or disguise, as a National crime; we witness with pride the nnluction of the j)rincipal of the debt and of the rates of interest upon the balance, and confidently expect that our excellent National currency will b(» perfected by a speedy resumption of specie payment.

14. The Republican party is mindful of its oblijrations to the loyal women of America for their noble* devotion to the cause of freedoni; their admission to the wider fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfacticm, and the honest demands of any class of citizens for additional rij::hts should be treated with respectful consideration.

15. We heartily approve the action of Conj^ress in extendinju amnesty to those lately in rebellion, and rejoice in the j^rowth of l)eace and fraternal f(H»lin^ throughout the land.

If). The Republican party propose to respect the rifjhts reserved by the ])eoj)le to themselves as carefully as the powers delegated by them to the State and to the Federal Oovernment; it disapproves of the resort to unconstitutional laws for the purpose of removing evils by interfering with rights not surrendered by the }>eople to either the State or National Oovernment.

IT. It is the duty of the General (fovernment to ado])t such measures as will tend to encourage American commerce and ship- building.

18. We believe that the modest patriotism, the earnest jmrposcf, the sound judgment, the practical wisdom, the incorruptible integrity and the illustrious services of Tlysses S. (Jrant have commendiHi him to the heart of the Auu^rican people, and with him at our head we start to-day upon a new march to victory.

19. Henry Wilson, nominated for the Vi<e-Pres'dency, known to the whole land from the early days of the great struggle for liberty as an indefatigable laborer in all campaigns, an incorrupti- ble legislator, and a representative man of American institutions, is worthy to associate with our great leader and share the honors which we ])ledge our best efforts to bestow upon them.

The conditions, at thc^ time, were not such as to call for the enun ciation of new prin<ipl(»s, and the platform, though long, has less of originality al cut it than any previous pronouncement of the party. With the exc (option of our strained relations with (Ireat Britain, which had been satisfactorily adjusted, the same problems, only half settled, faced the Administration as those which required attention when Grant was first inaugurated. These, with the ordinary current of Government business, promised to furnish sufMcient occupation for

THE FIFTH REPl'BLirAN (M)NVEXTION. 261

one Congress at least. In the absence of new issues the Republican party in this platform began to ^*point with pride" to its past achieve- ments, the first paragraph giving a very good resume of the eleven years of its supremacy.

(leneral Grant's second letter of acceptance was shorter even than the first. Following are the principal parts of it:

^*If elected in November, and protected by a kind Providence in health and strength, to perform the duties of the high trust con- ferred, I promise the same zeal and devotion to the good of the whoh* people for the future of my oRicial life as shown in the past.

'*Past experience may guide me in avoiding mistakes inevitable with novices in all professions and in all occupations.

*'\Vhen relieved from the responsibilities of my present trust by the election of a successor, whether it be at the end of this term or the next, I hope to leave to him, as Executive, a country at peace within its own borders, at peace with outside nations, with a credit at home and abroad, and without embarrassing questions to threaten its future prosperity.''

The President also expressed a desire to see a speedy healing of all bitterness of feeling between sections, parties, or races of citizens, and the thne when the title of citizen carries with it all the protec- tion and privileg(»s to the humblest that it does to the most exalted.

Mr. Wilson's letter of acceptance briefly reviewed the past achievements of the party, spoke of its ])resent attitude on a number of the questions of the day, and closed with the following personal reference: *'Having accepted for thirty-six years of my life the dis- tinguishing doctrines of the Republican party of to-day; having during thirty-six years of that ])eriod, for their advancement subor- dinated all other issues, acting in and co-operating with political organizations with whose leading doctrines 1 sometimes had neither sympathy nor belief; having labored incessantly for many years to found and build up the Republican party, and having, during its existence, taken an humble part in the grand work, I gratefully accept the nomination thus tendered, and shall endejivor, if it be ratified by the p(»ople, faithfully to perform the duties it imposes."

XXI. THE LIBERAL REPrBLirAN (WMPAIGN.

An Element of Great rncertainty — Tlu» Liberal Republican Conven- tion at Cincinnati — The Frannn^ of a Platform a Ditticult Problem — Attempt to Catch Both Democrats and Liberal Re])ub- licans — Non-Committal on the Tariff Question — Cireeley Nomin- ated on the Sixtli Ballot — B. Gratz Brown for Vice-President — An Inconj?ruous Ticket — The Nominations a Disappointment to tlie Democrats, But Accepted by Them — Consternation in Two Detroit Newspaper Offices — A Campaijj^n of Ridicule — Straight Democratic Ticket — Unprecn^dented Republican Triumph.

In the early part of the year and even after the campai^rn opened, the strength of the Liberal Republican party was an element of great uncertainty in the canvass. T\w party taking this nanif^ was compos(»d largely of two classes. The first, Republicans of con servative tendencies, who had been gradually breaking away from the party to which they had formerly belonged, because they thought it was going too fast in its Reconstruction and other measures relat- ing to the South. This included nearly all those who had voted in Congress against any of the Reconstruction Acts, or either of the three Constitutional Amendments, together with those in private life who agreed with them on these nu^asures. The second class comi)rised a host of disappointed otlice-seekers who thought they hadn't "been treated right by the party,'' and those, who, in local factional fights, had the worst of it. This was the personal griev- ance wing of the ])arty, and when it came to the last an.alysis, it was found to contain an astonishingly large proportion of the prominent members. It also included some old Republicans who belonged to neither of these classes, but whose convictions had gradually led them away from the i)arty of their earlier choice, such as General John Cochrane, of New York; John Ilicknmn, of Pennsylvania; Judge R. P. Spalding, of Ohio; George \V. Julian, of Indiana, one of the old Anti-Slav<'ry guard, and Free Soil candidate for Vice-Presi-

204 HISTORY OF THE REPUHLK/AN PARTY.

the civil service as one of the most pressing necessities of the hour; lliat honesh', capacity and fidelity constitute the only valid claim to public employment; that the otTices of the Government cease to be a matter of arbitrary favoritism and patronajj;e, and that public station become apiin 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 industries of the i)eople, and which shall provide the means necessary to i)ay the expenses of the Gov- ernment, economically administered, the pensions, the interest on the public debt, and a moderate reduction, annually, of the i)rincipal thereof; and recognizing that there are in our midst honest but irre- concilable ditTerences of opinion with regard to the respective systems of protection and free trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the peoi)le in their Congressional districts; and to the decision of the Congress thereon, wholly free from Executive interference or dictation.

7. The public <redit must be sacredly maintained, and we denounce rei)udiation in every form and guise.

8. A speedy return to specie payment is demanded alike by the highest considerations of commercial morality and honest govern- ment.

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 fanu* for the full reward of th<*ir patriotism.

1(K 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 inter- course with foreign nations to cultivate the friendshi[)s of peace, by treating with ail on fair and equal terms, regarding it alike dishonor- able either to demand what is not right or to submit to what is wrong.

12. For the promotion and success of these vital principles and the supi)ort of the candidates nominated by this Convention, we invite and <ordially welcome the co-operation of all patriotic citizens, without regard to ])revious political alliliations.

Six ballots were taken for the Presidential nomination, with th«» following result:

1st. 2d. :M. 4th. 5th. «th.

(diaries Francis Adams, of Mass 202 24:i 204 279 258 324

Horace Greeley, of New York 147 245 258 251 aCM) 332

Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois 110 148 150 141 81 PJ

B. Gratz Hrown, of Missouri 05 2 2 2 2

David Davis, of Illinois 02y:> 75 41 51 30 0

Andrew G. Curtin, of Pennsylvania. .02

Salmon P. diase, of Ohio. . ! 2V> 1 . . 24 32

THE LIBERAL REPT^BLirAN TAMPA IGN.

205

Clianges of votes were then made until the result was announced — Greeley, 482; Adams, 187. On the first ballot for Viee-President B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, had 237; Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, 158; George W. Julian, of Indiana, i:UVL>; all others, 1631/^. On the second ballot Trumbull dropped out, and the eount showed 435 for Brown, 175 for Julian, and 88 for all others. Both nominations were made unanimous.

The nomination of (ireeley was a suri>rise and disappointment to the Democrats who were expected to <*o-oDerate in the attemi)t to elect the Liberal Re- publican nominee. If Charles Francis Adams had received the nomin- ation, as it was ex- pected would be the case, he would have drawn fully as many Republicans as Greeley could, and he would have been more acceptable to the Demo- crats. The same might be said of Senator Trumbull, of Illinois, or David Davis, of the same State, but the first instinct of the Democrats was to re- volt against Greeley. In the first place he was one of the strongest chari^es prancis adams.

and ablest Protectionists in the country. He was a natural statisti- cian, had an accurate memory for figures, knew where to find them and how to use them. He was keen in argument and of gn^at indus- try. It was not long after he started the Tribune before he had established for it such a reputation for a<'cura<y of statement that, however much his opponents might attempt to refute his arguments, they rarely questioned the correctn<»ss of his figures. During th(» Clay cam]>aign he kept the tariff constantly before his readers, and for many years aft(M' wards he kept hammering away at the sam<»

200

HISTORY OF TFIE REPIBIJCAX PARTY.

subject. He did more than anyone else, ex(ei)t Clay himself, to make the American doctrine of Protection the established policy of tlie Whi^ party in its later years, and he did more tlian any other sinjjle individual to make the same doctrine a part of the Republican policy in its earlier years. H. (iratz Brown, on the other hand, was a tariff-for-re venue-only man, and the platform was non-committal. On this subject it was a regular Dolly Varden combination. It pre- sented the spectacle of a strong protective tariff man for President, a revenue taritT man for Vic(»-President, on a straddle platform,

asking a strong Free Trade party for en- dorsement and votes.

There were two other t hi n g s that made CJreeley a particularly unacceptable man for Northern Demo- crats. He was one of the foremost men in the country in aiding to bring about a consoli- dation of the old Anti- Slavery elements into the Rej»ublican party, and, whether as ^Vhig or Rei)ublican, he had always been exceeding- ly abusive of the Demo- crats.

That was the Greeley as tlie older men of both parties remembered him. Hut there was another Greeley of more recent times, who had worried President Lim^oln by giving alternately imi)ertinent advice and unjust <riticism; who had made mischief by his superserviceable and bungling attemi)ts at peace negotiations, in whi<h he did not act in good faith with either of the ])arties for whom he was trying to act as a go-between; who had offered to go on JelT Davis' bond when that traitor was under trial for his treason; and who had finally been one of the most constant critics of the Republican Reconstru<tion poli<y. It was the acts

HORACE OREET.EY.

26S HISTORY OF THE REPITBLICAN PARTY.

In the Free Press office the distress eanie later, but was much uior(» acute. The Michipin Democracy as a whole, were very mucli torn up by the nomination of (Jreeley, but the opposition to him wa« overwhelmed at the State Convention which was held at T^nsinjj, July ± The test vote came on the first 1 )elegate-at-Lar{^e, William A. Moore, who favored the endorsement of Oreeley, having 180 votes, and ^yilliam W. Wheaton, who was oite of the most vigorous oppon- ents of indorsement, having 52. The other 1 )eiegate8-at-Large were: Edwin H. Lothroj), of St. Josepli; Fidus Livermore, of Jackson, and Jabez G. Sutherland, of Saginaw. The resolutions endorsed the principles embodied in the Cincinnati platform, and instructed the delegates to vote as a unit. Mr. Wheaton had been Chairman of the State Central Committee, but that was reorganized, with Foster Pratt as Chairman, and Don M. Dickinson and Charles M. Garrison Members from the First Congressional District.

The day after the Baltimore Convention the Fhm* Press bolted, in an editorial, of which the following is a portion: "The only hoi)«> we have for the future of the <ountry lies in Greeley's defeat, and* to that end we shall, in the true interests of the country and the Democ- racy, labor. We repudiate such utter want of principle and honesty. Wc urge upon every honest Denuxrat in the country to do the same. ]^e they few or many in each locality, they will, when this crazy moveuK^nt is defeated in November, form the nucleus to which every- thing pretending to be Democratic must gravitate; and it will be their and our [)roud satisfaction to know that what is saved of Democracy, and of a Government by tlie peoj)le, instead of by adven- turers, will be saved through our etlorts."

This, to the new Democracy, was heresy of the rankest kind. The Michigan Democracy and the National Democra<y had both endorsed the platform and the candidates, and by all that is sacrcMl in Democratic traditions it was the duty of the j)aper to go with the party. The expressions of dissatisfac^tion were so loud, and the loss of subscribers so great, that a change of policy became imperative. The princi[)al owners of the [)aper, H(*nry X. Walker and Freeman Xorvell, were unwilling, themselves, to make the change. They, therefore, sold their stock, and the new owners lioisted ihv Greeley riag. They were a bit awkward, however, in adapting themselves to the new co dition of things, and in an editorial, printed July 21, made this ( .irious break: **No estimate of Mr. Greeley would be complete whi<h did not mention his life-long devotion to truth."

THE LIBERAL REPUBLirAN CAMPAIGN. 2GS)

This tribute, cominji: from a paper which had been opposed to Mr. Greeley in almost everything he ever did or said, was a confession of devious wanderings on its own part, for which people were not prepared. But it served to enliven the campaign. L. J. Bates, of fhe Detroit Post, arranged a series of Greeley's kind n?gards to the Democracy of former years, and added to each one the comment of the I)etroit paper, making a string of pearls about as follows:

^'Everyone who chooses to live by pugilism, or gambling or har- lotry, with nearly every keeper of a tippling house, is ])olitically a Democrat." — Horace Greeley.

^'No estimate of Mr. Greeley would be complete which did not mention his life-long devotion to truth." — Detroit Free Press, Julv 21, 1872.

**Point wherever you please to an election district which you will ju'onounce morally rotten, given up in great part to debauchery and vice, whose voters subsist nminly by keeping policy offices, gam- bling houses, grog shops and darker dens of infamy and that district will be found, at nearly or quite every election, giving a majority for that which styles itself the ^Democratic' party." — Horace Greeley.

^'No estimate of Mr. (ireeley would be complete which did not mention his life-long devotion to truth." — Detroit Free Press, Julv 21, 1872.

*'Take all the haunts of debauchery in the land, and you will find nine-tenths of their master spirits active ])artisans of that same Democracy." — Horace Greeley.

**No estimate of Mr. Greeley would be complete which did not mention his life-long devotion to truth." — Detroit Free Press, Julv 21, 1872.

'*The (essential articles of the Democratic* creed are *love rum and hate the niggers.' The less one learns and knows the more certain he is to vote the whole ticket from A to Izzard." — Horace Greeley.

*'No estimate of Mr. Greeley would be complete which did not mention his life-long devotion to truth." — Detroit Free Press, Julv 21, 1872.

"If there was not a newspaper nor a common s<*hool in the coun try the Democratic ])arty would be far stronger than it is." — Horace Greeley.

'^No estimate of Mr. Greeley would be complete which did not mention his life-long devotion to truth." — Detroit Free Press, July 21, 1872.

"Not every Democrat is a horse thief, but every horse thief is a Democrat." — Horace Greeley.

**No estimate of Mr. Greeley would be complete* which did not mention his life-long devotion to truth." — Detroit Free Press, Julv 21, 1872.

270 11 ISTOKY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

**A11 do know that there are several hundred thousand nnilattoH in this country; and we presume no one has any serious doubt that the fathers of nine-tenths of them are white Democrats.'' — Horace (Jreeley.

**Xo estimate of Mr. (ireeley would be complete which did iiot menticm his life-lonji: devotion to truth.'' — Detroit Free Press, Julv IM, 1872.

"General Grant never has been beaten and he never will be." — Horace Greeley.

"No estimate of Mr. Greeley would be c(mi.i>lete which did not mention his life-lonjj: devotion to truth." — Detroit Free Press, Julv 21, 1872.

This nuiy not appear very funny as you read it, and it did not ai>j)ear so to the editor who wrote the comment, but when Zach Chandler took it up and elaborated it for use on the stump, it became a very takinj^ feature of his speeches. In fact it took so well that it went beyond the borders of the State, and it was not long before the voters in nmny towns of the Northwest had heard Greeley's estimate of the Democracy, and the Free Press certificate of its truthfulness.

This was only one of the humors of the cami)aij(n. Nast fur- nished others in Harper's Weekly. When the nominations were nmde that paper didn't chance to have in stock any photograph or cut of H. (Jratz Hrown. In lieu of anything better, Nast tacked to the lower border of Greeley's old white overcoat a card with the ins<ription "(Jratz Brown.'' It was received so well that he used it throughout the campaign. Brown never apjjearing in any of Nast's <artoons as other than the tail of (Jreeley's overcoat. Nast never had better material for cartoons of a humorous nature than in the Greeley campaign. But the situation furnished material also for pictures with a serious purpose. His adapted illustrations of "The Pirates," and "The Wooden Horse," and his pictorial comment on Greeley's phrase "Let us clasp hands across the bloody chasm," were very (»tTective as campaign arguments.

A number of Democratic weeklies in Michigan, and of dailies in other states held off from the ticket, even after the Baltimore Con- vention had ratified it, but eventually nearly all of them accepted the situation. The thought up[)ermost in their minds was "Anything to beat Grant," and, under the circumstances, this furnished the only ]K)Ssible chance of doing it. A few^ of the Democrats who held out against the combination held a Convention at Louisville, Kentucky, September t\. It adopted a short platform, which enunciated a few

THE LIBERAL REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN. 271

general priiuiples, rei)udiated the *'fa]se creod and false leadership" under which it had been betrayed at Baltimore, and then put on the crown of martyrdom with the following declaration: '*The Demo- cratic party is held to|2;ether by the cohesion of time-honored prin- ciples, which they will never surrender in exchanji;e for all the offices which Presidents can confer. The pan^s of minorities are doubtless excruciating; but we welcome an eternal minority, under the banner inscribed with our principles, rather than an almijjhty and ever- lasting majority purchased by their abandonment." The Convention nominated Charles O'Connor, of New York, for I^resident, and John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, for Vice President. Both declined, but votes were cast for them in several states.

There was also a Labor Reform ticket placed in the field by a Convention held in (^)lumbus, Ohio. February 21 and 22, consisting of David Davis, of Illinois, for President, and Joel Parker, of New Jersey, for Vice-President. But the party seems to have stojiped short at that, for no votes were returned for electors to tit this ticket.

The Prohibition party also ai)peared this year as a National political organization. At a Convention held in Columbus, February 22, it adopted a platform covering nearly every subject under the sun, and nominated James Black, of Pennsylvania, for Pr(»sident and Rev. John Russell, of Michigan, for Vice President.

The speaking campaign ojiened with vigor. The Rei)ubli(aus put in the field the best of their <ampaign orators and Oreeley him self stumped Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, in the hope, not only of making votes for himself, but of affecting the result in the October elections. Cnder the excitement of this unusual campaign, and thr» stimulus of hope, he was seen, in this tour, at his best. His addresses were earnest, able and logical, and he wns greeted by immense crowds wherever he went. These demonstrations at first gav(» tlu* Republicans mu<h alarm, especially as so many of their own parly attended the meetings. The fall elections were tlH*r(»fore awaited with much interest. North Carolina was the first to vote, on the first of August, and it went Republi<an by a fair majority, while Maine and \'ermont in September exceeded their usual Republican vote. This si ill left the October states, in which the net result of Mr. Greeley's active canvass was still a matter of sjieculation. Indiana elected Thomas A. Hendricks, Governor, by a majority of only 1,148. Mr. Hendricks was the ablest and most popular Demo- crat in the Htate, and the fact thai his majority was so slender, gave

272 HISTORY OF THE REPTHLICAN I\\RTY.

tli(* Rc'piiblicims fonlidemu* that tliev <ould carry Indiana in Xoveni- lK*r. Ohio, with only minor State* ottliers in the field, j^ave about 14,000 Republican majority. In Pennsylvania, General John F. Hartranft, Republican candidate for (fovernor, was bitterly opposed by the Philadelphia Press, the b(»st-known Republican i>aper in the State, and some ai)prehensions were felt on account of this raid upon him. Rut his majority was over 35,000, and this jjjave assurance of a much larger majority for (irant in November. From this time on it was a landslide, and in many of the states the Republican major- ities were the larg(»st ever given to any jiarty.

An analysis of the vote shows that (ireeley did not win a great many R(*])ubli<ans, and that he could not hold the Democrats. Th«» total vote was:

(Irant and Wilson * 8,51)7,070

Oreeley and Rrown 2,834,071)

O'Connor and Adams 20,489

Black and Russell 5,608

As comparcMl with ISOS this shows a Republican gain of 582,000 votes, while the vote given (ireel(\v by the Liberal Republicans and Democrats combined was only 124,4(>() in excess of that given for Seymour by the Democrats alone four years earlier. As far as jM)p- ular majority went, it was the most sweejung victory in the history of the country. T\w largest Republican majority in any State was Pennsylvania with 137,53H, and the following all gave more than 50,000: ^lassachusetts, 74,212; Iowa, 00,370; Michigan, 50,179; Hli- iiois, 57,00(); New York, 53,445. (Jreeley carried only the six Southern states of (T(»orgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, with 00 electoral votes; while (Irant had 280 electoral votes.

(Jreeley did not long survive. The last days of the canvass he o<MU[)ied in nursing his dying wife. After election, it is said, he wrote, over his own initials, some comment on the canvass, and left it with the acting editor of the Tribune, but it did not appear, as the editor did not think it prudent to publish it. \Yorn out with the fatigues of the canvass and the sick room, subjected to an unexpected and most humiliating defeat, stricken with grief at the loss of his wife, and denicnl free access, to the i)aper which he had himself foundc^d, Mr. Greeley died on the 29th of November, a broken-hearted man. On account of his death the electoral vote belonging to him was scattered as api)ears in the following statement:

THE LII^ERAL REPriUJCAN CAMPAIGN. 27;i

n.v8se8 S. Grant, of Illinois 280

Thonias A. Hendricks, of Indiana 42

B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri 18

Charles J. Jenkins, of Georgia 2

David Davis, of Hlinois 1

The following was the vote for Vice President, as east by the electors :

Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts 286

B. Gratz Brow n, of Missouri 47

George W. Julian, of Indiana 5

Alfred H. Colquit, of Creorgia 5

John M. Palmer, of Illinois 3

Thonias E. Branilette, of Kentuc^ky 3

William R. Groesbeck, of Ohio 1

Willis B. Machen, of Kentucky 1

Nathaniel P. Banks, of Massachusetts 1

During Grant's second term Congress was divided politically as follows:

Forty-third Congress. Renate— Kepublicans, 54; Democrats, 19. House — Kejmblicans, 203; Democrats, HK

Forty-fourth Congress. Senate — Rei)ublicans, 4(5; Democrats, 2!). House — Republicans, 107; Democrats, 181; Indei)endents, 3.

In Michigan interest was added to the canvass by the fact that the Democrats not only accepted an old Be])ublican as their candi- date for President, but also took the Republican War Governor as the head of their State ticket. The Presidential vote was as follows:

Grant and Wilson 130,11)1)

Greeley and Brown 77,020

O'Connor and Adams 2,801

Black and Russell 1,271

The Presidential electors weie: At Large — Eber B. Ward. William A. Howard. By Districts in their order — Herman Kiefer, Frederick Waldorf, James O'lhmnell, Lawson A. Duncan, Alonzo Sessions, Sannu^l G. Ives, John L. Woods, Charles L. Ortman, John F. Brown.

The vote for Governor was:

John J. Bagley, Republican 137,602

Austin Blair, Liberal Republican 80,1)58

William M. Ferry, Straight Democrat 2,720

Henry Fish, I*rohibition 1,272

1>74 IllSTOKY OF THE REPriU.K AN PARTY.

The totjil vote for Governor was 5,1201 in excess of that for Prebi dent, showing that many Democrats and some Republicans who were so dissatisfied with the Presidential nominations that they did not vote at all on that office, did take interest enonj^h in the State ticket to vote for that. The vote for (Governor two years earlier was: For Henry P. Baldwin, Republican, 100,17(>; (^harles C. Conistock, 83,3111, and Henry Fish, Prohibition, 2,710, a total vote of 186,277.

In 1870, the Democrats had, for the first time in eij^ht years, elected a member of Conjrress, Jabez (i. Sutherland, of Saginaw, and the Lejjislature chosen at that time, had, after an exciting contest, chosen Thomas W. Ferry United States Senator. The election of 1872 again gave Michigan a solid Rei)ublican delegation in Congress as follows: Josiah W. Hegole, Nathan H. Bradley, Julius C. Bur- rows, Omar 1). Conger, Moses \V. Field, Wilder 1>. Foster, Jay A. Hubbell, Henry Waldron and (leorge Willard. I'pon the death tjf Mr. Foster, in 1873, William 1^. Williams, of Allegan, was chosen to fill the vacancv.

XXII. TWO YEARS OF DISASTER.

The Civil Kij!:ht8 Question — Reference to the San l)oininj?o Atfair — Repeal of the Salary (Jrab — Important Financial Measures — The Senate Currency Hill — Passage of the Resumption Act as a Party Measure — Supplementary Civil Rights Hill Passed — Various Constitutional Amendments Proposed — The Panic of 1873 and the Depression That Followed — Disastrous Political Effects — The Ele<tion» Give Democrats a Large Majority in the House — Changes in Many Northern States.

President (iranCs second inaugural address, March 4, 1873, laid particular stress upon two to])ic8. The first was the enlargement of Ihe civil rights of the colored people*. c(mceniing which he said: "The elfects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and make him a citizen. H<» is not [assessed of the civil rights which citizen ship should carry with it. This is wrong and should be corrected. To this correction I stand committed, so far as Executive influence can prevail. Social equality is not a subject to be legislated upon, nor shall I ask that anything be done to advance the* social status of the colored man, except to give him a fair chance to develop what there is good in him. Give him access to schools, and when he travels let him feel assured that his conduct will regulate the treatment and fare he will receive.'' In his message* to Congress in 1873, he repeated the* recommendation in this form: **1 suggest for your con- sideration the enactment of a law to better secure the civil rights which freedom should secure, but has not effectually secured, to the (enfranchised slaves.-'

The second subj(*ct to which he s])ecially referred was the San Domingo annexation, for which he still iK)ssessed an earnest desire. Upon this he said: **In the first year of the i)ast Administration, the proposition came up for the* admission of Santo Domingo as a Ter- ritory of the Union. It was not a ciuestion of my seeking, but w^as

27G HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

a propOBition from the people of Santo Doininj^o, and wliich I enter- rained. I believe now, as I did then, that it was for the best interests of this country, for the people of Santo Donun^o, and for all eoncerned, that the proposition should be received favorably. It was, however, rejected constitutionally, and therefore the subject was never brought up again by me. In future, while I hold my present office, the subject of acquisition of territory must have the support of the people before I will recommend any proposition looking to such acquisition. I say here, however, that I do not share in the appre- hension held by many as to the danger of governments becoming weakened and destroyed by reason of their extension of territory." in his message on I)ecc*mber 1, 1S73, the President transmitted for the consideration and determination of Congress an application of Santo Domingo to this Government, to exercise a protectorate over that Republic. This was the last of the Santo Domingo affair, as Congress took no further action on the subject.

President (xrant's second Cabinet was as follows:

Secretary of State — Hamilton Fish, of New York..

Secretary of the Treasury — William H. Richardson, of Massa- chusetts, till June 4, 1874, when he resigned to go upon the Court of Claims, and was succeeded by Benjamin H. Bristow, of Kentucky.

Secretary of War — William W. Belknap), of Iowa.

Secretary of the Navy — (ieorge M. Robeson, of New Jersey.

Secretary of the Interior — Columbus Delano, of Ohio.

Postmaster General — John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland, till July 1, 1874, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Marshall Jewell, of Connecticut.

Attorney General — (Jeorge H. Williams, of Oregon.

Public indignation at the Act increasing the salaries of the members, officers and clei-ks of the two Houses of Congress had cut so much of a figure in the Congressional nominations of 1872 that tin? Forty-third Congress hastened to repeal it. It also passed, at its first session, a bill j)roviding for the distribution of moneys received on the Alabama award, and one repealing moieties, commissions and perquisites to Cust<mi House officers, the giving of which had led to some abuses. The only Act of real im])ortance passed at this session was known to the newspajiers and almanacs as the ''Dawes Com- promise Bank Note Redemption, Inflation and Redistribution Bill." This subject came before the House, January 2!), in the form of what was known as the House Currency Bill and before the Senate in the

TWO YEARS OF DISASTER. 277

form of the Senate Currency Bill, reported by the Senate Finance ('ommittee early in February. These bills, which all aimed to accom- plish the same purpose, an increase of the currency, were before the two Houses until June 20 and passed through two Conference Com- mittees before an adjustment of diverse views was reached. As Anally passed and signed, June 22, it resolved itself into three prin- ciple enactments, providing: (I) That National Banks should no longer be required to keep on hand any amount of money whatever, by reason of the amount of their circulation, but in lieu of that they should be recjuired to deposit with the Treasurer of the United States, in lawful money, a sum equal to live per cent, of their circulation, this to be counted as part of the lawful reserve. (2) Authorizing an increase in the amount of legal tender notes from f356,000,000 to |a82,()()(),(i()(). (li) Authorizing the Controller of the Currency to issue circulating notes to the amount of J55,000,000, to National Banks, as they might be organized in those States and Territories having less than their i)roi)ortion of circulation under an apportionment made on the basis of population and wealth, as shown by the returns of the Census of 1870. This Act had some ett'ect in relieving a stringent money market and mitigated, though it did not entirely relieve, the long-continued depressing ettects of the panic of 1873.

At the second session of this Congress, January 14, 1875, the Bill providing for the resumption of sjjecie payments on the 1st of January, 1871), became a law. It provided for the redemption of the fractional i)aper currency outstanding, in silver dimes, quarters and half dollars of standard value, and repealed the charge of one-fifth of one i>er cent, for converting standard gold bullion into coin. But its most important provisions were in Section ;j, which was in full us follows: ^'Section 5177 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, limiting the aggregate amount of circulating notes of National Bank- ing Associations, is h(*reby repealed; and each existing Banking Asso- ciation may in<rease its circulating notes in accordance with existing law, without respect to said aggregate limit; and new Banking Asso- ciations may be organized in accordance with existing law, without respect to said aggregate limit; and {\w provisions of law for the withdrawal and redistribution of National Bank currency among the states and territori(»s, are hereby rep(»aled. And whenever circu- lating notes shall be issued to any Banking Association so increasing its capital or circulating notes, or newly organized as aforesaid, it shall be the duly of the Secretjiry of the Ti'easury to redeem the legal

278 HISTORY OF THE KEPri^LICAN PARTY.

tender United States notes in excess only of three hundred millions of dollars, to the amount of eighty ])er cent, of the sum of National Hank notes so issued to any such Banking Association, and to con- tinue such redemption, as such circulating notes are issued, until there shall be outstanding the sum of three hundred millions of dollars of such legal tender United States notes and no more. And on and after the first day of January, 1871), the Secretary of the Treasury shall redeem, in coin, the United States legal tender notes then out- standing, on their presentation at the oflice of the Assistant Treasurer of the United States, in the City of New York, in sums of not less than $50.-' For this purpose the Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to use any surjilus there might be in the Tnnisury or to sell bonds of any authorized issue at not less than ])ar in coin.

As it finally passed the Bill was, b}' a general Republican caucus, made a party measure, and the Democrats generally voted against it. The requirement that the Legal Tenders should be reduced to f300,- ()()0,00() was subsequently annulled. Grave ajiprehensions were entertained that resumi)tion, when it finally came under this Act, would be attended by serious financial disturbances. But the prep- arations lor it were made so gradually, that when the day for resumi)tion was reached it did not cause a rijiple in the money market or on the stock exchange.

Another measure of importance, jiasscnl at this session, was one increasing the taxes on licjuors and tobac( o, and the duties on sugars and various imported commodities. This was the first increase in taxes that had been made since the war.

The supplementary Civil Rights Bill was before this Congress in some form during nearly the whole of both sessions. It did not finally jiass until nearly the close of the second session, being signed March 1, 1875. On its final passage in the House it had 102 yeas, all Republicans, and 100 nays, of whom 87 were Democrats and VA were Republicans. It provided that "all ])ersous within the juris- diction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities and privi- leges of inns, public conv(*yances on land and water, theaters and other places of public amusenu^nt, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude." It i)rovided that any person violating this section should ])ay fSOO to the person aggrieved, and ho snbj<Mt also to a fine of from fSOO to

TWO YEARS OP DISASTER. 270

|1,00(), or to iinprisonnienl from thirty days to one year. It also contained the following enactment: **No citizen, possessing all other (lualifications, which are pres<'rihed by law, shall be disquali- fied for service as grand or jietit juror in any Tnited States or State (^ourt on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.'' Any officer discriminating against any citizen in violation of this provision is liable to a fine of $5,000. The Act also provides that cases under it shall be tried in the I'nited States Courts, and that any such case nwiy be apjiealed to the Sujireme Court without reference to the amount involved. Several cases arose under the law within the next few months, so that it soon received Judicial interpretation. It renuiins on the Statute books today, substantially as first enacted. This was the last of ihe A<*ts passed to <over the new relations of the eman<ipated negroes to the community. It was well that it passed when it did, for the Republicans were not again in control of both Houses of Congress till 1889.

The Forty-third Congress had before it a large number of joint resolutions for Constitutional Amendments, though it adoi)ted none. In his message of December :J, the President recommended an Amend- ment providing that the Executive might veto part of any measure that came before him without vetoing the whole, and another that when Congress was convened in €»x1ra session, its legislation should be confined to such subjects as the Exe<utive might bring before it. Other Amendments offered provided for electing Cnited States Sena tors by direct vote of the people; for referring disputes with regard to Presidential electors, to the Supreme Court for settlement; for changing Presidential election day to the first Monday in Ajiril, and holding a second election on the second Tuesday in October, in case no candidate had a nuijority in the Electoral College first chosen; for electing the President and Nice-President by direct vote of the peoj)!*.; prohibiting Congress from imposing duties on imports, except for the purpose of paying the ju'incipal and interest on the public debt ; and numerous others.

It was an event outside of Congress that especially marked this period and that had the most influence upon the course of the next political campaigns. This was the panic of 1873. The fluctuating character of the currency and the existence of a premium on gold, were a constant menace to the business of the country. That they were not the occasion of more financial disasters was due partly to skillful financiering on th(» part of the Ciov<»rnment, but much more

2X0 HISTORY OF THE KEPUIJLKWN PARTY.

to the enormous productive and renii)erative power of the country. The danjijer couiinj; from tlie i)remium on <j;old was illustrated by the events of Black Friday, September 1, 1S(>J). lly means of skillful arguments, persistently addressed to the President, he had been per suaded that a slight rise in gold while the crops were moving would be of benefit to the country, and therefore orders were given early in September to sell only gold sufficient to buy bonds for the sinking fund. \Vhile this order was in force Jay (lould and a number of other ojjerators cons]>ired to raise the price of gold, which was then selling at about 140. They commenced on Black Friday by bidding at 145 and gradually raised bids to 150, and then by advances of on<* per cent, at a time, brought it uj) to 1(50, when they commenced to unload through agents unknown to other operators, at the same time offering bets that it would go to 200. It reached lO^U/^, when word was received that the Treasury Dejiartment had ordered the sale of $4,000,000 in order to stop the rise. At the same time it becann' known that Gould was selling, a panic followed, and gold dropjHMl more rapidly than it had risen, and finally went as low as 130. The conspirators had made fortunes, but a score of brokers who were not in the ring were ruined. The effects of this move were <*onfined mainly to the gold sjM^culators on the New York Exchange. They did not reach, to any serious extent, the business of the country. The incident did, however, impn'ss upon i»eople the fact that, under certain conditions, the (tovernment could exercise a strong influence upon affairs at the linancial center of the <'ountry, and it inclineii them to hold the Government and th^ party in i)ower, responsible for everything.

The collapse of 1873 was undoubtedly hastened by the contrac- tion of the currency, occasioned by the retirement of the greenbacks, and the refunding of the public debt. But there were other causes that would have brought it on very soon, even if this contraction had not becMi made. It was a period of wild speculation, at a time when, in view of the necessity of taking steps that looked toward resump- tion, it ought to have been a time of prudent and (autious investment. It has been the experience of this, and of every other country, that a period of speculation, of buying bc^yond any ]K>ssible needs of the* ]»reseut and of any ])robable needs of the future, is always followed, ultimately, by panic and business d«*pression. The young men of the in*es«Mit gen< ration had an exi)erience of this in 1SI>'5, when then* was no a<-cnsation of (^lovernment interference with the finances, when

TWO YEARS OF DISASTER. 281

the enrrenfy was perfectly sound, and was abundant for the needs of all lei^itlmate business. But whatever the cause, the panic of 1873 was followed by five years of business depression, with trade dull, with factories closed, with laborers out of employment and dis- contented. The following year, 1874, when the Congressional elections were held, was one of the gloomiest of the five, and there were thousands of men who found satisfaction in voting against the party in power, even tliough that party was only in the smallest degree resj)onsible for the conditions which brought about the busi- ness disast( r.

The salary grab, in which Democrats, as well as Republicans, were interested, was also u^ed against the latter, and justly so, because their majority was so large in both Houses, that they could very properly be held resi)onsible for all legislation. The exposures of the Credit Mobilier spe<ulation, in which several Republican .Members of Congress were implicated, and for which three of them were censured, and the exi)osure of the operations of the Whisky Ring, which had operated in St. Louis, Chi<*ago and Milwaukee, and had defrauded the Government out of at least two million and a quarter of internal revenue taxes, were also used with effe<*t in the campaign.

There were portents of the coming storm, in the fall of 1878, when Ohio elected a Democratic (lOvernor for the first time since thi» Republican party was organized, while several other states gav«» greatly reduced Republican nuijorities. Hut the whirlwind did not come till 1874. When the *'Log Cabin'' campaign of 1840 opened Martin Van Buren said that it would be '^either a farce or a tornado.*' It proved to be a tornado, and he was swej^t away with the rest of the rubbish. So in this case, the campaign of 1872 ended in a farce. That of 1874 was a tornado. The general effect of the gale can be seen at a glance. In the Forty-third Congress the Democrats had iU Senators and SS Members of the House, while in the Forty-fourth they had 29 Senatoi*s and 181 Members of the House. The Republi cans elected 208 Representatives in 1S72, and only 107 in 1874. In some of the details the results were astounding.- Thus Massachu- setts, which gave over 88,000 Republican majority for Governor in 1872, gave only about 7,000 in 1874. Connecticut elected Jewell, Republican Governor in 1872, by about 2,000 majority, and Ingersoll, Democrat, two years later, by nearly 7,000. In 1872 New York gav<» Dix, R(»i)ublican, for Governor, 58,451 majority, and in 1874 it gave

282 HISTORY OF THE R^:PrRLirAN PARTY.

Tilden, Democrat, for the same office, 50,317 majoritv. Pennsyl- vania, which gave Orant a majority of 1:^7,548, now elected a Democratic Lieutenant-( Governor by 4,i;7!) majority. Ohio, which gave Orant :i7,5:n majority in 1><72, now electtMi a Democratic Secre- tary of State by 17,207, and so it went through nearly all the old Republican States except in the Northwest and part of New England, which the Republicans hehi, thouirh by much diminished majorities. The straight Republicans had a majority in the Congressional dele- gations of only twelve States: Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michi- gan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin. And this was the House that would elect the President in case there was no choice by the peoj>le in 187l>, and would help canvass the Electoral vote in any event.

In Michigan it came dangerously near to being a landslide, but the r])i)er Peninsula, which was formerly strongly Democratic, but which was now staunchly Re]Miblican, saved the State to the latter party. About 2 a. m. the morning after election, (Governor Bagley. who was a candidate for re-election, and who had been striking aver- ages on the returns received at the office of the Detroit Post, shoved his pa]»ers aside, \nit uj) his pencil, and remarked: "Well, boys, I'm beaten." Hut just as he was about to leave the office ivturns from two of the l'p^»er Peninsula Counties <-ame in, and encouraged by these, he sta\ed long enough to figure out his election. His plur- ality in 1872 was 50,744. In 1S74 it was 5,9(>!», the vote being in full as follows:

John J. Hagley, Republican 111,519

Henry Chamberlain, Democrat 105,550

Charles K. Cari>enter, Prohibition 3,937

The Democrats also made a raid on the Michigan Congressional delegation, electing Ali)heus S. Williams over Moses W. Field, in the Detroit District: (Jeorge H. Durand, of Flint, over Josiah W. Begole, in the Sixth District, and Allen Potter over Julius C. Burrows, in the Kalamazoo District. The Republicans elected were: Nathan R. Bradley, Omar D. Conger, Jay A. Hubbell, Henry Waldron, George Willard and William B. Williams. The Republican majority in the l^^gislature was so small that a few malccmtents, combining with the Democrats, were able to def<*at Zachariah Chandler for the Unitcnl States Senate, and elect Isaac P. Christ ian<'y in his jdace.

The u])heaval brought into Congress many new Democratie faces, some of I hem destined to b(M-onie <'ons]>icuou8 in the party.

TWO YEARS OF DISASTER. 283

From Connecticut appeared in the Senate Ex-Cxovernor James E. English, who was appointed to lill a vacancy, and William W. Eaton, who was chosen by the newly elected Legislature. Mr. Eaton was, during the war, one of the most rampant of Copperheads. Rut age and Senatorial responsibilities sobered him, and in the Senate he was very conservative and independent, sometimes on financial and tariff measures even voting with the Republicans. Indiana replaced Daniel D. Pratt with Josejih E. McDonald, who was also much more moderate now than during the war, and who disputed with Thomas A. Hendricks, the Democratic leadership of the State. The most conspicuous of the new comers was Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, who, a number of times, appeared in conventions as a candidate for the Presidential nomination, and who was nominated in 1888 for Vice- President. Other new Democratic Senators, who afterwards achieved distinction, were William Pinkney Whyte, of Maryland; Francis M. Cockrell, of Missouri; Theodore F. Randol])h, of New Jersey; Francis Kernan, of New York, and William Wallace, of Pennsylvania.

In the House the most distinguished members on the Democratic side, a few of whom had sened in the Forty-third Congress, but most of whom were new, were: William H. Rarnum, of Connecticut; Ren- jamin H. Hull and Alexander H. Ste])hen8, of (Georgia, the latter of whom had been in Congress before the war, during which he was \'ice-President of the Confederacy, and whose appearance now, with a solid Democrati<' delegation, showed that the colored vote in that State was well suppressed; Carter H. Harrison, William M. Springer and Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, the latter Vice-President during Cleveland's second term; Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, who had been in Congress before, but who was missing from the Forty-third; J. Proctor Knott and Joseph C. S. Rlackburn, of Kentucky, the latter one of the most unreconstructed rebels left in the State; Randall L. (libson and E. John Ellis, of Louisiana; Otho R. Singleton, of Missis- sippi; Abram S. Hewitt and Scott Lord, of New York; Frank H. Hurd and Henry R. Payne, of Ohio; William Mutchler, of Pennsylvania; John H. Reagan, of Texas; J. Randolph Tucker, of Virginia, and Charles J. Faulkener, of West \ irginia. On assembling in Decem- ber, 1875, the House elected Michael C. Kerr S])eaker by M*A votes, to 106 for James (1. Rlaine.

With an overwh(*lming Democratic majority in the House, witli a good working Republican majority in the S(Miate, and a Rei)ublican

2S4 HIOTORY OF THE REIM BLIlWN PARTY.

President, it was nor to be ex|KMted that niueh legislation would be aceoni]>li8hed by the Forty-fonrth Congress, and especially legislation of a politi<-al character. Far the most important Act was that regu- lating the <*onnt of Ele<toral votes for IM'esident and Vice-President for the t»*rni commenc ing March 4, l,s77, an abstract of which ap]M*ars in the chapter of this book rehuing to the Electoral Count.

Two financial measures were passed at the first session. One was a joint resolution, with these j>rovisions, (1) authorizing the S4*cre- lary of the Treasury to issue silver coin at any time in the Treasury, to an amount not exceeding f H),(MM),(MN), in ex<*hange for an etjual amount of legal tender notes, such notes to be kept as a separate fund, only to be reissued ujion the retirement and destruction of a like sum of fractional currency; C) limiting the coinage of the trade dollar, and removing its legal tender quality; ill) legalizing the manu- tacture and issue of silver coin, to an amount, including the amount of subsidiary silver roin and fractional currency outstanding, not exceeding at any time, fifty million dollars. Another financial Act, approved Ajiril 17, 1S70, directs the Secretary of the Treasury to *'give silver coins of the I'nited States, of ten, twenty-five and fifty- cents, standard value, in redemption of an equal amount of fractional currency, whether the same be now in the Treasury awaiting redemp- tion, or whenever it may be jiresentcd for redemption; and the Sec- retary nmy provide for such redemption and issue by substitution at the regular sub-treasuries and public depositories, until the whole amount of fractional currency outstanding shall be redeemed. And the fractional currency redeemed under this act shall be held to be a part of the sinking fund provided for by existing law, the interest to be comi)uted thereon as in the case of bonds redeemed under tlie A it reljiting to the sinking fund."

Other Acts of general interest ]>assed by this Congress were those reducing the rates of ])ostage on newspapers and periodicals; extend- ing the franking privih^ge to the P^xecutive Dejmrtments; providing that with certain exce])tions named, no ])erson shall be tried for sui offense, not capital, unless an indictment is framed or information instituted within thrcn^ years of the time the offense is committed; reducing the number of internal revenue districts; increasing |)ension8 to soldiers who lost both an arm and a leg; encouraging and promot- ing telegraphic connection between America and EuroiK*, an<l extending the time for presenting Southern claims.

Two Constitutional Amendments were discussed and voted upon. The lirst, n^iiorted by the House Committee on the Judiciary, pro-

TWO YEAKS OF DISASTER 285

vided that, **No person who has held, or may hereafter hold, the oflSce of President, shall ever again be eligible to said office." A sub- stitute extending the term to six years and making the President ineligible was voted down, yeas 108, nays 144, and the original Amendment was then rejected, yeas 145, nays 108, not two-thirds in the affirmative.

The following was reported by the House Judiciary Committee to stand as Article XVI: **No Slate shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and no money raised by taxation in any State for the support of public schools, or derived from any public fund therefor, nor any public lands devoted thereto, shall ever be under the control of any religious sect or denomination; nor shall any money so raised, or lands so devoted, be divided between religious sects or denominations. This Article shall not vest, enlarge or diminish, legislative power in Congress." This passed the House by a vote of 180 to 7, but a Senate substitute for it was rejected in the latter body by 27 yeas to 15 nays.

XXIII.

THE SIXTH KEPrHLlCAX CAMPAIGX.

The Three Natural Republican Leaders — Blaine's Popularity With the Republicans — Democratic Attacks Upon Him — His Bold Defense in the House — Readin^r of the Mulligan Letters — His Attack of Sunstroke — Injrersoirs Brilliant Speech at the Cincin- nati Tonvention- -A Close Contest for the Nomination — It Goes to Rutherford H. Hayes on the Seventh Ballot— William A. Wheeler Nominated for Vice-President — A Loujr Platform Declaration — New Dej)arture for the Democrats — Tilden and Hendricks Nominated — Tilden Conducts His Own Canvans — A Closely Contested Camjiaign — Hayes Has One Majority on tho Electoral Vote.

The Sixth National Republican Convention, which met in Cin- cinnati, June 14, 1876, had before it for consideration three of the men who were amonjj the ablest in the party, and who had been in the public service almost from the time of their reaching manhood, and six others who api»eared eith(»r as favorite sons, or else who were believed to jjossess some special element of strength. The thro** natural leaders were James G. Blaine, of Maine: Roscoe Conkling, of New York, and Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana.

Blaine was the popular favorite, and his initial strength in the Convention was so great as to temi)t to a combination of all the other candidates against him. He had been brought into especial promi- nence by debates on the Oeneral Amnesty Bill in the Forty-fourth Congress, where he had stood the brunt of the attack of half the ex- Confederates in the House. He had won admiration by the boldness and vigor of his counter attacks, and especiiilly by the skill with whi<h he had worsted Ccmgressman Hill, of (leorgia, in debate. Hi» was regarded by the Democrats as their strongest foe, and they regarded him with a bitter hatred. In order to compass his undoititr, a few days before the Cincinnati Convention was to meet, they started

THE SIXTH REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN. 287

an investigation, which, it was hinted, would implicate Mr. Blaine in a questionable transaction in railroad bonds. The accusation was at first implied, rather than made, that he had been bribed by a gift of Fort Smith & Little Rock Railroad bonds to use his influence, when Speaker of the House, in favor of that roa<i. The evidence relied upon against him was contained in correspondence which had fallen into the hands of a man named Mulligan, and had become known as the **Mulligan letters." Mr. Blaine obtained possession of these letters. He refused to show them to the Investigating Com- mittee, on the ground that th^y had no right to inquire into his private corresjmndence. The next morning he supported his refusal to produce the letters by submitting to the investigators the written opinion of Jeremiah S. Black, one of the most iiot(*d Democratic lawyers in the country, and Ex-Senator Matt H. Carpenter, also a noted lawyer, that the letters had "no relevan<y whatever to the matter under inquiry," and that "it would be most unjust and tyran- nical, as well as illegal, to demand their production." This put the .Fiidiciary Committee in a quandary. The other witnesses were dis- missed and the matter laid over. Some members of the committee proposed bringing the matter before the House, but that was objected to, because it would give Blaine too great an opportunity to make a public defense. As one member put it, they didn't want "to have Blaine cavorting around on the Hoor of the House." A majority of the members of the Committee had been in the Southern Army, and a newspaper of the period represented the '^Confederate Brigadiers'' of the (*ommittee triving utterances to their views of Blaine as follows-

He is always in the way —

Blaine, of Maine! And in session every day

Raises Cain; When his prodding makes us roar. Then he lacerates the sore, Till we holier more and more—

Blaine, of Maine.

How he boxes us around —

Blaine, of Maine I Now and then we're on the ground

Half insane: Frequently to grass we go: This is temporary though,

2HH HISTOKY OF THE REPrBUrAN PARTY.

For we rallv from the blow. And i)rei)are to eat our crow, But he stands us in a row And he smites us h\^\\ and low. Till we shiver in our woe, And he keei)s us whirling: so. That we have the vertigo— Blaine, of Maine.

The Confederate brigadiers, however, could not keep Blaine from **<avorting around,'' for after defying the committee he rose in the House to a question of j)rivilege, ]iroduced the letters and read them in full. A Washington corresjmndent who was in the House at the time thus describes the sensational scene that accompanied this bold proceeding:

"At times the scene was intensely dramatic, surpassing even the scene of the Amnesty debate, the interest reaching its climax when Blaine, after having denied the right of the committee to demand his private corn spondence, cried out that he would take the commit- ieo into his confidence and would read to forty millions of people letters that he would not allow a committee to force from him. 'Here they art*,' he cried, as he drew a ]>ackage from his pocket, and, holding it u]) above his head, he turned around so as to face everyone in the hall. 'Here they are,' he rei)eated, 'and 1 will read them.' The hall burst into a perfect roar of ai>plause, not only with clapping of hands, but with cries of ai)])robation from the members of the Repub- lican side, as well as from the galleries. The occupants of the ladies* gallery shook their handkerchiefs and jiarasols, and joined in the chieer. It was a sight that never had a ])arallel in a legislative body.

**No words can convey an adequate picture of Blaine's imi)etuous attack uiK)n Proctor Knott. When he came charging down the aisle and hurled at Knott an in(|uiry whc^ther he had not received a telegram from Caldwell, in Euro]»e, which he had suppressed, Knott refused to rejily. Blaine pressed the question again and again, till Knott, finally being cornered, and without es<ape, made the very dis- courteous and angry rei)ly: 'I'll answer you when I get ready.' Blaine followed Knott to his seat, shook his finger in his face, and charj^ed him directly with having sui)pressed a voluntary telegram from Caldwell, in London, acquitting Blaine of any improper connection with the bond transactions, and offering to send an affidavit to that effect to the committee. Knott's face colored to a deep crimson^ and he sat in his seat in utter helplessness; but there were forty

THE SIXTH KEPI'HLK AX (WMPAIGX, 289

Democrats on their feet, crvinjji:, 'Mr. Speakerl' 'Mr. Speakerl' Joliii Young Hrown, Jones, of Kentucky; Hlackburn, (Hover, Hohnan, Hunt on and many otliers, were v(»ry much excited, but Cox, who was presiding, rapi)ed them down and saved his party from disgra<*ing itself. Jones, of Kentucky, a bitter Democrat, who has shown him- self to be a guardian of honor, finally obtained a hearing, and demanded that his colleague answer the <iuestion. He would not consent to have such a disgrac<»ful im])Utation rest ui)on his party. Knott was thus driven to say that he would exi)lain the suppression of the telegram in a speech which he intcmd ed to make.'-

The letters containivl nothing to show that Hlaine was not entirely innocent of any wrong- doing in tlie matter, and were so ac<epted by all fair-minded person s, but the fact that the ac- cusation had been made doubtless cqst him some votes in the Con- vention. He suif(»re(l much more in thai body, however, by rea- son of ])rostration by sunstroke when on his "

way to church on the Sunday preceding the*

gathering at Cincinnati. roscue conklinu.

He rallied (piickly, but apjin^hensions with regard to his liealth were skillfully used to draw votes from him, when it came to balloting.

Koscoe Conkling was. throughout his whole Congressional career, both in House and Senate, recognized as one of the ablest debaters, and one of iho most eloquent stump speakers in the party. Hut he was arrogant and unapproachable, entirely lacking in the eh* ments of ])ersonal popularity, and th(Te never was a time when he could have re<(Mved the Presidential nomination at the hands of any Convention. His (andidacv at this time was not taken seriouslv.

2J)0 HISTORY OP THE KEPrRLirAN PARTY.

He had wrested the control of the Republican organization in New York from Ex-Governor Fenton and his friends, had a good hold on most of the delegation from that State, and it was understood at the time that his candidacy was intended to keep the delegation together until their votes could be thrown to the best advantage for someone else, but mainly to beat Blaine.

Senator Morton, of Indiana, commenced his jiublic career in very troublous times. He was elected Lieutenant-Governor of his State on the tick(»t with H(»nry S. Lane, and succeeded to the Governorship when Mr. Lane resigned that office to take a seat in the I'nited States Senate. Mr. Morton had the most difficult task before him of any of the \Yar Governors. The Southern counties of the State were honey- combed with Secession sentiment, the treasonable society, the Knights of the (lolden Circle, had headcjuarters in the Capital itself, and a L)emo<*ratic Legislature refused to make ai>i>roi)riations neces- sary to fit out trooi)s and carry on the State Government. But Mr. Morton ])roved etjual to the (emergency. He went to New Vork, and on his ];ersoi!al bond, with the backing of wealthy men in Indianap- olis, borrowed money to me(»t the pressing necessities of the State. He drove the Knights of the Golden Circle into hiding, and had a number of th(»ir leaders arrested and tried for tr(»as(m. He repressed disorders in the Southern counties, and in everv wav showed rare vigor and administrative cai>acity. Ele was re-(»lect(^ Crovernor in 1864, and was afterwards sent to the Senate, where he took rank among the ablest debaters.

Of the other candidates Hartranft and Jewell were "favorite sons" and nothing more, and Hayes belonged in the same rank, although he had scmu* following outside of Ohio before the Conven- tion met, and was regarded as a very likely compromise candidate, liristow was a man of moderate ability, and rather narrow^ views, who had come into a temporary in-ominence through his vigorous prose<*uticm of the Whisky' Ring. He had a good following in this Convention, but within two or three years had nearly dropped out of sight.

The Michigan delegation to Cincinnati was chosen at an unusu- ally interesting State Convention, held at Grand Rapids, May 10, 187(;, and consist(»d of the following members: At Large* — Henry P. Baldwin, William A. Howard, Delos L. Filer and Jonathan J. \Yoodman. By Districts — (1) William G. Thompson, Herman Kiefer; {2) Rice A. Real, Charles Rynd; (.J) William H. Withington, Edward

THE SIXTH KEIM HLK/AN TAMPAKiX. 291

S. J^cev; (4) X. A. Hamilton, George Hannahs; (5j A. R. Watson, Benjamin D. Pritchard; (6) William L. Smith, William S. Geoi-^e; (7) John (\ Waterbury, Samuel J. Tomlinson; (8) Theodore F. Shepard, A. H. Hoyt; (J)) William H. (\ Mitchel, Edward Breitun^.

Sentiment in the Convention that ehose these delegates was nnqnestionably favorable to Blaine, who had succeeded Seward in the affections of Michij»:an Ke]mblicans. In the course of previous campaigns he had made a few sjieeches to immense mass meetings in the State, and his brilliant career in Congress had been watched with interest and admiration. There was some talk in the Conven- tion of instructing the delegation, and this would probably have been done, had it not been for the interposition of William A. Howard. Mr. Howard was then as sound as ever from the shoulders up, but was very feeble in body, and was badly crippled. Loud calls had been made upon him for a si)eech early in the ])roceedings, to which he did not respond. He was chosen by acclamation a delegate-at- large, and was again called for, when he feebly hobbled forward on crutches, was assisted to the platform, and sat down. He commenced in a low voice, but soon warmed with his subject, and spoke in that animated and earnest manner which had so often carried audiences of Michigan Republicans to the highest jiitch of enthusiasm. He gave interesting reminiscences of ])arty history, and in relation to the approaching Xational Convention said:

*'The campaign is j)eculiar in this, that sentiment as to candi- dates is not crystallized. The whole question is one of settling indi- vidual preferences and of consulting availability. The prominent candidates are all representative Republicans and all worthy of sup- port. But we have not to consult altogc^th^r our own preferences. The battle is not to be won in Michigan, but in doubtful states like Xew York. Any one of the leaders can carry the banner triumphant throughout Michigan. We want a leader who will carry it to victory in weak ])laces all along the line, and if we secure this we shall triunij)!!. As to myself, I have no individual preferences. I am in earnest for the cause, but indifferent as to the man. I am not a l^laine man, nor a Bristow man, nor a Morton man; I am your man and for the triumi)h of the cause."

Mr. Howard, at this \)oiut half arose, leaned forw^ard, and, with earnest gesture and strong emphasis upon the closing words of the sentence, brought the enthusiasm of the audience to a high pitch. He then went on to show the grounds of encouragement furnished

^ \

292 HISTORY OF THE UEIM BLICAN PARTY.

by the ^'Confederate House" at Wa8hin}»:toii, referred to its futile attarks upou Republicans, and continued:

**We want the best and stronj^est man among the Republieans. In eonsultinj; availability, we must be sure to ji:et pronounced Repub- licans. We want no more Tylers, no more Andy Johnsons. We must, select from the tried members of our jiarty. In this selection I pro- pose to aid, by the use of my best judpuent, and I want you to instruct me just as little as you dare. I don't want to go to Cincin- nati with my hands tied. I want to go so free that if I see a chance to do a good thing for you anywhere, I can avail myself of it."

The i)lea was etTe<'tive and no resolution for instructions was even introduced in the Conventicm. A canvass of th(» delegates after adjournment show(»d that a majority of them were at the time for Rlaine, but before the National Convention met, while admiration for Rlaine did not diminish, doubts increased as to the ex])ediency of his nomination at that time. On the ditTerent ballots the vote of the delegation was as follows: First and second, Blaine, S; (\)ukling, 1; Rristow, t); Hayes, 4. Third, Rlaine, S; (Vinkling, 10; Hayes, 4. Fourth, Blaine. (5; Bristow, 1 1; Hayes, 5. Fifth, sixth and seventh, Hayes, 22.

T1h» naming of candidates for the Presid<»ntial nomination was reach(Ml on the scMond day of the Cincinnati gathering, the states being < ailed in alphabetical order. Stephen W. Kellogg, of (^mnecti- <ut ncmiinated Marshal .Jew<»ll: Mr. Morton's name was presented by Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, who was seconded by P. B. R. Pinchbeck, of Louisiana. (Jeneral Stewart L. Woodford, of New York, i)res(»nted Conkling's name. (Jeneral Harlan, of Kentucky, nominated Benjamin F. Bristow, who was supported by Judge Poland, of Yermont, (t(M)rge William Curtis, of New York, and Richard A. Dana, of Massachusetts. Robert (t. Ingersoll, of Illinois, nominated Blaine, and was seconded by William V. Frye, of Maine. Governor Edward F. Noyes, of Ohio, nominated Governor Hayes, and was su])])orled by Senator B(»njamin F. Wade. Mr. IngersolPs speech nominating Blaine has passed into history as the most noted of Convention orations in this country. With the omission of the opening paragraph, it was as follows:

The Rei)ubli(ans of the Cnited States denuind as their leader, in the great contest of 187t», a man of intellect, of integrity, of known and api)roved political opinions. They demand a statesman, they demand a reformer after as well as before the election. They demand a ])olitician in the highest and broadest and best sense of that word.

THE SIXTH UEPI BLirAN (/AMPAKIN/ 293

They (leiiiand a man acquainted with public* affairs, with the wants of the j)eoi)le, with not only the requirements of the hour, but with the demands of the future. They demand a nmn broad enough to <*ompreliend the relations of the (iovernment to the other nations of the earth. They demand a nuin well versed in the powers, duties and ]>rerogatives of eacli and every department of this Oovernmeni. They demand a man who will sacredly preserve the financial honor of the United States, one* who knows enouj^h to know that all the financial theories of the world cannot redeem a sinjijle dollar; one who knows enough to know that all the money must be made, not by law, but by labor; one who knows enough to know that the people of the Tnited States have the industry to make the money and flu* honor to pay it over just as fast as they make it.

The Uepublicans of the United States demand a man wiio knows that jirosperity and resumption, when they come, must come together. When they come hand in hand through the golden harvest fields, hand in hand by the whirling spindles and turning wheels, hand in hand by the open furnace doors, hand in hand by the flaming torges, hand in hand by chimneys tilled by eager fire, rockcMl and grasj)ed by the hands of the countless sons of toil. This money has got to be dug out of the earth; you cannot make it by passing resolu- tions at a political me(»ting.

The Republicans of tlie I'nited States want a man who knows that this Cfovernment should protect every citizen, at home and abroad, who knows that any (Jovernment that will not defend its defenders, and will not protect its protectors, is a disgrace to i\u^ map of the world. They demand a man who believes in the eternal separation of chun'h and schools. They demand a man whose polit- ical reputation is as spotless as a star; but they do not demand thjit their candidate shall have a certificate of character from a Confed- erate Congress. The man who has, in full and rounded measure, all of these splendid qualifications is the j)resent grand and gallant leader of the Republican party, James (i. Hlaine.

Our country crowned with the vast and marvelous achi(»vements of its first tentury, asks for a nmn worthy for the past and ])rophetic of her future; asks for a man who has the audacity of genius; asks for a man who is the grandest combination of heart, conscience and brain, beneath the flag. That man is James (5. Hlaine. For the Republican host, led by this intrepid man, there can be no such thing as defeat. This is a grand year, a year filled with the recol- lection of the Revolution, filled with j>roud and tender memories of the sacred, filled with the legends of liberty; a year in which the sons of freedom will drink from the fountains of enthusiasm; a year in which the p(»ople call for a man who has jireserved in Con- gress what our soldiers won upon the field; a year in which we call lor the man that has torn from the throat of treason the tongue of slander, a man that has snatched the mask of Democracy from the hideous fa<e of rebellicm; a man, who, like an intellectual athlete,

294 niHTORY OF THE REPUBLICAX PARTY.

stood in the arena of debate, challenged all comers, and who up to the present moment, is a total stranger to defeat.

Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of an American Congress, and threw his shining lance full and fair, against the brazen forehead of everv defamer of this country, and maligner of its honor. For the Repub- lican party to desert that gallant man now is as though an army should desert their general upon the field of battle. James G. Blaine is now, and has been for years, the bearer of the sacred standard of the Republic. I call it sacred, because no human being can stand beneath its folds without becoming and without remaining free.

GENTLEMEN OF THE r(>NVENTION— In the name of the great Republic, the only Republic that ever existed upon this earth, in the name of all her defenders and of all the su]>j>orters, in the name t>f all her soldiers living, in the name of her soldiers that are dead upon the field of battle, and in the name of those that perished in the skele- ton clutches of famine at Andersonville and Libby, Illinois nominatt^s for the next President of this country that [)rince of parliamentarians, that leader of leaders, James G. Blaine.

Although on the first six ballots Mr. Blaine had more votes than the aggregate of any other two candidates, the combination in the end l>roved too strong and on the seventh ballot Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, was nominated. The record of the ballots was as follows:

1st.

James G. Blaine, of Maine 2Si}

Benj. H. Bristow, of Kentucky. . 11:5 Roscoe Conkling, of New York. . IM)

John F. Hartranft, of Penn 58

Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio., (il Marshall Jewell, of Tonuecticut. 11 Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana. . . . 124

E. B. Washburne, of Illinois

\Vm. A. Wheeler, of New York. . :\

William A. Wheeler and Stewart L. Woodford, of New^ York; Joseph R. Hawley and Marshall Jewell, of < Connecticut, and FrcHierick T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, were mentioned for ^'ice-P^e8ident, but the balloting showed Mr. Wheeler so far in the lead that the rest weie withdrawn, and he was nominated by acclamation. Mr. Wheeler had been a useful member of Congress, where he rendered especially good service as Chairman of the Committee on the Paeifie Railroads. He was more widely known, however, as the author of ihe ** Wheeler Compromise*,'' which patcluMl up one of the chronic

2d.	:W.	4th.	5th.	0th.	7th.
29S	2m	292	280	308	351
114	121	120	114	111	21
m	IK)	84	82	81
Ga	08	71	09	50
()4	07	08	1(»4	113	:ik%
111	li:i	108	95	85	' "
1	1	3	3	4
:\	2	2	3	»>

THE SIXTH REPITBLirAN CAMPAIGN. 295

])olitical quarrels in I^ouiniana, recognized the Kepubliean Kellogg <iovernnient, as against the Democratic McEnery Government, settled disputes as to certain seats in the House of Representatives in that State, and restored the peace until the next election.

Following is the platform adopted by the Convention at Cincin- nati:

When, in the economy of Providence, this land was to be purged of human slavery, and when the strength of the government of the people, by the people and for the peoi)le, was to be demonstrated, the Republican party came into jiower. Its deeds have passed into his- tory, and we look back to them with ]>ride. Incited by their memories to high aims for the good of our country and mankind, and looking to the future with unfaltering courage, hope and jmrpose, we, I he representatives of the party, in National Convention assembled, make the following declarations of principles:

1. The Cnited States of America is a Nation, not a league. Uy the combined workings of the National and State Governments, under their respective Constitutions, the rights of every citizen are secured, at lionu* and abroad, and the common welfare ])romoted.

2. The Rei)ubli<an party has preserved these governments to ihe hundredth anniversary of the Nation's birth, and they are now embodiments of the great truths spoken at its cradle: **That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, anumg which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that lor the attainment of these ends governments have been instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the <ousent of the governed.-' Until these truths are cheerfully obeyed, or, if need be, vigorously enforced, the work of the Rej)ublican party is unfinished.

II. The permanent pacitication of the Southern section of tin* Ijiion, and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoy- ment of all their rights, is a duty to which the Republican party stands sacredly pledged. The power to provide for the enforcement of the princi[>le8 embodied in the recent Constitutional Amendments is vested, by those Amendments, in the Congress of the I'nited States; and we declare it to be the solemn obligation of the legislative and Executive Departments of the (lovernment to put into immediate and vigorous exercise all their Constitutional [)owers for removing any just cause of dis<*ontent on the part of any class, and for securing to every American citizen com[)lete liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political and public rights. To this end we imperatively demand a Congress and a Chief Exe<*utive whose courage and fidelity to these duties shall not falter until these results are placed beyond dispute or recall.

4. In the first Act of Congress signed by President Grant the National (iovernnuMit nssumed to remove any doubt of its purpose to

20(5 HISTORY OF THE REIM HLKWN PARTY.

(liRcharge all just obligatioiiH to the publii- creditors, and "solemnly ]iledj(ed its faith to make provision at the earliest practieable perioil lor the redem]>tion of the I'nited States notes in coin." Commerrial prosperity, public morals and national credit demand that this promise be fulhlled by a continuous and steady j)roi;ress to 8pi*cie payment.

5. Under the Constitution, the President and heads of depart- ments are to make nominations for oflice, the Senate is to advise and <onsent to a]>i)ointments, and the House of Representatives is to act-use and prosecute fjiithless otticers. The best interests of the public service demand that these distinctions be resi)ected: that Sena- tors and Representatives who may be judj^es and accusers slnnild not <li<-tate a]>pointments to oflice. The invariable rule in appointments should have refer(*nce to the honesty, tidelity and cai)acity of the appoint(*es, giving to the ])arty in jiower those i)laces wiiere harmony and vigor of administration require its policy to be represented, but permitting all others to i)e filled by persons selected with sole refer- ence to the efti(*iency of the public service, and the right of citizens to share in the honor of rendering faithful service to the country.

(5. We rejoice in the quickened conscience of the people concern- ing political alTairs, and will hold all jMiblic officers to a rigid resjionsibility, and engage that the prosecution and punishment of aSl who betray official trusts shall be swift, thorough and unsparing.

7. The public school system of the several States is the bulwark of the Ameri<an Re])ublic; and, with a view to its security and i>er- manence, we recommend an Amendment to the Ccmstitution of the I'nited States, forbidding the a]>)»lication of any public funds or pro|>- erty for tlu* benefit of any schools or institutions under sectarian ccmtrol.

S. Th<» revenue ne<<»ssary for current expenditures and the obli- gation of the public debt must be largely derived from duties u}Km im{)ortations, which, so far as jmssible, should be adjusted to promote the inter<»sts of American labor and advance the prosperity of the whole* country.

0. ^Ye realhrm our op{M>sition to further grants of tlie publie lands to corporations and moncqiolies, and demand that the National <Iomain be devoted to free homes for tlu* jH»ople.

10. It is the imperative duty of the (iovernment so to modify t»xisting treaties with European governments that the same protection shall be aflorded to the adopted Anieritan citizen that is given lo tht* native-born; and that all necessary laws should be passed to protiH-t emigrants in the absence of power in the States for that purpose.

11. It is the immediate duty of ('ongr<»ss to fully investigate the (Effect of the immigration nnd im]K)rtation of Mongolians upon the moral and material interests of the country.

12. The Republican j»arty recognize with approval the substan- tial advances rcMentiy made toward the (establishment of equal rights lor wouKMi by th(» uiany imjiortant auHMidments effected by Republican

THE SIXTH RErUHLICAN CAMPAIGN. 297

Legislatures in the laws which coniern the personal and properly relations of wives, mothers and widows and by the appointment and election of women to the superintendence of education, charities and other public trusts. The honest demands of this class of citizens for additional rights, privileges and immunities should be treated with respectful consideration.

13. The Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the territories of the United States for tlieir governments; and in the exercise of this power it is the right and duty of Congress to prohibit and extirpate, in the territories, that relic of barbarism — polygamy; and we demand such legislation as shall secure this end ami the supremacy of American institutions in all the Territories.

14. The pledges which the Nation has given to her soldiers and sailors must be fultllled, and a grateful people will always hold those who imperil their lives for the country's preservation in the kindest reniemb ranee.

15. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feeling and tendencies. We, therefore, note with deep solicitude iliat the Democratic party counts, as its chief hope of success, upon the Electoral vote of a united South, secured through the etiorts of those who were recently arrayed against the Nation, and we invoke the earnest attention of the country to the grave truth that a success thus achieved would reopen sectional strife and imperil sectional honor and human rights.

IG. We charge the Democratic party with being the same in char acter and spirit as when it sympathized with treason; with making its control of the House of Representatives the triumph and opportunity of the Nation's recent foes; with reasserting and ai)])]auding, in the National Capitol, the sentiments of unrepentant rebellion; with sending Union soldiers to the rear, and promoting Confederate soldiers to the front; with deliberateh pro[)osing to repudiate the plighted faith of the (Tovernment; with being ecjuallyfalseand imbecile upon the overshadowing tinancial questions; with thwarting the ends of justice by its partisan management and obstruction of investiga- tion; with proving itself, through the period of its ascendancy in the Lower House of Congress, utterly incompetent to administer the Gov- ernment; and we warn the country against trusting a party thus alike unworthy, recreant, and incapable.

17. The National Administration merits commendation for its iKmorable work in the management of domestic and foreign affairs, and President (Jrant deserves the continued hearty gratitude of the American people for his patriotism and his eminent services in war and in peace.

18. We present, as our ( andidates for President and \Mce-Presi dent of the United States two distinguished statesmen of eminent ability and chara<*ter, and conspicuously titted for those high offices, and w^e conlidently aj)peal to the American people toentrust the admin- istration of their public atlairs to Rutherford H. Haves and William A. Wheeler.

208

HISTORY OF THE REPVHLirAN PARTY.

in the (anivai^i) of 1S7C> the Doiiiorrats took an entirely new departure, both in landidate and platform. Their candidate for President, Sanuiel J. Tilden, had been ihiefly 0(*(upied with money ^ettin^ until he was some years past 50, when the opportunity offered to render a <onspi<uous service to the <'ommunity. The New York Times in ISTl made some astounding revelations of the corruptions and stealing's of the •'Twecni Rinj»:" in New York (Mty, and with great industry uncovered the details of the fraudulent operations, which, with equal courage it published. IJut it needed something more than

the disclosures to break up the ring, and in this Mr. Tilden rendered very (efficient aid, both as a Member of the As- s e m b 1 y and in the <-ourts. Whether it was this public activity that first roused his desire for political distinction, or whether he had been simply biding his time, he took advantage of the oj)i)ortunity, se- cured the nominati<in for <iovernor in 1S74 and was swejjt into the Executive chair, by the same tidal wave that carried so many other Democrats into power. A s Governor he made a vigorous warfare upon the **('anal Ring,'' which had been robbing the State, under all i>olitical j arties, for a generation or two. He could v(M*y properly com<» before the public as a reformer. Tammany Flail opposed him, but he had secured such complete control of the Democratic organization in New York State, that for once Tammauy was helpless. In the National Convention, which opened in St. Louis, June 1^7, John Kelly, who had succetnled William M. Tweed as Tammany's Boss, vigorously op[)osed Tilden, and was aided by a few of tlM» strongest DcuKMiats of the older school. They clainuMl

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

THE SIXTH REPFBLirAN CAMPAIGN.

200

that he could not carry New York State, and sought to divert some of his support to General Hancock, Thonuis A. Hendricks and others. But the new machine, which Tilden had put together, was too strong for them, and on the first ballot he had almost the recjuisite two- thirds vote. On the second his nomination was made unanimous. Thomas A. Hendricks was with equal unanimity nominated for Vice-President.

The platform was very long and was in keeping with the reform professions of Mr. Tilden. It consisted of denunciations of Repub- lican acts, a large num- ber of demands, and a tiresome reiteration of the statement, "reform is necessary," applied to a large number of spe- cific subjects. But the campaign was not fought out on the plat- form. The Democrats laid particular stress upon Mr. Tilden's re- form record, and back of that was Tilden's own adroit manage- ment. He had already become an ex])ert poli- tician, and from the re- cesses of his handsome residence at No. 15 Gramercy Park, he con- ducted his own cam- paign. The Republicans hunted up abundant evidence of devious- ness in some of Tilden's former business transactions, but this really had little effect upon the voters, as his ofiicial career had been com- mendable. Much more elTective for Rej>ubli<an use was the ammunition furnished by the **(.'onfederate Congress," the first Dem ocratic House of Re])resentatives for 18 years. The Democrats had a large majority in the House, and the Southern wing had commenced <»nce more to rule the Democrats. Their bojist: **The South is in the saddle again'' cost them more votes than all of Tihlen's tortuous business transactions.

WILLIAM A. WHEELER.

:iOO HISTORY OF THE KEIMRLICAN PARTY.

Tbis year witnessed the Oenesis of the Greeubaek party, which met at Indianapolis, May 17, nominated Peter Cooper, of New^ York, for President, and Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio, for Vice-President, and adopted the following::, the tirst platform of a party that brought its opinions before the people for several campaigns following:

The Independent party is called into existence by the necessities of the people, whose industries are prostrated, whose labor is deprived of its just reward by a ruinous policy, which the Rej)ublican and Dem- ocratic parties refuse to change; and, in view of the failure of these ])arties to furnish relief to the de])ressed industries of the countr\, tluM'^eby disappointing the just hopes and expectations of the suffer- ing people, we declare our i)rinciples, and invite all independent and patriotic men to join our ranks in this movement for financial reform and industrial emancipation.

1. ^V(» demand the immediate and unconditional repeal of the Specie Resumj>tion A<-t of January 14, 1875, and the rescue of our industries from ruin and disaster, resulting from its enforcement; and we call upon all patriotic men to organize in every Congressional district of the country, with a view of electing Re])resenta lives to <'ongress who will carry out the wishes of the j)eople in this regard, and stop the [>resent suicidal and destructive policy of contraction.

2. We believe that a United States note, issued directly by the (io\ernment, and convertible, on demand, into United States obliga- tions, bearing a rate of interest not exceeding one cent a day on each one hundred dollars, and exchangeable for United States notes at par, will atford the best circulating medium ever devised. Such United States notes should be full legal tenders for all purposes, ex<e])t for th(» jiayment of such obligations as are, by existing con- tra<ts, es]K'cially made payable in coin; and we hold that it is the <luty of the (lovernment to juovide such a circulating medium, and insist, in the language of Thomas Jetferson, that *'bank paper must be sui)pressed and tlu* circulation restored to the Nation to whom it behmgs.'*

t\. It is the paramount duty of the Government, in all its legis- lation, to keep in view the full development of all legitimate* business, agricultural, mining, manufa<turing and commercial.

4. We most (earnestly protest against any further issue of gold bonds for sale in foreign markets, by which we would be made for a long period, *'hewers of wood and drawers of water," to foreigners, c»sj)ecially as the American [)eo[)le would gladly and jiromptly tak#? at [>ar all bonds tlie <iovernment nuiy need to sell, providing they are made payable* at the oi)tion of the holder, and bearing interest at :\A\o per cent. ])(»r annum or even a lower rate.

5. We further ]U()test against the sale of Government bonds, lor the purjK)S(» of j)urchasing silvcM* to be used as a substitute for our

THE SIXTH UEIMTBLICAN CAMPAKiN. 801

more loiivenient fractional cnrreney, whicb, altliough well cakulated to enrich owners of silver mines, yet in operation it will still further oppress in taxation an already overburdened peo[)le.

There was also a Prohibition Convention at Cleveland, May 17, which nominated Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, for President, and there was an ^'American National" ticket, with James B. Walker, of Wheaton, Hlinois, for President, and Donald Kirkpatrick, of Syra- cuse, N. Y., for Vice-President.

The October elections this year were not sufficiently decisive to make sure the hnal result and that remained in doubt up to the very day of the November election, and in fact for some time after- wards. The Democrats first claimed the election and the Republi cans were inclined to concede it. But about l^ o'clock cm the morning after ele<-ti<m a dispatch was sent out from Republican headquarters in New York, signed Zachariah Chandler, Chairman, and saying: '*Hayes has 185 votes and is elected.'' The fa<t is Zachariah Chand- ler had given up the case, and, exhausted by the fatigues of the campaign and the excitement of the day, had retired, and was fast aslee]>. Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, and William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire, were at headquarters, when disjmtches were received indicating that South <'arolina, Florida and Louis- iana had gone Republican, making uj) the nec'^ssary 185 votes. When Zachariah Chandler arrived at headtjuarters the next morning he ai)proved the dispatch, and at on<*e set out, with his customary vigor to make it good, but it kept him on the alert for the next three months.

Mr. Chandler afterwards said to the writer that this campaign j)resented the greatest difficulties of any work that he ever undertook. He could hardly make a move that was not soon known to his adroit and wily foe. His dispatches were intercepted, and after he secured the use of private wires from New York and Philadelphia to Wash- ington his clerks were bribed. It was during the dispute over the contested states that Harper's Weekly published a cartoon showing the Ci. O. P. elephant more than half way over the brink of a preci- pice, and <'hairnian Chandler, with feet braced against a rock, trying to hold him back by the tail. When this was shown to Mr. Chandlei he laughed heartily, and said: '^Wcll if that rock don't give way, nor the tail pull out, Til land that animal yet/^ And he did, but was sorry for it afterwards, for Presid<»nt Hayes' Administration was not at all to his liking.

302 IlISTOKV OF TUK KEPI HLICAN PARTY.

Tbo Electoral vote as linally declared and counted by the Elec- toral Comiuission, March 2, 1877, was:

Hayes and Wheeler 185

Tilden and Hendricks 184

The Poj)iilar vote for President was as follows:

Samuel J. Tilden, of New York 4,284,757

Kulherford B. Hayes, of Ohio 4,03:^,950

Peter Cooper, of New York 81,740

Green Clay Smith, of Kentu(!ky 9,522

Scattering ' 2,630

In the Senate of the Forty-fifth Congress there were 39 Republi- cans, 3G r>emocrats and 1 Indejiendent ; in the House, 156 Democrats and 137 Republicans.

In the Forty-sixth Congress the Democrats controlled both Houses, having 43 S<'nators to 33 Republicans, and 150 Representa- tives, to 128 Republicans and 14 Nationals.

Michigan stood well by its Republican colors, giving Hayes 166,534, and Tilden 141, (>35, a Republican plurality of 25,439. The tlreenback ticket had 9,(M)0 votes and the Prohibition 766. Th<» Presidential electors w(*re: At 1-arge — William A. Howard, Henry W. Lord. By Districts — (1) William Doeltz; (2) Charles H. Kempf; <3) Prestcm Mitchell; (4j Delos Phillips; (5) Jacob Den Herder; (6) Charles Kipp; (7) Jeremiah J(»n<ks; (8) Benton Hanchett; (9| William Dunham.

For (lovernor, Charles M. Croswell, Republican, had 165,926, to 142,492 for William I.. Webber, Democrat, and 8,297 for Levi Sparks. Greenback.

Alidieus S. Williams, of the Detroit District, was the only l)<^mo- crat elected to Congress, the Re|>ublicans chosen being Mark 8. Brewer, Omar D. Conger, Charles C. Ellsworth, Jay A. Hubbell, Edwin W. Keightly, Jonas H. McOowan, John W. Stone and Edwin Willits.

I :. . 1 .

XXIV.

THE ELECTORAL COUNT.

A Severe Test of Kepiiblican Governnient — Both Hides Claim tlio Election — Disputed Votes in the Southern States — Question as to the Rights of the President of the Senate — Various Proposi tions VV^ith Reference to the Count — An Electoral Commission Decided Upon — Constitution of the Commission — Democratic Disappointment as to Judge Davis — Several Votes of Eight to Seven — Hayes Declared Elected — Disclosure of Att(»mpts to Buy Electoral Votes.

In the space of twenty years the (fOvernm<*nt of the United States was subjected to three very severe tests: The contest over the Slavery question and the asserted right of Secession, which, com- bined, actually brought war; the assassination of President Lincoln and the succession to the Presidency of a nmn who was not in accord with the views of the ]KH)ple that elected him, nor with the Congress which fairly represented their ])urpose; and the contest over the close and doubtful election of 1S70. Th(» last was a much severer test than the second, and in any other Republic that has ever, either temporarily or permanently, existed in the world, would have brought on a revolution. The fact that it was peaceably scuttled by Congress and the result acquiesced in by the country is the best tribute ever paid to the fitness of the people of the Unitcnl States for self-govern- ment.

After the Electoral Colleges had met in the several States there was left room for serious disputes as to the returns from four States, besides objections of lighter weight to single voters in several other States. In Oregon, which gave the Rc^publican electors an uncpies- tioned majority, one of the electors was postmaster at the time of the election and therefore discpialitied, but the dis(|ualitication was removed by his resigning both the [)ostmaster8hip and his })lace in the Electoral C.^oUege. When tli<» latter met in December, he was chosen to fill the vacancy in accordance with the law authorizing such action.

IMU HISTORY OF THE KEPLBUCAN PARTY.

The case in three Southern States ^ave better ground for serious disputes than the Oregon case. The colored voters were, at that time, Republicans, almost to a man, and as they far exceeded the whites in numbers iu Louisiana and South Tarolina, there was no question but that the votes of those States, honestly cast and counted, would be for Hayes. In Florida, the whites and blacks were more nearly equal in numbers, but there was a larger proportion of white Republicans there than in any other of the Gulf States, and with an honest count, there was as little doubt about this State as about the two others mentioned. But almost immediately after election ugly rumors were heard of a purpose to nullify the will of the people in these states, by false count or trumped up certificates of election. At the suggestion of the (Miairmau of the Republican National Com- mittee, IM'esident Grant, three days after election, sent to Genera' Sherman, a dispatch saying: '^Instruct (leneral Augur in Louisiana, and G(»neral Ruger, in Florida, to be vigilant with the force at their command to preserve peace and good order, and to see that the proper and legal boards of canvassers are unmolested in the performance of their duties. Should there be any grounds for suspicion of a fraudu lent count on either side, it should be reported and denounced at once. No man worthy of the office* of President should be willing to hold it if counted in or placed there by fraud. Either party can afford to be disappointed in the result. The country cannot afford to have the result tainted by th(» suspicion of illegal or false returns.'- Soon after this eminent men of both parties, afterwards called "the visiting statesmen," were sent to the three States mentioned above, to w^atch the count and see that it was honestly and fairly conducted.

All these ])i'ecautions, however, did not prevent the preparation of two sets of Electoral n^turns from all three of the States. It is doubtful if there had been an honest election in Louisiana since 1844, when the **Pla(iuemine Frauds" were dei)ended upon to carry the State for Polk against Clay. There was no concealment of the fact that after the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment, frauds were committed at every election; first, to nullify the votes of the enfran- chised blacks, and after that to free the State from "carpet-bag" rule. As one of the Democratic pai>er8 blandly stated it: "Election methods were resorted to, which under other conditions would have been unnecessary, but which then became indispensable;" and again, **much of what has been called Southern lawlessness, was, in reality,

THE ELECTOliAL COINT. 305

simply a deterniinod and eiiergetir effort to keep the law and the law-making power in the hands of the intelligent and virtuous elasses/' It was under these ^intelligent and virtuous elasses" that, in 1868, a small majority for Grant was turned into a very large majority for Seymour. At that time the Republicans did not need the vote of tlie State and it was of no use to the Demo- crats. The fraud was, therefore, permitted to go unrebuked. Now a correct count was a matter of vital importance. Since 1872 the State had been more or less under the rule of two contemporaneous Executives, Governor Kellogg and Governor McEnery, while, a por- tion of the time. New Orleans had been ruled by General Anarchy. The State was pacitied by the "Wheeler Compromise'' in 1875, but, after the election, had fallen into its normally chaotic condition. There were two Governors, and two returning boards, two Electoral Colleges, and two sets of Presidential Electors.

In Florida and South Carolina there were charges of fraud on both sides, and the further claim was set up by the Democrats that the presence of United States troops near the polls amounted to intimidation, and prevented a free and fair election, and there were two sets of returns from both these States.

Under these conditions it became a grave question as to exactly what were the respective powers of th(» President of the Senate and of the two Houses of Congress in counting the Electoral vote. Many Republicans, and among them the Chairman and a majority of the National Committee, held that the President of the Senate, by virtue of his oftice, had the right to count the Electoral vote, and that he was vested by the Constitution with discretionary power to decide which were, and which were not, the Electoral votes of a State. They urged the President of the Senate should exercise this right, and were confident that i\w President and the army would support him in it. This would have been i)lacing very arbitrary power in the hands of one man. If attempted, it would certainly have been resisted by the Democratic House, up to the point of revolution.

The Democratic claim was that both Houses of Congress must acquiesce in counting the votes of any State, and on the objection of either House, the vote of such Statt* must be rejected. In accord- ance with this idea, the Thirty eighth Congress, when counting the Electoral vote in 1805, adopted a joint rule that "no Electoral vote objected to, shall be counted, (»xcept by the concurrent vote of the two Houses.'* This rule had not since been renewed. In such a

;$0() IIISTOKY OF THE KEIM HLKWN PAKTV.

case as the* one now in question it might readily have led to disin- tegration, for Willi a Democratic House to reject the returns from one State, and a Republican Senate to reject those of another, the process of elimination might have been carried on, until there was little left of the Electoral vote.

Under these two claims the excitable men of both parties began to talk about armed resistance, and one of the Democrats of this class, Henry Watterson, of the Louisville Journal, vouched for one hundred thousand Democrats, who would be ready to march to Wash- ington, and install Mr. Tilden in office. The only perceptible result of this threat was to bring out advice from Republican papers to the valiant editor, to put ice on his head and cool oil*, and that was what, figuratively speaking, Congress did for itself. It promptly dis- carded the extreme claims of both parties, and set about the work of tinding some impartial tribunal which could settle all disputed points. A few^ days after the Electoral Colleges met. Representative McCrary. of Iowa, introduced in the House a resolution, providing for a com- mittee, to act with a similar committee from the Senate, to consider the subject of fairly disposing of the disputed votes, and **to prepare and report, without d(*lay, such a measure, either Legislative or Con- stitutional, as may, in their judgment, be best calculated to accom plish th(» desired end.'' The resolution was adopted with great unanimity, the Senate concurn^d and the committee was appointed as follows: Senate — George F. Edmunds, of Vermont; Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; John A. Logan, of Hlinois, and Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, Republicans, and Allen (i. Thurman, of Ohio; Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware, and Matt \V. Ransom, of Xorth Car- olina, Democrats. House — Henry R. Payne, of Ohio; Eppa Hunton, of Virginia; Abram S. Hewitt, of New^ York, and William M. Springer, of Hlinois, Democrats; Oeorge W. McCrary, of Iowa; George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, and (leorge Willard, of Michigan, Republicans. For ability and calm judgment this committee would rank with the best ever appointed in any Congress. January 18, 1877 the two committees, acting as one, reported a bill "to provide for and regulate the counting of votes for President and Vic(»-President, and the decision of (juestions arising thereon, for the term commencing March 4, 1877." The report was signed by every member of the two committees except Senator Morton.

Although the bill was finally reported with such unanimity, the conclusion was not reached without developing a great variety of

THE ELECTORAL ( OrXT. 807

views and proi^ositions. Tho committees of the House and Senate at first aeted separately. Both started with the idea that a separate tribunal must be established, as there was little prospect of the two Houses a^reein^ ui)on the disputed votes. In the House committee Mr. McCrary, who had moved the appointment of the committee, was the first to present the draft of a bill, ])roposin^ that the tribunal should consist of the Chief Justice of the United States, and a certain number of the Justices of the Supreme Court in the order of their seniority. The Democrats objected to this on the ground that Chief Justice Waite could not be considered an impartial Judge in the case, inasmuch as, during the campaign, he had spoken of Mr. Tilden in an extremely partisan way and in terms of personal hostility. The tribunal, as finally agreed upon by the House committee, omitted the Chief Justice and named the five senior Justices, Clifford, Swayne. Davis, Miller and Field. Mr. McCrary's bill proposed that the decision of the tribunal should be binding unless both Houses voted to over- rule it. The Democratic majority on the committee changed this so as to provide that it should not be binding unless both Houses voted to concur. The bill further provided that the certificates objected to, together with the objections and all ])apers and evidence in the pos- session of the President of the Senate, or of either of the Houses of Congress relating to the subject, should be referred to the tribunal. The Senate committer* started with the idea of a mixed tribunal, which should contain members chosen from the tw^o Houses of Congress, as well as from the Supreme Court. The first proposition was that it should consist of thirteen members, of whom nine should be from Congress and four from the Supreme Court. In order to give an equal chance to both }»arties, five members were to be chosen from each House, making ten in all. It was expected that the Senate would appoint five Republicans and the House five Democrats. Of these, one was to be dropped by lot, thus leaving it to the Lord or to chance to deride upon the political complexion of this part of the tribunal. Then the Democrats insisted that if they were to cast lots on the Congressional members th^y should also do it on the Supreme Court members. Accordingly an agreement was reached that the six senior Justices should be taken, and one of them be eliminated by lot. This was agreed upon by all the members of both committees, except by Mr. Springer, and the committees, after deciding that the proposed organization should be called a Commission, instead of a Tribunal, adjourned from Saturday till Monday, in the hope that Mr. Springer would fall into line.

308 HISTORY OF THE KKPUBLIOAN PARTY.

The sessions of the committees were secret, in the same sense that Executive sessions of the Ignited States Senate are secret. Of course some memb(»r leaked, and one of the New York Sunday papers published the whole plan. It met with serious objection from some ])emoerats, who didn't like the make-up of the Commission, and with ridicule from others who did not like the idea of settling a grave National (piestion on the **dice-box principle." When the commit- tees met jointly on the Monday morning following, Mr. Payne announct^d that the premature publication of the plan had developed such strong opposition as to indicate that it could not pass the House. The coniJuittee from that body soon afterwards withdrew^ its assent to the plan, and a new start had to be made. Within the next few- days many variations of the general plan were proposed and rejected. Finally it was agreed, by all the members of both committees, that five members of the Commission should be appointed by the Senate and tive by Ihe House; that the Associate Justices from the First, Third, Eighth and Ninth Judicial Circuits should be taken, and that they should name a tifth, nuiking tifteen members in all. The Justices thus indicated by Districts, instead of by name were equally divided politically, and well distributed geographically. Justice Clif- ford representing New England, Justice Strong the Middle States, Justice Miller the Northwest, and Justice Field the Pacific slope. Senators Edmunds and Thui-man were appointed to prepare an address, setting forth the merits of the bill, and after amending and approving this, the committees concluded their proceedings.

Of the reception of this important measure in the two Houses, Congressnuin S. S. Cox gave* the following succinct account in his "Three Decades of Federal Legislation:"

Its chief opponents in the Senate were Mr. Morton and Mr. Sher- man, and in the House Mr. (iarfield, of Ohio, and Mr. Mills, of Texas. Almost the tirst response to the submission of the bill came from Massachusetts, where a prolonged struggle over Senator BoutwelTs seat was suddenly ended in the triumph of Mr. Hoar. Speeches of rare eloiiuence and ])ower were made for the bill in both Senate and House. Mr. Conkling spoke for two days. Among other things he riddled to shreds the ])retension that the Vice President had the right to *VounC' the electoral votes. Senator Hill, of Oeorgia, made a speech of unusual cogency. H breathed throughout the true patriotic spirit. He favored the expedient with all his acumen and eloquence. His enthusiasm kindled a lambent tlame charged with electric force. As he reachcHl his peroration he was handed a telegram, announcing that the protracted contest for Senator in his State had just ended

THE ELECTORAL COl NT. 300

in the senatorial toj^a being again placed on his shoulders. The popular tide was now all one way. It was irresistible. What would be the consummation? The Democrats felt secure in the justice of their cause. No matter to them who might be the fifth Judge, whose choice was to determine the party bias of the Commission. No one doubted, however, that the choice of the fifth Judge would fall upon Mr. Justice Davis. He was the only one left on the bench on w^hom the two Democrars and the two Republican Judges could possibly unite. He was, to be sure, an unknown element, but, notwithstanding this, the Democrats had more confidence in his im[)artiality than the Republicans seemed to have.

The bill passed the Senate, January 24, by vote of 47 ayes to 17 nays, and the House, January 26, by 101 to Hf>. There was an under- standing that the Senate should appoint three Republicans and two Democrats, and that the House should name three Democrats and two Republicans, the vote being taken viva voce. The members of the Commission named were as follows:

Senate — tieorge F. Edmunds, of Vermont; Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, of New^ Jersey, Repub- licans; Thomas F. Rayard, of Delaware, and Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, Democrats.

House — Henry R. Payne, of Ohio, Eppa Hunton, of Virginia, and Josiah G. Abbott, of Massachusetts, Democrats; James A. Garfield and George F. Hoar, Republicans.

Supreme Court Justices — Nathan ClifiPord, of Maine; William Strong, of Pennsylvania; Samuel F. Miller, of Iowa; and Stephen J. Field, of California.

The Democrats in the House ])robably would never have voted for this bill, if it had not been for the expectation that Justice David Davis would be the fiftli member from the Supreme Court. It w-as said at the time that Abram S. Hewitt, who was the closest to Mr. Tilden of all the nu^mbers of (^ongress, had assured that gentleman that Justice Davis would be selected, and that it was on this Jissur- ance that Mr. Tilden's assent to the Commission bill was obtained. Certainly it was this belief that led tlie Democrats to vote almost unanimously in favor of the bill, and that led many Republicans to oppose it. Justice T\avis was a man of uncertain politics. He was a supporter of President Lincoln and was appointed by him to the Supreme Rench. But he began, as early as 1870, to be classed as an Independent, went into the Liberal Re]mblican moAement in 1872, and was a prominent candidale for the Presidential nomination in the

:nO HISTORY OF THE KEPUHLKWN PAKTY.

(Mneinnati (Convention of that year. He was variously classed as a liberal Republican with strong Democratic leanings, or as a Con servative Democrat with Republican leaninj^s. The chances are that if he had been on the Commission he would have voted both ways — that is, with the Republicans on some points, and with the Democrats at least enough to give them the one vote which they coveted.

Much to the disappointment of the Democrats, political events in Illinois put him out of the question as a member of the Commis- sion, (lenerai Logans term in the Senate was nearly at an end, and the Legislature that was to elect his successor was very close. Cnder the same influences that had defeated the Radical Senators, Carpenter and Chandler, two years earlier, a few nmlcontent Republicans united with the Democrats and elected Justice Davis to the Senate over Gen. Logan. This occurred the day after tlie Senate had accepttnl the Electoral Commission bill and the day before the House had taken the same action. Although he could not take his seat in the Senate until after the Electoral matter was decided, there was a manifest improi)^'iety in his sitting on the Commission and the four Justices who had already been appointed, S(»lected Justice Joseph P. Bradley, of New Jersey, as the fifth.

While this was going on in Congress, information reached the Republican National Committee of bold attempts at bribing Repub- lican electors in Oregon, South Carolina and Florida. The matter was called to the attention of Congress and a joint committee of investigation was appointed. The negotiations for the. purchase of electors had been carried on by cipher dispatches, of which the com- mittee obtained i)ossession. These were afterwards deciphered and the whole plot laid bare.

The discovery of the key to the cipher dispatches, which unraveled the plot to buy an electoral vote in Oregon, was made in Detroit. Alfred H. Hinman and Alfred W. Shaw were together in the oil business in Detroit, and Mr. Hinman was also engaged in mining operations in the west which brought him in association with J. N. Jl. Patrick, of Omaha. The latter was Mr. Tilden's agent in Portland, Oregon, during the dispute there ovit the Electoral College membership. Oregon elected the Republican ticket, but one of the electors chosen, J. \V. Watts, was postmaster of his town at the time he was elected, although he resigned two mouths before the electors met. The Democrats claimed that he was ineligible for the office of elector, because* he held a Fed(»ral office at the time of his election,

ai2 HISTORY OF THE REIUTHLICAN PARTY.

The ^'(labblo" dispatch, which was sent by the Governor of the State, being thus treated, g:ave the following translation:

I shall decide every point in the case of postoffice elector in favor of the highest Democrat elector, and grant the certificate accord ingly on morning of the (Jth instant. Confidential.

Soon after the printing of this in the Post Mr. Hinman was subpoenaed before the Congressional committee with his dictionary, and Mr. Shaw and the Managing Editor of the Post were subpoenaed with him. A mass of cipher dispatches was laid before them, and they all yielded to the same method of translation, disclosing the whole plot. Tlie following is one of the most important of them:

PORTLAND, Oregon, November IM). To W. T. Pelton,

15 (iramercy Park, New York: Governor all right without reward. Will issue certificate Tuesday. This is a secret. Republicans threaten, if certificate issue, to ignore Democrat claim and fill vacancy, thus defeat action of Governor. One Elector must be paid to recognize Democrat, to secure majority. Have employed three, editor only Republican paper, as lawyer. Fee three thousand. Will take five thousand for Republican elector. Must raise money; can't make fee contingent. Sail Saturday. Kelly and Bellinger will act. Communicate them. Must act prompt.

Th(»re was no signature to this. The Kelly referred to w-aij Ignited States S(»nator James K. K(»lly, of Oregon, to whom a number of the disi)atches were sent. The reference to a contingent fee w^as in answer to a dispatch, from New York, addressed to J. N. H. Patrick of Portland: *'How soon will Governor decide certificate? If you make obligation contingent on result in March, it can be done and iucreasable if necessary.'' One of the dispatches, dated December 0, and addressed to Senator Kelly, read: **The eight deposited as directed this morning. Let no technicality prevent winning; use your discretion." Another of the same date, addressed also to Kelly, said: '^Is your matter certain? There must be no mistake. All depends on you. Place no n^liance on any report from three southward.'*

In the end the scheme fell through. The two Republican Elec- tors, whose eligibility was unipiestioned, met, and Mr. Watts with them. The latter n^signed his oftice on account of (piestions raised as to his eligibility. Rut if he was, at the* time of the election, ineligi-

THE ELECTORAL COrXT. aia

ble, he was so no longer, and he was elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by his own resignation.

Meantime ("ronin came in and claimed that he had a certificate of election from the Governor, but refused to show it. Being refused recognition by the board, he went off into a corner of the room, declared that there was a vacancy in the board, because one of th(» Republican Electors refused to sit with him, and by his own viva voce vote filled the vacancy. He then declared that there was another vacancy on the board, because the second Republican Elector refused to sit with him. That was also filled, the board organized, filled out a certificate of two votes for Hayes and one for Tilden. Bur this farcical trumped up return receiver! little attention from the Electoral Commission.

After the disclosures were made of the attempted bribery of electors, it was said that Mr. Tilden knew nothing about the villainy. Jt was all the work of his wicked partners. But the Oregon dis- patches were brought very close home to hini- Most of them were addressed to his nephew, W. T. Pelton, who was a member of Tilden's household, and the *'Oabble" dispatch was addressed to Tilden him- self.

The cipher used in the Florida dispatches was much more intri- cate, but it was finally unraveled by members of the New York Tribune staff. Manton Marble and C. \V. WooUey were at the Florida end of the line, and William T. Pelton represented Tilden in the matter. As early as November 22 Marble, over the signature of '*Moses,'' telegraphed to Pelton: *'AVoolley asked me to say, let forces 'be got together immediately for contingencies, either here or in Louisiana.'' This was followed a few days later by another dispatch, saying: ^'Have just received a proposition to hand over, at any time* required, Tilden decision of Board and decision of Governor for 1200,000." Pelton telegraphed back: "Proposition too high." Marble and Woolley then renewed the dicker, and gave Pelton to understand that they could buy one Elector for 15(^000. Pelton then informed them that they could not draw until the vote of the Elector was received. But if there really was a purchasejible Elector he wanted pay in advance, and this failing, the negotiation fell through. It was a case of mutual distrust. Pelton was not willing to trust the Elec- tor to *H'ote righC' after he had received the money, and the Elector was not willing to trust Pelton for the pay after he had cast his vote. The whole matter wound up with the following dispatch from Marble

:n4 HIOTORY OF THE REPrHLlCAN PARTY.

to Polton: •'Proposition failed. Finished responsibility as Moses, hast ni}j:ht Wool ley found me, and said he had nothing, which 1 knew already. Tell Tilden to saddle Hlackstonel" So while Pelton was haggling over price and terms, the vote that was so badl}' needed got away from him.

Smith M. Weed represented Tilden in South (^arolina, and on November 16, 1S7(>, telegrai)hed l*elton that the Canvassing Board demanded |75,0(K) for giving Tilden two or three Electors, and f 1(^000 more would be nef^ded for th(» 'Mnterceder." Later he telegraphed: ^'Majority of Hoard have been secured. Cost is |80,00(); one par<n*l to be sent of |()5,(MI0, one of ♦10,000, one of 15,000; all to be sent in |500 and $1,000 bills; notes to be deposited as parties accept, and given up ujmn votes of South Carolina being given to Tilden's friends. Do this at once, and have cash ready to reach Baltimore Sunday night.'' Before the money could reach South Carolina, however, the Board had met and certified the election of the Republican candidates. Failing in this scheme, an attempt was made to bribe one of the Republican Electors, William B. Nash, of Columbia, who was offered 170,000 to vote for Tilden, as he testified before the (.'ougressional Investigating Committee. This being refused the Tilden managers got up a second set of Electors, and took their chances on these before th(» Commission.

Jt was not expected that these disclosures would affect the a<*tion of the Electoral Commission, which was supposed to be guided solely by the law in the case, l)ut they did make the peoi)le more ready to accej)! the conclusion that was finally reached. It was certainly a poor beginning for the promised ''reform" Administration, to attempt the corrui)tion of ofllicers charged with a high public duty, in trying to bribe itself into oflice.

During all the ])reliminary discussions jiertaining to the count of lh(» Electoral votes, the President of the Senate, Thonms W. Ferry, of Michigan, acted with admirable discretion. He never, by a single utterance, gave (expression to any opinion as to wliether he was authorized to count the votes or not. All the certificates that were sent to him were nuirked with the exact day and hour when received, and were* deposit(Hl unopened in a safe place, to be ju'oduced only when the two Houses met in joint convention to hear them read. Throughout the long sessions that followed, Mr. Ferry, upon whom, after \\w death of Henry Wilson, November 22, 1875, the duties of the \'ice-Pr(»sid(»nt had devolvcnl, ])resid(»d with a coolness, impartiality

THE ELECTORAL rOUNT. ^^15

and readiness in deciding prints in Parliamentary law, that brought many expressions of praise from leading men of both parties.

The Electoral Commission organized January lU, 1877, and the next day, the two Houses of Congress met in the Representatives' Chamber to count the Electoral vote. The galleries of the House were packed and even the corridors outside were crowded. Mr. Ferry, who was commonly designated as *^Vcting Vice-President," took the chair, with Speaker Samuel J. Randall at his side. Mr. Ferry opened the certificates in their alphabetical order and handed them to the tellers to be announced and recorded. The votes of Ala- bama, Arkansas, Connecticut and Delaware were set down for Tilden and those of California and Colorado for Hayes, without dispute. When the vote of Florida was reached the Chair announced two sets of returns, which, under the new law, were referred to the Electoral Commission. The joint convention then took a recess to await the action of the Commission.

That body met in the Supreme Court room, occupying the bench of the Justices of the Court. The five Justices formed the center, with the Senate members at the right and the House members at the left, the Senior Justice, Cliiford, presiding. Distinguished counsel appeared for both sides, the Republicans being represented by William M. Evarts, Stanley Mathews, E. W. Stoughton and Samuel Shella- barger, and the Democrats by Jeremiah S. Rlack, Charles OH'onnor. John A. Campbell, Lyman Trumbull, Montgomery Blair, Asbell (ireen, George Hoadley, Richard T. Merrick, William C. Whitney and Alexander P. Morse.

The claims of Democratic counsel in the Florida case were that the Hayes Electors were not duly chosen; that the certificate of the Governor of their election was the result of a conspiracy; that its validity, if it had any originally, had been annulled by a subsequent certificate, issued by the Governor; that the Tilden Electors were chosen; that a court decision had affirmed the choice of the Tilden Electors; and that one of the Republican Electors was dis(]ualified because he was a Shipping Com- missioner under appointment of the Government of the United States at the time of his election. The Republican objection to the Tilden votes was that the returns were not duly authenticated by any person holding, at the time, an office under the State of Florida.

This was, in some respects, a test case, and the discussion of it lasted until Februarv 7. Each of the fifteen Commissioners read his

316 HISTORY OF THE REPrBLTCAN PARTY.

opiuioii in secret session, but it was known that the first fourteen members appointed divided on political lines, the seven Republicans voting to receiv(^ the Ha.ves Electoral votes, and the seven Democrats holding the Tilden certificates valid. This brought it up to Justice ih'adley, who conciirred with the seven Republicans in holding that it was not competent for the Commission to go into evidence aliunde (otherwise than) the papers opened by the Senate, to prove that other persons than those regularly certified by the (lovernor were elected. With reference* to the case of the P^lector alleged to be disqualified, it was decided that the evidence did not show that he held an ot!ice on the day of his appointment. Ry vote of eight to seven, therefore, the Commission decided that the four votes of Florida should be counted for Hayes and Wheeler.

On the announcement of this result the Democrats were filled with mortification and rage. They denounced the whole Commission scheme as a tra]), a trick to defraud Mr. Tilden of an office to which he had been fairly elected, and to make Mr. Hayes a fraudulent Presi- dent, ignoring the fact that the Bill creating the Commission received an almost solid Democratic vote, with many Republican votes against it. p]ven Justice Field forgot the pro])rieries of his Judicial position, and of his membership cm the Commission and joined in the denunciations of the tribunal of which he was a member. '*The country," he said, '*may submit to the result, but it will never cease to regard our action as unjust, and as calculated to sap the foundations of public mor- ality." Justice Bradley came in for the largest share of abuse, being assailed with the most virulent denunciation, and finally having fired at him several linear feet of vituperative verse addressed to him as *^Vliunde Joe.'' The two Houses met again in joint convention Feb- ruary 10, and heard the decision, when formal objection being made, they separated to consider it. The Senate, by a strict party vote, accei)ted the decision of the Commission. The House, every Demo- crat except one, voting against it, rejected the Commission's conclu- sion. Cnder the j»rovisions of the Bill creating the Commission it required the concurr(»nt vote of both Houses to nullify the decision of the Commission, and the vote of Florida was, therefore, counted for Hayes.

There was no dispute about the votes of Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas or Kentucky, but when Louisiana was reached two cer- tificate's w(*re r(»ported, and the case went to the C-ommission. In this the Republicans based their claim on the simple statement that

THE ELECTORAL COUNT. 317

the Government, with William Pitt Kellogg as its Executive head, had been recognized by every department of the United States Gov- ernment, and that the certificates of the Hayes Electors were certified by Governor Kellogg in due form. The Democrats asserted that John McEnery was the lawful Governor of the State; that the certifi- cates of the Hayes Electors were false; and that the canvass of votes by the Returning Board was without jurisdiction and void. They also objected to two of the Electors as disqualified under the Consti- tution, and to a third, Governor Kellogg, himself, because he had certified to his own election. They also offered to introduce testi- mony to prove that ten thousand votes cast for Tilden had been thrown out by the R^rturning Board in order to count in Hayes; that the Returning Board was not a constitutional body; that it had no jurisdiction, and, therefore, its acts were void. All of the Democratic contentions were overruled by a vote of eight to seven, and the vote of the State was given to Hayes, taking the same course in the two Houses, as that previously taken by the Florida vote.

In the case of Oregon the Commission voted unanimously against counting the made up Tilden vote, but again divided eight to seven on the question of counting the entire vote for Hayes.

In the case of South Carolina the Democrats claimed that no legal election had been held, and that the Army and Deputy United States Marshals stationed at and near the ])olls prevented the free exercise of the right of suffrage. The Republi<an claim was that the Tilden board was not duly appointed, and that the (certificates were defective in form and lacking the necessary certification. The Commission heard arguments for a day, and then voted unanimously to reject the Tilden vote, and, by the customary eight to seven, accepted the vote for Ha^es.

Objection was made to one of the Electors of Michigan and one from Nevada, on the ground that they held Federal offices at the time of election; and to one of the Pennsylvania Electors, on the ground that he was a Centennial Commissioner. In the latter case the other Electors considered the place vacant, and chose another Elec- tor to fill the vacancy. A similar case came up from Rhod(» Island and another from Vermont, but all of these wer(» decided in favor of the Hayes vote. In Wisconsin one of the Electors was a pension surgeon. The Senate voted that h(» was eligible. The House was still debating the (|uestion, when the* hour arrived, on March 2d, that had been fixed upon for the conclusion

ai8 IIISTOUY OF THE REPrHLKWN PARTY.

of the count and tbt» Senate was announi^ni at the door of the Chamber. Tlie fact that the House had not finished eonsideration of the Wisconsin matter did not vitiate the vote of that State, the count was concluded, and the result announc(»d as 185 votes for Hayes and Whi^ler and 184 for Tilden and Hendricks. \U' states the result was as follows:

State. Hayes. Tilden.

Alabama . . 10

Arkansas <»

( 'alifornia H

( 'olorado .*>

Tonnecticut <i

Delaware -^

Florida 4

(leorftia . . 11

Illinois 21

Indiana . . 15

Iowa 11

Kansas 5

Kentucky 12

Louisiana 8

Maine 7

Maryland 8

Massachusetts l.'i

Michipm 11

Minnesota 5

Mississippi 8

Missouri . . 15

Nebraska .*i

Nevada :\

New Hampshire 5

New J(»rsey . . 9

New York . . l\o

North Carolina 10

Ohio 1>1>

Oregon :\

Pennsylvania 29

Rhode Island . . . .• 4

South Carolina 7

Tennessee 12

Texas 8

Vermont 5

^Mrpnia 11

^Vest Vir«i:inia . . 5

Wisconsin 10

Total 185 184

THE ELECTOKAL rOlNT. 811)

The result of the election in Colorado added another to the numer- ous pan^s that pierced the Denioeratic breast. That community was oflfered Statehood several years befon* this, but preferred to retain the territorial form of (lovernment for awhile lonji:er. In 1876 it applied for admission as a State, and as it was supposed to be safely Democratic, the House of that Conj^ress larjrely voted for its admission, and it came in as **The (Vntennial State/* Its State elec- tion, followinj^ the adoption of its Constitution, was reported at first to have resulted in a Democratic victory, but full returns sho^wed the choice, by a small majority, of the Uepublican State officers. In November it gave Hayes 838 majority. If it had given the expected Democratic majority Tilden would have been elected, without worry- ing himself over Oregon or the half reconstructed Southern States.

It was the fashion, for a time, among Democratic newspapers and stump speakers, to refer to the outcome of the Electoral Commission plan as a fraud, and to speak of Hayes as a fraudulent President. The New York Sun kept this up as long as Mr. Dana lived. The men who made themselves hoarse by shouting about **The Fraud of '7(5" have nearly all passiHl away or learned to hold their peace. But numy of those who grow red in the face, and threaten themselves with apoplexy, while disclaiming against **The Crime of '71V- are still at large upon the earth.

XXV.

ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT HAYES.

A Strong Cabinet Selected — Four Important Politiial and Financial Events — Abandonment of Southern Republi^-ans — Ku-Ivlux and Tissue Ballot Outrages In the South — The Bland-Allison Silver Coinage Measure — Changes in the New York Custom House — A Famous Civil Service Order — A Circular Against Political Assess- ments— The (ireenback Craze of 1S78 — The Resumption of Specie ' Payments — Regulating the Electoral Count — Restricting Chinese Immigration — Pensioning Jeft* Davis — Senator Chandler's Elo- quent Protest.

In the selection of his Cabinet the new President showed, for the most part, excellent judgment, securing for the most Important places men of recognize d ability and of unquestioned Republicanism. It was composed as follows:

Secretary of State — \Villiam M. Evarts, of New York. Secretary of the Treasury — John Sherman, of Ohio. Secretary of War — George W. McCrary, of Iowa. Se<'retary of the Navy — Ri<hard W. Thompson, of Indiana. Secretary of the Interior — Carl Schurz, of Missouri. Postmaster General — David M. Key, a Democrat, of Tennessee Attorney General — Charles Devens, of Massachusetts.

The only one of these appointments that met with severe criticism was that of Ex-Senator Schurz, and that was not a fortunate appoint ment either from a political or business point of view. Mr. Schurz, •'Greeleyized'' in 1872, was bitter in his hostility to Grant, and was generally unacceplablj^ to the so-called Stalwart wing of the Republi- can party, though in that respecrt the President himself, was soon in the same position. Mr. Schurz had never shown an}^ capacity for business affairs, yet he was assigned to a department, which was almost wholly business, and not political, in its character. There was, however, one bond of sympathy between him and the President.

ADMINISTRATION OF PKESIDENT HAYES. 821

He wa8 a professional rivil service reformer, and the President was aetive in extending livil service rules as far as possible. In Decem- ber, 1879, Secretary McCrary resigned to become United States Judge for the Eighth Judicial circuit, and Alexander Ramsey, of Minnesota, was appointed in his place. In 1880 Postmaster General Key resigned, and was succeeded by Plorace Maynard, of Tennessee.

The Hayes Administration has been sometimes spoken of as a colorless one, and it was lacking in the excitements that had attended some i)reviou8 i>eriods, but it was mark(»d by four very important events, political and financial. These were the abandonment of all attempts, by Federal interference, to secure to the colored voters in the South, their political rights; the rapid and unexpected growth of the Greenback party; the resumption of specie payments; and the recommencement of tlie coinage of the standard silver dollar.

Although the Seceded States ratified the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, the leaders among them never intended to live up to the spirit of the last two. The method employed by the Democrats to evade or nullify them were numerous, ingenious and some of them barbarous. Georgia was, at first, the most open and defiant in its nullifying measures, but in the end, the Mississippi blacks suffered the most from personal cruelties and outrages. As early as 18G9, Georgia, even before its Senators and Representatives had been admitted to (^ongress, decided, through its L<*gi8lature, that colored men w<»re not entitled to serve as Legis- lators, nor to hold office in the State. Accordingly the blacks were expelled from the Legislature while whites, who were ineligible under the Fourteenth Amendment, were allowed to remain. The same Leg- islature refused to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment. Congress then passed an Act declaring the Legislature illegally constituted, and required the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, as a prere- quisite to the admission of Senators and Reju'esentatives to Congress. The Legislature, as constituted before the expulsions was, therefore, reconven(»d, and the Amendment was ratified.

This was the last act of open defiance of Congress by any Seceded State. Rut Southern ingenuity was soon at work devising means to accomplish, by indirection, what it did not venture farther to attempt by open defiance. The Ku-Klux Klan was the first of these inventions It was a secret organization, whose members went through the country, chiefly at night, on hors(»back, disguised and armed, intimi dating, beating, maiming and murdering blacks and white Republi-

322 IIISTOIIY OF THE KErUBLlCAN TAKTY.

cans. It spread throiij4:li all the (lulf States except Florida, and its outrages extended also through North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. Its operations were especially active just before election, and their intimidating etTects were so complete that in some of the states many thousands of colored and white Republicans did not venture to go to the polls. The story of these outrages, as told in the evidence taken before Congressional Investigating Committees, furnishes a chapter of horrid barbarities better suited to a Moslem community in the Middle Ages than to a Christian country in the Nineteenth Century.

The tissue ballot was a South Carolina invention for the more peaceable nullification of the Republican vote. A Democratic ballot, printed on the paper commonly used, was first taken, and folded within this there might be half a dozen or a dozen smaller ballots, printed on tissue paper. The Republican ballots were all of the larger size, and printed on the coarser paper. If the number of ballots in a box exceeded the number of names checked on the poll list, the law required that a sufficient number of ballots should be drawn from the box, to equalize the number remaining with the number of names on th(» list. This was done by one of the insjiec- tors, blindfolded. But a person did not need the use of his eyes to distinguish between the Democratic tissue ballots and the Republican ballots on heavier paper. The latter were invariably the ones thrown out, and th(» former were left in and counted.

Besides these methods of keeping out and throwing out Republi- can votes, false counting was resorted to in most of the Southern States, until the phrase, **a free vote and a fair counC' became a mockery.

Congressional investigations had disclosed these various methods of defeating the ])opular will, and in consequence of these disclosures President (irant had recognized and sustained Republican State Gov- ernments which the Democrats had sought to overthrow. It was on this account alone that it became possible for Louisiana and South Carolina to cast their Electoral votes for Hayes, or, in fact, to make a showing at all for the Republican tickets. This policy was aban- doned by President Hayes, much to the disapi)ointment of Republi- cans in Congress and throughout the country. The same votes that chose Hayes electors in Louisiana fairly elected Steplien B. Packard Oovernor; and the samt* votes that gave him a majority in South Caro- lina, also gave Daniel H. Chamberlain a nmjority for Governor of that

ADMINISTRATION OF rRESlJ)EXT HAYES. :VS4

State. His failure to reioj^iiize and sustain these two Kepubliean Oovernors in their position and his withdrawal of troops from the South were repirded as a piece of ingratitude, as well as a failure to support the principles of Republican Government. He abandoned Chamberlain and Packard to their fate, and Democratic Oovernments, based on intimidation and fraud, were set up in those States. Very strong evidence was afterwards produced to show that the withdrawal of the troops was th(» pric(* paid by Mr. Hayes, through the promises of his friends, for being allowed to take the Presidential oflBce undis- turbed.

From that time on, except in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, the Republican vote was practically suppressed in all the Seceded Staters, and for twenty years thereafter not a single Republi can Elector was chosen in all Secessia.

In reference to this, however, it should be said that Grant, in his (»flForts to secure fair elections in the South had, up to 1875, been sup- ported by Congresses with large Republican majorities, and even at that he had been obliged to abandon Governor Ames, of Mississippi. Hayes, on the other hand, was confronted with a Democratic House, which would have hindered him in any positive or aggressive jmlicy in reference to the Southern States, even if it had been in his nature to adopt such a policy. Probably, under any policy in Washington, the South must eventually have been left to work out its own salvation. Vnder whatever method that was tried, it proved slow of reconstruc- tion. Its complete restoration was not accomplished until the birth of a new industrial spirit, the develoi)ment of its material resources, and the investment of Northern cai)ital in the South brought the two sections into closer business relations. Good feeling was not wholly restored, until the comradeship of soldiers in the Spanish war had cemented it. Rut from the beginning of the Hayes Administration **The Southern Question,'* as a distinct political issue may be said to have ceased to exist.

The depressed business condition of the country, and a scant cir- culating nu^dium, had by this time led to a great clamor for a restora- tion of the coinage of the standard silver dollar, and what was called the Bland-Allison Rill was the result. It was introduced at a special session of Congress, November 5, 1877, by Richard P. Bland, of Mis- souri. The bill directed that the coinage of silver dollars of the weight of 412VL» gi'ains of standard silver should be n»sumed, the coins to be a 'Megal tender, at their nominal value, for all dues, public

^24 HISTOUV OF THE KEITHLICAN PAKTY.

and private, ex(t*i)t where otlierwise provided by eontrait." It also stipulated that any owner of silver bullion might deposit the same at the mints, to be coined into such dollars for his benefit, upon the saime terms as gold bullion. This was immediately passed by the House, under suspension of the rules, by a vote of 1G4 to :i4. Of the yeas 07 were Republican and 1)7 Democrats, and of the nays 24 were Hepublicans and 10 were Democrats. In the Senate Mr. Allison, from the Committee on Finance, reported the bill, but with essential alterations in its character. It provided that not less than 12,000,000 nor more than $4,000,000 worth of silver bullion should be purchased each month and coined into dollars of the weight i)rescribed, the profit of the coinage to go into the Treasury. The free coinage of silver for the benefit of owners of silver bullion was eliminated from the bill.

In its amended form the Bill passed the Senate by a vote of 48 to 21, and (he House concurred in the Senate amendment. It was vetoed by President Hay<'s, but jiassed over the veto in the House by a vote of lot; to 7.S, and in the Senate by a vote of 4t» to 10. The House affirnmtive vot<» was 1 10 Democrats and 77 Rei)ublicans, and the nega- tive vote was 22 Democrats and 51 Republicans. The Senate affirmative vote was 25 Democrats, 20 Republicans and 1 Independent, and th(» n(»gative vote was 0 Democrats and 10 Republicans. As Secretary Sherman, in whose* Department the operation of the Act came, was not, at that time, in favor of very extensive coinage of the silver dollar, he kept the purchase of bullion down nearly to the mini- mum limit. At the time the coinage of the silver dollar was dropjKMl in 1S7:^ the white metal was valued at 1.004 as compared with gold. Jn 1S77, when the Hland-Allison Bill passed, its average value was .0205, and just before the passage of the Sherman Act in 1800, it Imd fallen to .72;{2. Mr. Allison's elimination of the free coinage feature turned into the Treasury a large jirofit, that under the original Bland Bill would have gone into the pockets of the mine owners.

The Coinage Act, as finally passed, also provided that the Presi- dent should invite the governments of the countries composing the Latin Tnion, so-called, and of such other European nations as he might deiMU it advisable, to join the United States in a conference to adopt a common ratio between gold and silver, for the puriK)se of establishing, internationally, the use of bi-metallic money, and secur- ing fixity of relative value between these m(»tals. Such a conference was afterwards h(*ld, but the views of the different countries sharing in it were so far apart that nothing came of it.

ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT HAYES. 325

Whether from an iiiiinixed desire for eivil service reform, or whether it was because lie wished to weaken the power of Senator Conkling in New York politics, President Hayes, early in his term, made a bold move in respect to the most important Government oflBces in New York (Mty. It would have been but human had the second motive exerted some infiuence on his purpose, for Conkling had already begun to treat the President with that lofty scorn and fine sarcasm in the use of which h(» was an adept. Many complaints were made of the administration of affairs in the New York Custom House, where two-thirds of the import duties of the whole country were col- lected, and a commission was appointed in April, 1877, to make an examination. Its first re]iort dwelt on the evils of appointments for political reasons, without sufficient regard for elticiency, and it recom- mended sweeping changes. The President concurred in the recommendations and wrote to Secretary Sherman:

It is my wish that the collection of the revenues should be fre(» from partisan control, and organized on a strictly business basis, with the same guarantees for efficiency and fidelity in the selection of the chief and subordinate officers that would be recjuired by a prudent merchant. l^arty leaders should have no more infiuence in appoint- ments than other equally respectable citizens. No assessments for political purposes on officers or subordinates should be allowed. No useless officer or employe should be retained. No officer should be required or permitted to take part in the management of political organizarions, caucuses, conventicms, or election campaigns. Their right to vote, and to exi)ress their views on public (juestions, either orally or through the press, is not d(»ni(»d, provided it drjes not inter- fere with the discharge of their official duties.

Other re])orts followed the first, showing inefficiency, neglect of duty, dishonesty and bribery in the subordinate officers of the Custom House. The commissioners also found **that for many years past the view had obtained with some politiial leaders that the friends of the Administration in jjower had a right to control the customs ap])ointments; and this view, which seemed to have been aciiuiesced in by successive administrations, had of late been recog- nized to what the Commissicm deenunl an undue extent by the chief officer of the service. These g<»ntlemen, on the ground that they were compelled to surrender to ]>ersonal and partisan dictation, appear to have assumed that they were relieved, in ])art at least, from the responsibilities that belonged to the appointing power."

:V2i\ HISTORY OF THE UEPIBLICAN PARTY.

The officers of the port at the time were Chester A. Arthur, Collector; Alonzo H. Cornell, Naval Officer, and Oeorjce H. Shari)e. Surveyor. As they seemed bound to the old system, it was decided that they must either resign or be removed. On this point Secretary Sherman wrote his Assistant Secretary:

After a very full consideration and a very kindly one, the Presi- dent, with the cordial assent of his Cabinet, came to the conclusion that the public interests dt*manded a change in the three leading officers in New York, and a public announcement of that character was authorized. 1 am (juite sure that this will, on the whole, be considered a wise result. The manner of making the changes and the persons to be api)ointed will be a subject of careful and full con- sideration, but it is better to know that it is determined upon and ended. It is probable that no special point would have been made upon Mr. Cornell's holding his position as Chairman of the State Committee for a limited time, but even that was not the thing, the real question being that, whether he resigned or not, it was better that he and Arthur and Sharpe should all give way to new men, to try definitely a new policy in the conduct of the New York Custom House. 1 have no doubt, unless these gentlemen should make it impossible by their conduct hereafter, that they will bt* treated with the utmost consideration, and, for one, I have no hesita tion in saying that I hojie General Arthur will be recognized in a very complimentary way.

In accordance with the suggestion made in the last sentence of the above letter, the position of Consul Oeneral at Paris was offered to (leneral Arthur, but he declined the proffer, preferring to ''stick" where he was. None of the three* officials named would resign. They were, therefore, removed and October 24, 1S77, nominations were made of Theodore Roosevelt for Collector. Edward A. Merritt for Surveyor, and L. H. Prince for Naval Officer. Through Conkling's elTorts these nomiinations were rejected by the Senate, then in special session. At the opening of the regular session, in December, the same names were sent in again, but only Prince, for Naval Officer, was confirmed. After the session closed the President placed Fldwin A. Merritt in the office of Collector, and Silas W. Burt in that of Surveyor. These appointments had to come before the Senate for confirmation when it again met.

Secretary Sherman had, by this time, become deeply interesttnl in the nuitter, and wrote to Sc^nator Allison:

1 would not bother you with this personal matter, but that 1 feel (lie dee]>est int(*rcst in the confirmation of (Jeneral Merritt, which 1

ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT HAYES. ^27

know will be beiiefitial to us as u party, and still more so to the public servile. Personally 1 have the deepest interest in it because 1 have been most unjustly assailed in regard to it in the most otfen- sive manner. 1 feel tree to appeal to you and Windoni, represent- ing as you do, Western states, and being old friends and acquaint- an<*es, to take into consideration tliis personal aspect of the case. If the restoration of Arthur be insisted upon, the whole liberal element will be against us, and it will lose us tens of thousands of votes, without doing a particle of good. No man could be a more earnest Republican than I, and 1 ft*el this polilical loss as much as any one can. It will be a i)ersonal rc^proach to me, and merely to gratify the insane hate of Tonkling, who in this respect disregards the express wishes of the Republican members from New York, of the great body of Republicans, and as I personally know, runs in antagonism to his nearest and best friends in the Senate.

To Senator Justin S. Morrill, Secretary Sherman wrote a much longer and more specific letter, giving reasons why the nominations should be confii*med. This was done, Merritt having 38 votes for conftrnuition to 24 against, and Hurt 81 for, to 19 against. In both cases a majority of the Democrats and a minority of the Republicans voted for confirnuition. Conkling was enraged at this defeat, and took it out by abusing Secretary Sherman and (leorge William Turtis, the latter of whom had the temerity to introduce in the next New York State i 'on vent ion a resolution approving the course of the President in regard to the civil service. Roth Sherman and Curtis were added to Conkling's already long list of enemies, to be assailed as opportunity should otfer.

The views contained in tlie President's letter to Secretary Sher- man were quoted in the famous (Mvil S<»rvice Order No. 1, and this was added: 'This rule is applicable to every department of the Civil Service. It should be understood by every officer of the General Government that he is expected to conform his conduct to its require- ments." This order was sneered at by the Democrats and resented by nmny Republicans, as putting limitations upon the rights of citizenship, and dejiriving the party of the services of some of its best men. Many postmasters and other officeholders resigned lucra- tive positions, rather than be put under such limitati(ms. No Civil Service Order No. 2 was ever issued by President Hayes, and no President since then has ever gone as far as he did in the attempt to divorce office-holding from politics.

In respect to political assessments a circular letter was issued June 20, 187S, establishing a rule to gov(»rn all the executive depart-

:\2S HICTORY OF THE REPIJBLKWN PARTY.

inents and (lovernnient employes througlioiit the eountry. Its essen- tial parts were as follows:

Y'ou receive your salary as an employe of the Government for certain services rendered in your oflicial capacity, not as a member of a i)olitical party. The salary so earned belongs to you, and unless taxed by law, it is in no sense subject to any assessment for any object whatever. In return for it you are expected to perform your olticial duties faithfully, and officially to do nothing more. In this connection 1 have to call your attention to the following statutory provision: **A11 executive officers or employes of the United States, not ai)iK)inted by the I'resident with the advice and consent of the Senate, are prohibited from requesting, giving to, or receiving from, any other officer or employe of the (lovernment. any money or prop- erty or other thing of value for political purposes." You are as free as any other citizen to spend your spare money in any legitimati» way you please, and as your political principles or your publi<- spirit may suggest, provided you do not violate the above quoted provision of the law, either directly or indirectly. Your contributing or not contributing, as above stated, will not afTe<-t in any manner whatever your official standing or prospects in the d(»partment.

\Yh(^n the Greenback party promulgated its tirst variegated platform, and began to hold small conventions in the various States, members of the old parties amused themselves by quoting Scripture at it in ridicule, giving especially the account in II. Samuel of the gathering of David's partisans at the cave of Adullam: **And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them; and there W(M*e with him about four hundred men.*' So far as the charactei* of the men was <*oncerned the picture was not M'ry far out of the way, for the ]jarty was largely an organized disccmtent with the existing order of things, political and financial; but so far as its jjossible growth went, it was greatly underestimated. At the Presidential election in 1S7(> it cast 81,740 votes in the whole country. In the sjiring of 1S78 it <ast more votes than that in Michigan alone, and brought consternation to the minds of the Republicans by electing a majority of tin* Supervisors in some of their most reliable old counties. In llu* fall following it changed the result in quite a number of Stat(*s, (Mther by fusi(m with the Democrats, or by drawing away Republican votes, and thus giving the States to the straight Democratic tickets. It did not secure for itself anv TnitcHl Stjit(*s Sc^nators, but it aided the Democrats to

:W0 HISTORY OF THE RErrULirAX PARTY.

imrrhaHiiij!: powtM*, and the other a debt paying power. As a de!>t paying power it iH etpial to one hundred centH; that is, to pay au old debt. A greenback dollar will, by law, discharge one hundred cents of debt. But no law can give it purchasing power in the general market of the world, unless it rei)resents a known standard of coin value. Now, what we want is that these two qualities of our green- back dollar shall be made ecpial — its debt paying power and its gen- eral purchasing iK)wer. When these are equal the problem of our currency is solved, and not until then. Summing it all up in a word, the struggh* now pending in this House is, on the one hand, to make the gre(*nba( k better, and on the other, to make it worse. Tin* Resumption Act is making it better every day. Re|)eal this Act, and you make it indetinit<»ly worse. In the name of every man who wants his own when he has earned it, 1 demand that we do not make the wages of tin* poor man shrivel in his hands after he has earned them: but that his money shall be made better and better, until the plow- holder's money shall be as good as the bondholder's money; until onr standard is one. and then* is no longer one money for the ricli and anoth<»r for the poor.

There is an old story about the inhabitants of a certain village who wanted to s<h* how much noise they could make, thinking aiKo that they might raise* a volume of sound that would reach the moon, and bring a resi»onse therefrom. They agr(*ed that at a given minute upon a day tixed, they should all stand in front of their houses and at the top of their voices give one tremendous shout of the word '*boo." that should n*nd the air and sound into the def^ths of spai^. When the minute came tlH*y were all in their assigned positions, but each on<* held his breath in suspense, awaiting the sensation which he wouhi ex]M»ri(*nc(* when the great shout came. Not a sound was heard except from one df»af old woman who despaired of hearing the rest and in a cracked and feeble voice gently said *'boo." There never was befon* nor afterwards so silent a moment in that village, as ait the tiuK* when the grand demonstration of sound was to be made. The day of resumption came in about the same way. There had l>€H*n anticipations, forebodings and jjrophecies, of panic, of financial and industrial disturbance, of a repetition of the "Black Friday" ex|>eri- tMices and of other dire disasters. But while these prophets of evil were holding their breath in suspense the day came and went, with- out a ripple on the calm sea of the financial world. The (lovernment had made am])le provision for any calls for gold that might be reason- ably anticijiated, but there was no drain whatever upon its re«ources. Th(» Assistant Treasurer in New York took in more gold in exchange

ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT HAYES. :{;{1

for notes that dav than he did notes in exchange for gold. Instead of being a day of pani<- and disaster, it was one of the quietest days that had been passed for years in New York financial circles^ with hardly a panic stricken greenbacker even to stand on Brooklyn bridge and say **boo/' When gold was at a premium and hard to get, every one was eager for it. Now that it could be had in free exchange for currency nobody wanted it.

The closeness of the last Presidential contest led political parties and committees, for some years thereafter, to make the most rigid scrutiny as to the qualifications of candidates for the Electoral College. It was expected also that it would lead to legislation or Constitutional Amendment, which would determine similar cases in the future. Many measures, looking to this end, were introduced, but none of them reached final passage. The most elaborate measure proposed was one introduced b^' Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, in 1878 and reported by Senator Morgan of Alabanm from a select com- mittee in 1880.

Senator Edmunds' Bill changed the time of election to the first Tuesday in October in each fourth year. In case of the death of both the I*resident and Vice-I*resident more than two months before that date in any other year than Presidential year a new election was to be held. It also provided that: "Each State may provide by law, enacted prior to the day in this Act named, for the appointment of Electors, and for the trial and determination of any controversy concerning the appointm<»nt of Electors, before the time fixed for the meeting of the electors, in any manner it may deem (^xjiedient. Every such determination, made pursuant to such law so enacted before said day, and made prior to the time of the meeting of the Electors, shall be conclusive evidence of the lawful title of the Electors who shall have been so determined to have been appointed, and shall govern in the counting of the Electoral votes.-'

The provisions of the Bill relating to the count followed the method outlined in the twenty-second joint rule, with the following exceptions: No vote from a State from which there was but one return should be rejected, exce])t by the concurrent vote of both Houses. If there were two or more returns, that only could be counted which was decided to be the true return in the manner just cited. If there were no such determination, or if there were two or more decisions, puri)orting to have been made in accordance with a law passed in conformity with that section, that n»turn

332 HISTORY OF THE KEPT BLKWN PARTY.

or that decision only, could be accepted which the two Houses, acting separately, should decide, by affirmative vote, to be in accordance with the Constitution and the Law^s. When the two Houses separated to consider objections to Electoral votes, each member of either House mijjht speak once only for five minutes, and at the expiration of two hours it would become the duty of the presid- ing officer to put the question. The Hill passed the Senate by a vote of 35 to 20, the nays all being Democrats, and the yeas all Republican except Senators Bayard, Davis, Merriman and Morgan. It was not considered by the House.

Mr. Morgan's Bill, introduced after the Democrats obtained control of the Senate, ])rovided that no vote from a State which sent but one r<»turn was to be rejected, excejit by the affirmative action of both Houses of Congress. If two or more returns should be offered, neither was to be counted unless the two Houses agreed in deciding that one of them was the true and correct return. Provision was also made for one hour's debate in each House upon objections, no member to speak more than once, nor hmger than ten minutes; and also for d(4>atc, by unanimous consent, in the joint meeting. It was also provided that an app(*al might be taken from a decision by the presiding oltic<*r, which was to be overruled only by concurrent action of both Houses. A motion to substitute the Edmunds Bill for the one under consideration was lost, and the Morgan Bill then passed by a vote of 25 to 14. In the House it was defeated by filibustering. The only outcome of the discussion, which lasted through three sessions of Congress, was the revival of the twenty-second joint rule, with slight moditications.

To the period covered by President Hayes' Administration belongs also the first important Congressional agitation of the Chinese Immigration Question. In his annual message to Congress in 1875, President Grant had called attention to the evils resulting from unre- stricted Mongolian immigration. April 2(K 187G, Senator Sergeant, of California, submitted a resolution asking the Senate to "recom- mend to the President to cause negotiations to be entered upon with the Chinese (lovernment to effect such a change in the existing treaty between the United States and China as will lawfully permit the appli- cation of restrictions upon the great influx of Chinese subjects to this country." An investigation of the whole subject by a joint Com- mittee of Congress followed. Its report led to a long discussion, and finally, in 187!>, to the passage of a Bill to restrict the immigration

:W4 HlSTOin OF TUE REPFBLICAN PARTY.

exalted (haracter, his pre-einineiit taleDts, bis well-established repu- tation as a statesman, as a patriot, and as a soldier, enabled him to take the lead in a cause to whieh I consecrated myself/' He further said that Davis' motives were ''as sacred and noble as ever inspired the breast of a Hampden or a Washinji^ton." Senator Ransom, of North Carolina, said: *'l shall not dwell upon Mr. Davis' public services as an American soldier and statesman. He belongs to history, as does that cause to which he jjave all the ability of his great nature." The Republican Senators who made objection to this apotheosis of unrepentant treason did so, for the most part, in ren)onstran((» rather than in denunciation. The whole debate was a reminder of the days, in the early tifties, when the Southern Senators and Representatives were wont to crack the whip over the heads of their associates from the North. The debate had lasted over two hours, when, about half past three in the morninij:, William E. Chand- ler, of New Hampshire, who was listening to the discussion, said to Senator E. H. Rollins: ''Tell Zach Chandler that he is the man to call Jeff Davis a traitor." Senator Chandler receiv(»d the message with a nod, and as soon as he could obtain the floor, said, with great solemnity and emphasis:

Mr. President, twenty-two years ago to-morrow, in the old Hall of the Senate, now occupied by the Supreme Court of the Fnited States, I, in company with Mr. Jeff(»rson Davis, stood up and swore before Almighty God, that I would sup[K)rt the Constitution of tlie I'nited States. Mr. Jefferson Davis came from the Cabinet of Franklin Pierce into the Senate of the Cnited States and took the oath with me, to be faithful to this Oovernment. During four years I sat in this body with Mr. Jefferson Davis, and saw the preparations going on, from day to day, for the overthi'ow^ of this Government. With treason in his heart and perjury on his lips he took the oath to sustain the Crovernment that he meant to overthrow.

Sir, there was method in that madness. He, in co-operation with other men from his section, and in the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan, made careful preparation for the event that was to follow. Your armies were scattered all over this broad land, where they could not be used in an emergency; your fleets were scattered wherever the winds blew and water found to float them, where they could not be used to put down rebellion; your Treasury was depleted, until your bonds, bearing six i»er cent., principal and interest payable in coin, were sold for eighty-eight cents on tlu* dollar, for current expenses. Preparations were carefully made. Your arms were sold under an apparently innocent clause in an Army Hill, providing that the Secretary of WaV

ADMINISTKATION OF PRESIDENT 11AYE8. ;wr)

iiii|;lit, at his diseretion, sell siuli arms as he deemed it for the iDterest of the Government to sell.

Sir, eighteen years ago last month, 1 sat in these halls and listened to JefFersim Davis delivering his farewell address, informing us what our Constitutional duties to this Government were; and then he left, and entered into the Rebellion to overthrow the Government that he had sw^orn to support. I remained here, Sir, during the whole of that terrible Kebellion. I saw our brave soldiers by thousands and hundreds of thousands, aye, I might say millions, pass through to the theater of war, and I saw their shattered ranks return; I saw steam- boat after steamboat, and railroad train after railroad train, arrivt* with the maimed and the wounded; I was with my friend from Rhode Island (Mr. Burnside) when he commanded the Army of the Potomac, and saw piles of legs and arms that made humanity shudder; I saw the widow and the orphan in their homes, and heard the weeping and wailing of those who had lost their dearest and best. Mr. President. I little thought, at that time, that I should live to hear in the Senate of the United States eulogies upon Jefferson Davis living — a living rebel eulogized on the floor of the Senate of the T'nited States.

Sir, I am amazed to hear it; and I can tell the gentlemen on the other side that they little know the spirit of the North when they come here at this day, and with bravado on their lips, utter eulogies on a man whom every man, woman and child in the North believes to have been a double-dyed traitor to his Government.

From the beginning to the end of this speech it was listened to intently by all within hearing, and as Mr. Thandler brought out with resonant tone the closing words, "a double-dyed traitor to his Gov- ernment," a rounti of applause came fnnn the galleries, which the presiding officer could not check. No attempt was made to answer Mr. ('handler, but after a few minutes of embarrassing silence, Sena tor Thurman began to speak on another branch of the subject. When it came to a votc^ Senator Hoar's amendment carried by one majority, but the whole amendment, as so modifled, was rej(»ct(*d. The Southern Senators would not give to the loyal veterans of the Mexican war tin* benefits of the measure, unless Jeff Davis rould share with them.

XXVI.

THE SEVENTH KEPrHLK AX TOXVEXTIOX.

The Ancient Quarrel Between Blaine and ( Vmkling — Its Effect on the Convention of 18S0 — rnsuccessful Attempt to Enforce the I^nit Rule — The Three Next Republican Presidents in the Convention — Sharp Debate Between Senator Conklinij^ and the West Vir- ginia Members — Important Amendment to the Rules — The Plat- form Adopted — Conklinf^'s (treat Spt»ech in Xoniination of (Want — The Xoniination of (larfield — Conkling's Motion to Make it Tnanimous — Supported by ( General Logan — (leneral Arthur Xominated for Vice-President — The Exciting Convention Closes With Apparent Good Feeling.

The campaign of ISSO was approached by the Republicans under circumstances different from any which had preceded it since the party was organized. James (i. Blaine was unquestionably the choice of a majority of the Republicans in the country for the nomina- tion, but he had enemies among the party leaders who were influential in their own states. The most bitter of these was Senator Conkling. of Xew York, with whom Blaine had a personal controversy on the tloor of the House nmny years before. In 18(50, (leneral Grant, then in command of the Army, gave an opinion that there was no further need of the office of Provost Marshal (ieneral, and when the Army Bill came before the House, soon afterwards, Mr. Conkling moved to strike out the section making an appro[)riation for that offic^e. In the course of his remarks he assailed (leneral James B. Fry, who then held that position, in a manner that was offensively personal and abusive. (ieneral Fry, in retaliation, sent to Mr. Blaine a letter attacking Mr. Conkling in turn, and Mr. Blaine read the letter in the House. Mr. Conkling, while a Member of Congress had been assigned, in the capacity of Judge Advocate to the prosecution of Major Haddock, an Army officer, and the trial of certain **boiinty jumj)ers." In his letter to Blaine, General Fry charged that Conk-

THE SEVENTH KEPUHLICAN (X)NVENTION. ;W7

liiijif liad, iniprojjerly if not illejiijally, received a fei* for the prosecution of Major Haddock; that, in tlie discharge of his duties, he had not acted in good faith, and had prevented the prosecution of deserters at T'tica; and that he had notifie<l the War Department that the Provost Marslial in Western New York needed legal advice, and thus secured an Jippointment for himself. A discussion followed the reading of this letter, and it became exceedingly personal between Conkling and Blaine. Among other things the j)as8age which gave ("•onkling as gi*eat offense as any, was that in which Blaine referred to his pompous manner, to his vanity about his personal appearance, and the curled front lock which he alw^ays wore, and compared him to a turkey-cock strutting about the floor of the House.

At C'onkling's request a committee was appointed to investigate the charg(»s of (leueral Fry. That committee reported a series of resolutions exonerating Conkling and condemning Fry, the most important resolution being as follows: "That all the statements made in the letter of General James B. Fry to Hon. James G. Blaine, a Member of this House, in so far as such statements impute to the Hon. Roscoe Conkling, a Member of this House, any criminal, illegal, unpatriotic, or otherwise improper conduct, or motives, either as to the matter of his procuring himself to be em])loy(Mi by the Govern- ment of the United States in the ]>rosecution of military offenses in the State of New York, in the management of such prosecutions, in taking comj)ensation therefor, or in any other cliarge, are wholly without foundation or truth, and, for their publication there were, in the judgment of this House, no facts connected with said prosecutions furnishing either a palliative or an excuse."

From that time until Gonkling's death there was open enmity between the two, and Gonkling, at least, omitted no opportunity to show his dislike, either in small or great affairs. The writer recalls an incident in the Senate illustraitive of this. Blaine had bei»n speaking upon a Bill for distributing the proceeds of the Alabama award. When Conkling rose to reply he turned his back upon Blaine, though in order to do this he had to turn his side toward the presid- ing ofllicer, and addressing the ceiling more than anything else, commenced with: "A suggestion has reached my ear.'' He then went on to point out with fine scorn wiiat he considered weak points in Blaine's argument, without, however, making any direct reference to the Senator from Maine. (Vmkling's (»nmity to Blaine seems to have become a consuming passion, and he indulged it even at the

838 HISTORY OF THE RKPrBLKWN PARTY.

expense of liis own political fortunes. And he suiceeded in manj of the efforts which it inspired. For his inllnence and work were potent enonjjh, in connection with other influences, to defeat Blaine for the Presidential nomination in 1S7(>, and apiin in 1880, and io carrv New York aj^ainst him after his nomination in 1884.

In the successful attem[»t to beat Blaine out of the nomination in 1880 General Grant's renewed ]»opuIarity was apparently used as a foil, thoujjh many of his supporters undoubtedly thouj^ht he could be nominated and elected. In 1875 feelers had been put out by Gen- eral (irant's admirers as to the expediency of nominating him for a third term of the Presidency. The proposed movement, however, did not take at that time. The Pennsylvania State C'onvention in that year adopted a resolution declarinj?; aji:ainst the ele<*tion to the Presi- dency of any person for a third term. This called out a letter from Grant to the President of the Convention, in which he said: *'Xow for the third term, I do not want it any more than I did the first," but he added that later on the time might come when it would be unfor- tunate to make a <hange at the end of eight years, and that he "would not accept a nomination if it were tendered, unless it should come under su<h <ir( umstances as to make it an imperative duty — circum- stances not likely to rise.'' This was not considered a suffi<-iently explicit refusal and in the latter part of December of the same year a resolution was offered in the National House of Representatives: "That, in the opinion of this House, the precedent established by \Vashington and other Presidents of the United States, in retiring from the Presiden<y, has be<()me, by universal concurrence, a part of our rei)ublican system of Government, and that any departure from this time-honored custom would be unwise, unpatriotic and fraught with peril to our institutions." The adoption of this by the decided vote of 2:U to 18, put a stop, for the time, to all talk of again nomin- ating Grant.

In the interim the (leneral and Ex-President had made his tour around the world, had been received with almost royal honors in every Capital which he had visittni, and had returned more popular than ever. Three influential Republican leaders. Senator Conkling. of New York: Senator Cameron, of Pennsylvania, and Senator LogaH; of Illinois, agr<»ed to take advantage of Grant's popularity and bring him forward as a <andidate, and ea<h of the three undertook t^> control th<* Convention in his own State for that imrpose. In New York the Stat<* Convention, by a majority of only 38 in a total vote

THE SE\ ENTH KEPrBLlCAN (/ONVENTION. 389

of 397, instructed its delej^ates to vote as a unit for the nomination of General Grant. In Pennsylvania the majority giving the same instructions was only 20. The Illinois Convention went further yet, for, although the Grant majority was very small, the Convention not only instructed the delegates to vote as a unit, but set aside nine dele- gates, already chosen by their respective districts.

In view of the action taken by the Convention at Cincinnati in 1876, which was intended to abolish the unit rule, these proceedings aroused great indignation, both against The proposed nomination of Grant for a third term, and against the methods by which it was sought to bring it about. The method did not prove as effective as the triumvirate had hoi)ed; for on the first ballot Illinois, instead of giving its whole vote for Grant, gave Blaine 10 and Washburne 8; New York gave Blaine 17 and Sherman 2; Pennsylvania gave Blaine 23 and Sherman 3. If these delegates had all gone for Grant, as instructed, his vote would have been 3G2, with only 379 required to nominate, a near enough approach to a nomination to cause a stampede in almost any Convention. On the ninth ballot Grant would have stood a still better chance for the nomination if the unit rule had not been abrogated. On that ballot he had 308 votes as it was, while (U of the instructed votes from the three States men- tioned went against him. These added to the 308 would have given him 309, only ten short of the number required to nominate. The instructions, therefore, did not in the final result, help Grant, but they did bring the quest i(m before the Convention in such form as to deter- mine finally that a State Convention cannot, by instructions, bind the district delegates.

The National Conventi<m met in (^hicago, June 2, and was in session six days. General Grant's confidential lieutenants and campaign managers in the Convention were S(»nators Conkling, of New York; Cameron, of Pennsylvania, and Logan, of Illinois, with George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, who had been a Ignited States Senator and a member of GranCs Cabinet. Three other members of Grant's Cabinet were in attendance, John A. J. Creswell, of Mary- land; Edwards Pier[)ont, of New York, and George H. Williams, of Oregon. In the Convention, also, were the next three Republican Presidents of the ignited States, James A. Garfield, of Ohio; Chester A. Arthur, of New York, and Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana. There were also the following who were, either then or soon afterwards. United States Senators: George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts; Preston

;U0 HISTORY OF THE I^EIM'HLKWN PAKTY.

B. Plumb, of Kansas; William Pitt Kellof^fi:, of Louisiana; Blanche K. Bruce, of Mississip[)i; Eujjjene Hall and William P. Frye, of Maine; William J. SewelK of New Jersey; Omar 1). Conger, of Michigan; Philetus Sawyer, of Wisconsin, and Dwight M. Sabin, of Minnesota

The Michigan delegates were: At Large — James F. Joy, Omar. 1). Conger, Perry Hannah, Erwin C. Watkins. By Districts — (1) William O. Thompson, David O. Farrand; (2) J. D. Konan, Louis K. Pentield; CA) Caleb D. Handall, Morgan Bates; (4) A. H. Morrison, J. W. French; <;">) (leorge A. Farr, A. B. Watson; (0) Charles Kipp, J. M. Adams; {!) B. W. Huston, William Jenney; <8) E. O. Avery, Thomas N. Stevens; (D) Joseph H. Chandler, Delos A. Blodgett. WMth the exception of Thompson they voted steadily for Blaine through thirty-tive ballots. On the thirty-sixth ballot the twenty-one went from Blaine to (Jarfield, Thompson still sticking to Grant.

The struggle between the factions commenced in the National Committee before the Convention opened. In an executive session of the Committee, William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire, offered a resolution re( ognizing the right of a delegate in the Convention **freely (o cast, and to have counted, his individual vote therein, according to his own sentiments, and, if he so decides, against any unit ruh* or other instructions, passed by a Slate Convention, which right was conceded and exercised in the Conventions of 1860 and 18(>8, and, was, aft(*r full debate, affirmed by the Convention in 1876. and has thus become a law of Bepublican Conventions, and until reversed by a Convention itself, must remain a governing principle." The Chairman of th(* Committee, Senator J. D. Cameron, of Pennsyl- vania, declared tin* resolution out of order, an autocratic ruling which. following the arbitrary jjroceedings of the New York, Pennsylvania and Dlinois Conventions, excited great indignation, and when it became known, outside of the Committee, it caused an immediate* revolt. Twenty-two members of the New York delegation signed a paper, declaring their purpose* **to resist the nomination of General U. S. Grant at all hazards," and giving it as their opinion that, in New York, at least, his nomination would insure defeat. A break in the Pennsylvania delegation followed. Alarmed at these defections the Grant men on th<» Committee i>roposed a compromise, which was accepted. This was to the et!*ect that George F. Hoar, the choice of the majority of the Committee, should be made temporary Chairman of the Convention, and that no attempt should be made to enforce the unit rule, nor to have a test vote in the Convention, until the

842 HISTORY OF THE REPIJBLTCAN PARTY.

tion, when Mr. Henderson, of Iowa, moved that the Committee on Rules be instructed to report, without waiting for the report of the Committee on Credentials. After a sharp and very [)ersonal discus- sion between Mr. Henderson, Oeneral Logan, of Illinois, Mr. Boutwell. of Massachusetts, and Genenal Sliarpe, of New York, the latter, who was a minority member of the Committee on Rules, moved an amend- ment that the Committee on Credentials be instructed to report first. On a roll call of the states this was lost by a vote of 318 to 406, but Mr. Henderson's motion was subsequently laid on the table, by general consent.

On the third day Senator Conkling precipitated a sensation, by offering a resolution that ever}' member of the Convention ^* is bound in honor to support its nominee, whoever that nominee nmy be; and that no man should hold a seat here wlio is not ready to so agree." This was put, viva voce, and declared carried, when Mr. Conkling said: **Plainly and audibly, to me and to others, negative votes were given on this resolution, and I respectfully ask the Chair to call the states, that we may know who it is in a Republican Conven- tion that votes *No' on such a pledge.'- On the roll call of states the vote was yeas 716, nays 3, the latter all being from West Virginia.

Mr. Conkling then moved an additional resolution: "That the delegates who, on this roll-<all, have voted 'no- on the resolution just adopted, do not deserve to have, and have forfeited their votes in this Convention." Delegates A. \V. Cami)bell and S. P. McCormick, of West Virginia, boldly took up the challenge thus thrown down, and held their ground, not only against the mover of the resolution, but against all comers. It was in this debate that Mr. Campbell first gave currency to the phrase, if he did not coin it, **1 always intend to carry my sovereignty under my own hat.'' McCormick, in his short speech, made a personal thrust at Mr. Conkling, as follows: '*! have to say to the gentleman from New York, that I have been as consistent a Republican as he has been; 1 have further to say to the gentleman from New York, that when the war broke out in 1861, I was but a boy «)f 18 years of age, and I went into the Army from the State of Indiana, and into Camp Morton, and was in the Army for two long years. 1 made. Sir — if the gentlemen of the Convention will allow me to say — in lh76 more than one hundred speeches for the nominee of the Republican party, and I am informed that the gentleman from New York made but one. It is a notorious fact that the gentleman from New York, on many occasions in the past, when he has failed to

THE SEVENTH REPFHLICAN CONVENTION. 343

secure what he wanted from the Republican party, has not given it the hearty support that I have. 1 object to that resolution for this: That resolution recites that a man who dares assert his independence in this Convention is not worthy of a seat in the body. I say he is. and I object to it for that reason, and not because I do not intend to support the nominee of this Convention. I do, and it makes no differ- ence who he is." At the end of a long discussion a roll call of states was ordered on the resolution, when Mr. Conkling withdrew it, only to receive this parting shot from Mr. Campbell: "In the language of the gentlenuin from New York, 1 congratulate him upon his success."

The Committee on Credentials was not ready to report until the third day of the Convention. It had many contested cases before it. several of which turned upon the right of a State Convention to set aside the action of district conventions, or to bind district delegates. Tw^o reports were made, the majority report deciding in every case on the right of an individual vote, and the minority views, in cases of this class, being in accord with the unit rule. In the Convention the con- tested cases in the different states were taken up separately, and were made the subjects of long discussions, which attracted wide attention at the rime, but which have long since lost their interest. The first test vote was on contested seats from Alabama, in which the majority report was sustained against the minority by a vote of 441) to 30(>. On the other cases the majority reports were sustained, though by widely differing votes.

It was not until the fourth day of the ('onvention that the report of the Committee on Rules came up for consideration. The rules reported by the majority were nearly the same as those that governed thje Convention of 1876, except Rule 8, to which an addition was made so as to make it read as follows: ''In the record of the vote by States, the vote of each State, Territory, and the District of Columbia shall be announced by the Chairman; and in case the vote of any State, Territor> or the District of Columbia shall be divided, the Chairman shall announce the number of votes cast for any candidate, or for or against any proposition; but if exception is taken by any delegate to the correctness of such announcement by the Chairman of his dele- gation, the President of the Convention shall direct the roll of mem- bers of such delegation to be called, and the result shall be recorded in accordance with the votes individually given." The report of the minority omitted the last clause of this section. The friends of General (rrant did not desin* immediate consideration of the rules.

344 HISTOKY OF THE RErrnLI(\\N PARTY.

and GeDtM*al SharjKN of New York, 80ii|j;ht to create a diversion, by moving to proreed immediately to the nomination of President and Vice President, but this was negatived by vote of 276 to 479. A motion to substitute the minority report for the majority was losr, without roll call. On motion of Mr. Houtwell, of Massachusetts, this section was added to the rule relating: to the formation of the National Committee: "Raid rommitte<^ shall, within the next twelve months, prescribe a method or methods for the election of delegates to the National Convention in 18.'S4; announce the same to the Country and issue a call for that f'onvention in conformity therewith; Provided, that such methods or rules shall include and secure to the several Congressional Districts of the Ignited States the right to elect their own delegates to the National Convention." This was adopted, as was also the majority report, as so amended, thus settling, probably for all time, the question of the unit rule, which had been the subject of great dissension during the Conventions, both in 1870 and 188<).

The platform ado[)ted by the Convention was as follows:

The Kejiublican party, in National Convention assembled, at the end of twenty years since the Federal Oovernment was first com- mitted to its charge, submits to the people of the Cnited States its brief report of its administration:

It suppressed a 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 cornerstone. It transformed tour million 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 f*xist.

It has raised the value of our paper currency from thirtv-eight per cent to the par of gold. It has restored, upon a solid basis, i>ay- ment in coii) for all the National obligations, and has given us a cur- rency absolutely good and e<jual in every part of our extended coun- try. It has lifted the credit of the Nation from the point where six |K*r cent, bonds sold at 8(5 to that where four [)er cent, bonds are eagerly sought at a premium.

Under its administration railways have in(»reased from 31,0(M) miles in 1860 to more than 82,000 miles in 1870.

Our foreign trade has increased from f 7(10,000,000 to |1,150,000.- 000 in the same time, and our exi)orts, whi<h were f 20,000,000 less than our imports in 1800, were $2()4,(M)0,000 more than our imports iii 1870.

Without resorting to loans, it has, since the war closed, defrayed the ordinary exp<^nst»s of Ciovernm<»nt. besides the accruing interest

346 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

to any railway or other corporation; that slavery having perished in the States, its twin barbarity — polygamy — must die in the Terri- tories; that every wliere the protection ac<-orded to citizens of Amer- ican birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption; that we esteem it the duty of Congress to develop and improve onr water courses and harbors, but insist that further subsidies to private per- sons or corporations must cease; that the obligations of the Republic to the men who preserved its integrity in tire day of battle are nndi- minislied by the lapse of 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.

(J. Since the authority to regulate immigration and intercourse between the Tinted States and foreign nations rests with the Con- gress of the Cnited States and the treaty-making powers, the Repub- lican ]>arty, regarding the unrestricted immigration of the Chinese as an evil (»f great magnitude, invoke the exercise of that power 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 early career of Kulherford B. Hayes in [)eace and war, and which guided the thoughts of our immediate predecessors to select him for a Presidential < jiiididiite, have ccmtinued to inspire him in his career as Chief Exe<utive, 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 [)roposed partisan law s.

8. We charge upon the Democratic party the habitual sacrifice of jiatriotism and justice to a supreme and insatiable lust for office and patronage. That to obtain possession of the N'ational and State (lovernments, and the control of place and position, they have ob- structed all efforts to j)romote the purity and to conserve the freedom of suHrage; have devised fraudulent certifications and returns; have labored to unseat lawfully elected members of Congress, to secure, at all hazards, the vote oif a majority of the States in the House of Representatives; have endeavored to occu[»y, 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 method's vicious in principle and tyrannical in practice, attached partisan le^s lation to appropriation bills, u])on whose passage the very movements of (xovernment depend; have crushed the rights of the individual; have advocated the princiiile 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 nation- ality, personal freedom and individual equality. The equal, steady and complete enforcement of the laws and protection of all our citi- zens in the enjoy m(»nt of all privileges and immunities guaranteed bv the Constitution, are the first duties of the Nation. The danger of a

348 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Conkliiig had been clioaen to present Grant's name, and he did it in a speeeli that, in the annals of American Convention oratory, has com- monly been ranked as second only to IngersolTs nomination of Blaine in 1S70. Tlie first part of the 8j)eech was especially stirring, «and is given herewith:

And wlien asked what State he hails from.

Our sole reply shall be, He hails from Appomatox

And its famous apple tree.

in obedience to instructions which 1 should never dare to disre- gard, expr(*ssing also my own tirm convictions, 1 rise, Mr. President, in behalf of the State of New York, to propose a nomination with which the country and the Rei)ublican party can grandly win. The election before us is the Austerlitz of American politics. It will decide, for many years, whether the country shall be Republican or Cossack. The supreme need of the hour is not a candidate who can carry Michi- gan. All Republican candidates can do that. The need is not of a candidate, popular in the territories, because the territories have no vote. The need is of a candidate who can carry doubtful states; not the doubtful states of the North alon(», but also doubtful states of the South, which we have heard, if 1 und(»rstood aright, ought to take little or no pjirt here, because the South lias nothing to give, but every- thing to receive. The need which urges its(»lf on the conscience and reason of the Convention is of a candidate who can carry doubtful states, both North and South. And believing that he, more surely than any other man, can carry New York against any opponent, and can carry not only the North, but several states of the South, New- York is for riysses S. (J rant.

Never defeated — in j.eacc* or in war — his nanu* is the most illustri- ous boriu* by living man.

His services attest his greatness, and the country — nay, the world — knows them by heart. His fauu* was churned not ahme by things written and said, but by arduous greatness of things done; and peril8 and emergencies will search in vain in the future, as they have searched in vain in the past, for any other on whom the Nation leans with such contidence and trust. Never having had a policy to enforce against the will of the people, he nev(*r betrayed a cause or a friend, and the people will never desert or betray him. Standing on the highest eminence of human distinction, modest, firm, simple, and self- poised, having filled all lands with his renown, he has seen not only I he high born and the titled, but the poor and the lowly, in the utter- most ends of the (*arth, rise and uncover before him. He has studied the n(»eds and defects of many systems of government; and he has returiKHl a better American than ever, with a wealth of knowledge and ex])erience added to the hard common sense which shone so conspicu-

THE SE\ENTH REPl HLICAN CONVENTION. 341)

oiisly in all the fierce light that beat upon him during sixteen years, the most trying, the most portentous, the most perilous in the Nation's history.

Vilified and reyiled, ruthlessly aspersed by unnumbered persons, not in other lands, but in his own, assaults upon him haye seasoned and strengthened his hold ujmn the public heart. Calumny's ammu- nition has all been exploded; the i)owder has all been burned once — its force is spent — and the name of Grant will glitter, a bright and imjierishable star, in the diadem of the Republic, when those who haye tried to tarnish it haye mouldered in forgotten grayes; and when their memories and their epitaphs haye yanished utterly.

Neyer elated by success, neyer dejiressed by adyersity, he has eyer, in peace as in war, shown the yery genius of common sense. The terms he presented for Lee's surrender foreshadowed the wisest prophecies and principles of true reconstruction. Victor in the greatest war of modern times, he quickly signalized his ayersion to war and his loye of peace, by an arbitration of international disputes which stands the wisest, the most majestic example of its kind in the world's diplomacy.

When inflation, at the hight of ifs popularity and frenzy, had swept both Houses of Congress, it was the yeto of Orant, single and alone, which o^erthr(»w expansion and cleared the way for specie resumption. To him, immeasurably more than to any other man, is due the fact that eyery paper dollar is at last as good as gold.

James A. Garfield's nomination of John Sherman was also a fine piece of (Convention oratory, though some of Kheruuin's friends com- plained afterwards that it was deliyered in such a way as to make the orator more conspicuous than the man whose cause he was advocat- ing. Mr. Blaine's name was presented by James F. Joy, of Michigan, and supported by F. M. Pixley, of California, and William P. Frye, of Maine. Through E. F. Drake, of Minnesota, the name of William AVindoni was presented. Frederick Hillings, of Vermont, presented the name of George F. Edmunds, and J. H. Cassoday, of Wisconsin, that of Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, who was supported by Augus- tus Brandegee, of Connecticut, as the only nuin who could surely carry the doubtful Eastern States. Grant's nomination was sup- ported by William O. Bradley, of Kentucky, and Shernmn's by R. B. Elliott, of South Carolina. Balloting did not commence until the fifth day of the Convention, Monday, June 7. The largest number of votes cast on- any ballot was 750; necessary to a choice IM\). There was one vote each for tlie persons named on the ballot indicated: Third, fourth and fifth, Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana; eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth, Ruth(*rford B. Hay(»s, of Ohio; thirteenth. George W. McCrary, of Indiana; nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first

350

HISTORY OF THE REPrHLICAN PARTY.

and tweutv-second, John F. Hartranft, of Pennsylvania; thirtieth Philip H. Sheridan, of Ohio; thirty-ftrst, Roseoe Conkling, of New Y'ork and Edmund J. Davis, of Texas. Aside from these, the follow- ing is a record of the thirty-six ballots:

HALJ.OT.	^	cu	X	1	o "2	=	;c
	^hi	-»•		'3	^	X	^
First	. 305	284 282	31 31	34 32	10 10	04
Second
Third	. 305	282	31	32	10	m
Fourth	. 305	281	31	32	10	05
Fifth	. 305	281	31	32	10	05
Sixth	. 305	280	31	32	10	05
Seventh	. 305	281	31	32	10	04
Eighth	. 3(M>	284	32	31	10	01
Ninth	. 30S	282 282	32 32	31 31	10 10	00 02
Tenth	. 305
Eleventh	. 305	281	32	31	10	0:{
Twelfth	304	28;^ 28-)	33 33	31 31	10 10	02 80
Thirteenth	. 305
Fourteenth	. 305	285	35	31	10	8!»
Fifteenth	. 300	281	36	31	10	88
Sixtt^enth	. 300	28:{ 284	36 36	31 31	10 10	88 00
Seventeenth ....	. 303
Eighteenth	305	28:{	35	31	10	01
Nineteenth	. 305	27!»	32	31	10	06	i
Twentieth	. 308	27fi	35	31	10	m	1
Twenty- first	. 305	270	:t5	31	10	Of.	1
Twenty-second .	. 305	273	35	31	10	07	1
Twenty third .. .	. 304	275	36	31	10	07	•>
Twenty fourth . .	. 305	279	35	31	10	03	2
Twenty fif til ... .	. 302	281	35	31	10	04	2
Twenty sixth .. .	. 303	280	36	31	10	o:^	2
Twenty Severn h .	. 30G	277	36	31	10	m	»>
Twenty-eiiflith ..	. 307	270	35	31	10	01	2
Twenty-ninth ...	. 305	278	35	12	7	no	•>
Thirtieth	. 306	270	33	11	4	120	2
Thirty-first	. 308	27f.	37	11	3	118	1
Thirty-second . .	. 300	270	44	11	3	117	1
Thirty-third	. 300	270	44	11	4	110	1
Thirty-fourth ...	. 312	275	30	11	4	107	17
Thirty-fifth	. 313	57	23	11	3	99	250
Thirty-sixth ....	. 306	42	5		, ,	3	391)

THE SEVENTH KEPrBLKWN (\)NVEXT1()X.

;551

The break to (Jarfield on tlfe thirty-fifth baUot presaged his nom- ination on the next as the seeond choiee of the Hhiine men, unless the (irant leaders eould throw their forces for some other candidate. But they were not inclined to do this. The roll call for the thirty- sixth ballot had hardly commenced, when it became evident that the Blaine and scattering;: vote was ^oin[? to (Jarfield. A Grant delegate rose, amidst the excitement, and in sonorous voice called out: ••Steady-y-y-y, all along the line,'' the Grant forces held to their candi- date, and the General had two more votes on the last ballot than he did on the first. The management of the last j)art of (rrant's canvass

in the Convention was

not good politics. It was hardly i)rudent generalship, but it was superb discipline.

After the result of the thirty-sixth ballot w a s announced, the President of the Con- vention suggested that the nomination be made unanimous. S e n a t o r Conkling said that he rose to make a motion to that effect, but the Chair had anticipated his motion. He, how- ever, availed himself of

the opportunity to con- james a. garfield.

gratulate the Republican party of the United States upon the good nature and the well-tempered rivalry which had distinguished the animated contest. He added: **1 trust the zeal, tlie fervor, and now the unanimity seen in this great assemblage will be transplanted to the field of (he final conflict, and that all of us who have borne a part against each other, will be found with equal zeal bearing the banner — with equal zeal carrying the lance of the Republican party into the ranks of the enemy." Cieneral Logan supported the propo- sition to make the nomination unanimous and in the course of his

352 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

remarks, said: "Whatever may have transpired in this Convention that may have momentarily marred the feelings of any one here, I hoi)e ^hat, in our conelusion it will iiass from our minds. I, sir. with th(» friends of I think one of the ji:randest men that graces the face of the earth, stood here to ti^ht a friendly battle in favor of his nomination; but, sir, this Convention has chosen another leader. The nH»n who stood by Grant's banners will be seen in the front of this contest on the field. We will go forward in this contest, not with seahnl lii)s, not with bridled tongues, but to speak the truth in favor of the grandest party that has ever btH*n organized in this country; to maintain its principles, to maintain its power, to preserve its ascendancy; and, sir, with the leader you have selected, my judgment is that victory will perch upon your banners." Remarks in similar vein were made by men who had been sujiporters of other candidates, and the nomination was then nuide unanimous.

For \'ice-l*resident the following candidates were formally j)laced in nomination: Chester A. Arthur, of New York; Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois; Marshall Jewell, of Connecticut; Thomas Settle, of Florida; Horace Maynard, of Tennessee, and Edmund J. Davis, of Texas. Mr. Conger read a resolution, adopted by the Mich- igan Re])ublican State Convention: ''That in view of the pure charac- ter, strong patriotism and eminent services rendered our State and Nation by S(»nator Thomas \V. Ferry during his long legislative career, both in State and National councils, we hereby resjKH^tfully recommend and urge his name to the National (Convention as a tit candidate for the nomination for Vice-I*resident by the Republican jiarty." Mr. Conger followed the reading of this resolu- tion with a letter from Senator F(»rry, declining to be a candidate, and his name was therefore withdrawn. The vote was as follows:

Chester A. Arthur, of New York 468

Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois 11)8

Marshall Jewell, of Connecticut 44

Horace Maynard, of Tennessee 30

Blanche K. Bruce, of Mississippi 8

James L. Alcorn, of Mississippi 4

Edmund J. Davis, of Texas 2

Thomas Settle, of Florida 1

Stewart L. Woodford, of New York 1

The nomination of (leneral Arthur Avas made unanimous, and after Committees of Xotitication had been appointed, the longest, and in some stages of its jiroceedings, the most heated of Republican National Conventions, closed harmoniously.

XXVIl.

THE GARFIELD AND ARTHrR CAMPAIGN.

The Democratif Convention at Cineiuuati — Declarations of the Plat- form— Nomination of Hancock "The Hnperb-' on the Second Ballot — The Tariff a Local Issue — The Greenback Candidate and Platform — Not a Rrij^ht Prospect for the Republicans — A Change After the Mentor Conference — (Jeneral GranCs (Jood Work for the Ticket — Result of the October Elections — The Morey Forgery — The Campaign Ends With a Substantial Republican Triumph.

The Democratic National ('onvention of 1880 opened at Cincin- nati, June 22, entering the campaign with strong hoi)es of winning on account of the feuds that existed in the Republican party. The platform adopted had a few high-sounding generalisations, together with the following definite though somewhat incoherent enuncia- tions of principles and declarations:

3. Home rule, honest money — consisting of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand; the strict maintenance of the public faith. State and National and a taritT for revenue only. The subordination of the military to the civil power, and a general and thorough reform of the civil service.

4. The right to a free ballot is the right preservative of all rights, and must and shall be maintained in everv part of the United States.

5. The existing Administration is the representative of con- spiracy only, and its claim of right to surround the ballot boxes with troops and deputy marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the electors, and the uni)recedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and despotic power, insult the people and imperil their institutions. We execrate the course of this Administration in making places in the civil service a reward for i)olitical crime, and demand a reform by statute which shall make it forever imjiossible for a defeated candi- date to bribe his way to the seat of the usurper by billeting villains upon the people.

6. The great fraud of 187r»-T7, by which, upon the false count of the Electoral vote of two States, the candidate defeated at the

;i54 HISTORY OF THE KEPl'HLKWN PAUTY.

l)olls was declared to be the President, and, for the first time in American history the will of the people was set aside under a threat of military violence, struck a deadly blow at our system of representa- tive jifovernment ; the Democratic i)arty, to preserve the country from a civil war, submitted for a time, in the firm and patriotic faith that the people would punish this crime in 1880; this issue precedes and dwarfs every other; it im])ose8 a more sacred duty upon the people of the Union than ever addressed the conscience of a Nation of free men.

The platform also declared against sumptuary laws; in favor of the separation of Church and State for the good of each; in favor of •*free ships and a living chance for American commerce;" against **rhinese immigration, except for travel, education and foreign com- merce, and therein carefully guarded." It also passed a eulogy upon Samuel J. Tilden, assuring him of '^their confidence in his wisdom, patriotism and integrity, unshaken by the assaults of a common enemy, and they further assure him that he is followed into the retirement which he has chosen for himself, by the sympathy and respect of his fellow citizens, who regard him as one who, by elevating: the standards of public morality, merits the lasting gratitude of his country and his party."

Only two ballots were taken for the nomination for the Presi- dency, Gen. Hancock having such a decided lead on the second as to speedily bring changes enou^'h to give him a large majority. The ballots were as follows:

First.

Winfield S. Hancock, of New York 171

Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania

Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware 15:iVL»

Henry H. Payne, of Ohio 81 '

Allen G. Thunuan, of Ohio 081/0

Stephen J. Field, of California 05

\Villiam R. Morrison, of Illinois 02

Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana oO^/j

Samuel J. Tilden, of New York 38 "^

Horatio Sevmour, of New York 8

Scattering 31

Total 728V1>

Necessary to a choice 480

For Vice-President \Villiam H. English, of Indiana, and Richard M. Bishop, of Ohio, were named, but during the first ballot the name

Second a« Second. (?orre<*ted :?20 705 1281/, 113 2
50 651/-
.31 6	1
22
73fi 491	738 492

THE GARFIELD AND AKTlirii CWMPAKiX. lir^T}

of Ex-doveruor Hi shop was withdrawn, and Mr. English was nomin- ated by acclamation.

General Hancock was one of the best of the I'nion generals dnring the war, and of his military career (General Grant said: "Hanc ock stands the most consincuons figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a sej)arate command. H(» commanded a cori)S longer than any other one, and his name was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible. He was a man of very consj)icuous personal ai)i»earance. Tall, well formed, and, at the time of which I now write, young and fresh looking, he presented an appearance that would attract the attenticm of an army as he passed. His g(»nial disposition made him friends, and his courage and his jiresence with his command in the thickest of the light won him the confidence of the troops serving under him." To a reporter in search of adverse criticism during the Presidential canvass, General Sherman said: '*If you will sit down and write the best thing that can be put in language about General Hancock, as an officer and a gentlenian, 1 will sign it without hesitation." On account of his s]ilendid figure and bearing he had been called **Han- cock the Sujierb," and he was at this time the most popular of Democratic generals. He had been before the Democratic Conven- tions of 18GS and 1872 as a candidate for the nomination, and had made a fair showing in each case.

Of his politics he said in a letter to a friend in 18G1 : **My jiolitics are of a practical kind — the integrity of the country, the supremacy of the Federal (Jovernment — an honorable peace or none at all.'' In later years, like <reneral Sherman, he was **a soldier, not a states- nmn,'' and was not well informed on the political issues of the dyy. Uwt he was sufficiently well aware of that fact to be discreetly silent during most of the cami)aign. Revision of the tarilT was then one of the main questions before Congress and the people. In one of the few attem])ts that he did make to express his views on pending issues, he referred to the taritf as ''a local issue'* which he had once heard discussed in Pennsylvania. This occasionini much ridicule during the campaign, although, in some of its phases the tariiT has come a great deal nearer being a "local issue" than the theorists on either side would be willing to admit.

William H. English was a shn^wd politician, not of the highest order, who was, just then, at the head of the party in Indiana. His nomination was intended to carry that State, which was always doubt-

85r» HISTORY OF THE REPl BLKWX PARTY.

fill, for the ticket, but on account of the party feuds and jealousies (here, it seems probable that a strong candidate from another Htate would have been a j^reater help to the party.

The Greenback Convention met in Chicago, June J), and adopted a platform that touched upon nearly every subject that was before the people. The utterances that were most distinctly characteristic of the party were the following:

The Civil Government should guarantee t\w Divine right of every laborer to the result of his toil, thus enabling the producers of wealth to provide themselves with the means for physical comfort, and facilities for mental, and social, and moral culture; and we condemn, as unworthy of our civilization, the barbarism which imposes ui>on wealth-j)roducers a state of drudgery as the price of a bare animal existence. Notwithstanding the enormous increase of productive power by the universal introduction of labor-saving machinery, and the discovery of n(»w agents for the increase of wealth, the task of the laborer is scarcely lightened, the hours of toil are but little shortened, and few producers are lifted from poverty into comfort and pecuni- ary independence. The associated monopolies, the international syndicates, and other income classes demand dear money, cheap labor, and a strong Government, and hence a weak people. Corporate control of the volume of money has been the means of dividing society into hostile classes, of an unjust distribution of the products of labor and of building up monopolies of associated capital, endowed with power to contiscate private property. It has kept money scarce; and the scarcity of money enforces debt-trade and public and corporate loans; debt engenders usury, and usury ends in the bankruptcy of the borrowers. Other results are — deranged markets, uncertainty in manufacturing enterprises and agriculture, precarious and intermit- tent employment for the laborer, industrial war, increasing pauper- ism and crime, and the consequent intimidation and disfranchisement of the j)roducer and a ra])id declension into corporate feudalism. Therefore, we declare,

1. That the right to make and issue money is a sovereign power, to be maintained by the j)eople for their common benefit. The dele- gation of this right to cor])orations is a surrender of the central attribute* of sovereignty, void of Constitutional sanction, and con- ferring upon a subordinate and irresponsible power an absolute dominion over industry and commerce. All money, whether metallic or paper, should be issued, and its volume controlled, by the Govern- ment, and not by, or through, banking corporations: and, when so issued, should be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private.

2. That the bonds of the T'nited States should not be refunded but paid as rapidly as practicable, according to contract. To enable the (jovernment to meet these obligations, legal tender currency

THE (iARPIELl) AND AKTHUR CAMPAIGN. 357

should be substituted for the notes of the National banks, the National banking system abolished, and the unlimited coinage of silver, as well as gold, established by law.

On the first ballot for a Presidential candidate, J. B. Weaver, of Iowa, had a decided lead over six other as])irants, and he was then nominated by acclamation. For the nomination for Vice-President on the only ballot taken, Benjamin J. Chambers, of Texas, had ii)l\ votes, and General A. M. West, of Mississippi, 811.

The Prohibition jiarty met in Cleveland, June 17, and nominated Neal Dow, of Maine, for President, and Henry A. Thompson, of Ohio, for Vice-President.

There was also an Apti-Masonic ticket in the field, which nomin- ated John W. l^helps, of Vermont, for President, and Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, for Vice-i'resident. The votes for this ticket came chiefly from Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York. Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

During the campaign, beyond a little good-natured ridicule of Hancock's ignorance of economic and political affairs, the General was treated with the utmost consideration by the Republicans, who conducted their canvass on political issues and not on personalities Their main subject of discussion and attack was furnished by the Democratic Congress, and by Southern arrogance and greed. South- ern war claims, which had been introduced in Congress in great numbers, and in sufficient volume to swamp the Treasury, were pointed out as an element of danger in case the Democrats should obtain possession of the Executive, as well as the Legislative branch of the Governm(»nt. The Solid South, made so by fraud, intimida- tion, and false counting, and controlling the Democratic party, was held up as a constant menace, and the outrages committed on colored and white Rej)ublicans were feelingly portrayt^d on the stumi). The Democrats tried to ridicule this down, by speaking of it as "waving the bloody shirt," but the arguments derived from it had not yet lost their force ipon the Northern mind.

The Democrats, on the other hand, made many bitter personal attacks on rhe Republican candidates, i)articularly upon General Garfield. They accused him of disreputable connection with the Credit Mobilier, and the figures ":52J)" which, it was said, represented one of his dividends from that Association, were not only used in campaign speeches, and in transparencies doing duty in torch-light parades, but they w(»re chalked up on dead walls and on sidewalks.

85S HISTORY OF THE KEPUHLK AN PARTY.

He was acrused of coiuiection with the Washinji^toii sewer, paving and sidewalk rinj^s of a period eij^hl or ten years earlier than this though no fraud or questionable intent was ever shown in eonnee- tion with this. The only etfective personal attack on him, however was in the wide distribution of a facsimile of a letter, purporting to come from him relating to Chinese immigration. The letter was first printed in a paper called Truth, published in New York, under date of Saturday, October 2;^ 1SS(L It was headed, ''Garfield's Politi- cal Death Warrant," and was characterized as ''His Infamous Letter Advocating the Increased Immigration of (Miinest* Cheap I^bor." It was written on House of Representatives' letter head, was marked "Personal and Confidential," was addressed to H. L. ^lorey, of Lynn. Mass., and read as follows:

Yours in relation to th^ Chinese i)roblem canu* duly to hand.

I take it (hat the (juestion of emjiloyes is only a (juestion of private and cori)orate economy, and individuals or comj)anies have the right to buy labor where they can get it cheapest.

We have a treaty with the Chinese (fOV(»rnment which should be religiously kept until its ]»rovisions are abrogated by the action of the General (lovernment, and I am not prepared to say that it should be abrogated until our great manufacturing and corporate interests are considered in the matter of labor.

This let.ter was promptly denounced as a forgery. It was after- wards prov(»n to be such, and one of th(» authors of it was sentenced to prison (iw eight years. Hut it was so late in the campaign when it was circulated that the truth could not, in all cases, overtake the lie, and it cost Garfield the popular vote of California.

In 1878, when the Greenbackers were at their strongest, a eoni- bination between them and the Democrats elected a Democratic Governor in Maine, the first time the Republicans in that State had been beaten since the party was organized. The next year Governon (larcelon and his councillors counted in a Democratic legislature, by methods moie suited to Louisiana than to Maine, and in contraven- tion of a decision of the Supreme Court. Notwithstanding the indig- nation caused by the j)roceeding, the combination elected their candidate for (Governor in 1880, though by only 101) majority. This was a decided setback for the Reimblicans. Hut it had one good elTect in uniting the factions and setting them earnestly to work. Senator Co ikling had, before this, sulked in his tent, but through the inrtucnce of (ii^neral Grant, he was induced to visit General Garfield

THE GARFIELD AND ARTHUR CAMPAIGN. 359

at Mentor, Ohio, and afterwards to enter heartily into the canvass. He and General Grant, toj^ether, made a stumping tour through New York State, Grant making five-minute speeches, and Gonkling addresses of considerable length. It was due to their combined efforts, doubtless, that New York, in November gave the Republican Electors as fair a majority as it did, perhaps due to this effort that it gave them any majority at all. Garfield carried every Northern State except New Jersey, Nevada and California. In the latter State one of the Democratic candidates for Elector was badly scratched, on account of personal unpoi)ularity, so that (?arfield had one Elector from that State. Hancock had the Solid South, including all the old Seceded and Border States. The Electoral vote was:

Garlield and Arthur 214

Hancock and English 15

The popular vote was as follows:

Garfield and Arthur 4,454,416

Hancock and English 4,444,1)52

Weaver and Chambers 308,578

Dow and Thompson 9,770

Phelps and Pomeroy 1,392

In Maine, the vote credited to Hancock was cast on a Fusion ticket of Democrats and Greenbackers. It had a total of 65,171, of which probably two-thirds was cast by the former and ont^-third by the latter. In Virginia there were two Hancock tickets, one nom- inated by the *'Funders" and the other by the **Readjust(t^rs," two factions into which the Democratic party was divided on the method of adjusting the State debt. The first of th(»se had 96,596 votes and the second, 31,559. The Republican vote in the State was 83,511.

During the Garfield-Arthur Administration Congress was divided politically as follows:

Forty-seventh (^ongress. Senate — Republicans, 37; Democrats, 37; American 1;

Readjuster, 1. House — Republicans, 152; Democrats, 130; Nationals, 9;

Readjusters, 2.

Forty-eighth Congress. Senate — Republicans, 40; Democrats, 36. House — Republicans, 119; Democrats, 200; Indei)endent8, 4; Nationals, 2.

:u;0 HISTORY OF THE REPIBLICAN PARTY.

The Michigan vote on President was as follows:

Garfield and Arthur 185,190

Hancock and English 131,301

Weaver and Chambers 34,805

Dow and Thompson 938

PhelDs and Pomeroy , 312

The Presidential Electors were: At Large — Charles B. Peck. Samuel M. Stephenson. By Districts— (1) Edward H. Butler; (2) Charles T. Mitchell; (3) David R. Cook; (4) Charles Duncombe; (5) Aaron B. Turner; («) Ira P. Bingham; (7) Watson Beach; (8) William H. Potter; (0) Samuel A. Browne.

The vote of the State for Governor in 1880 was:

David H. Jerome, Rei)ublican 178,944

Frederick M. Holloway, Democrat 137,671

David Woodman, 2d, Greenback 35,122

Isaac W. McKeever, Prohibition 1,114

Cornelius Quick, Anti-Masonic 220

The Michigan Congressmen elected were all Republicans, and were as follows, in the order of their districts: Henry AY. Lord, Edwin Willi ts, Edward S. Lacey, Julius C. Burrows, G(H)rge W. AYebber, Oliver I^. Spaulding, Omar D. Conger, Roswell G. Horr, Jay A. Hubbell Mr. Conger was elected to the United States Senate by the Legislature of 1881, and was succeeded by John T. Rich.

In the election of 1882, which came midway in this Presidential period, the vote for Governor was as follows:

Josiah W. Begole, Fusion 154,269

David H. Jerome, Republican 149,697

Daniel P. Sagendorph, Prohibition 5,854

W^aldo May, National ! 2,006

Charles C. Foote, Anti-Masonic 343

The Congressional elections in 1882 were (juite in keeping with the revolution which gave the Governorship to the Democrats, six out of the eleven members being elected by Fusion votes, as follows: (1) W. C. Maybury; (2) N. B. Eldredge; (4) George L. Yaple; (5) Julius Housemann, (6) Edwin B. Winans; (7) Ezra C. Carlton. The Repub- lican members were: (3) Edward S. Lacey; (8) Roswell G. Horr; (9| Byron M. Cutcheon; (10) Herschel H. Hatch; (11) Edward Breitung.

XXVIII.

THE GARFIELD AND ARTHUR ADI^llNIOTRATION.

Blaine's Purpose in Taking the State Portfolio — A Series of Unfor- tunate Appointments — Slights Upon Mr. Conkling and His Indig- nation Thereat — Resignation of the New York Senators — BoutwelTs Statement of the Affair — Successors of Senators Conkliug and Piatt — Assassination of President Garfield— Guiteau's letter of Explanation — Press Lessons Drawn From the Tragedy — (Changes Made in the Cabinet by President Arthur — His Prudent and Successful Administration — The Question of Civil Service Reform — The Tariff of 188H — Morrison's Horizontal Reduction Plan — Other Important Measures.

If President Garfield had any purpose of harmonizing the factions in the party, and to **treat all stripes alike,*' he set about it in a very aw^kward way, for his choice of Cabinet officers, and some of his New York appointments, made soon afterwards, were in the highest degree offensive to the ruling faction in the Rei)ublican poli- tics of the Empire State. The Cabinet was made up as follows:

Secretary of State — James G. Blaine, of Maine. Secretary of the Treasury — William Windom, of Minnesota. Secretary of War — Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois. Secretary of the Navy — William H. Hunt, of Louisiana. Secretary of the Interior — Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa. Postmaster General — Thomas L. James, of New York. Attorney (leneral — WXv^^ MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania.

Blaine's appointment was, of course, distasteful to the domin- ant wing in the party in New York. Many of his wisest friends advised him not to take the portfolio, among them Senator Dawes, who said, at a later period: **I warncMi Mr. Blaine that if he entered the Cabinet with the intent or hope of circumventing his rival, it would be fatal to him and to the Administration of Garfield, and I

t\C,2 HISTORY OF THE REPT'HLirAN PARTY.

expressed the opinion that it would be impossible for him to keep the l)eare if he took the office. He replied with frankness, and, I have no doubt, with entire sincerity, that it would be his purpose, if he ae(ei)ted the office, to ijj^nore all past differences, and so deport himself in it as to force reconciliation. He also said that he could not agree with me, even if the effect should j)rove otherwise, that he should be debarred from the great o])iiortunity. for which he felt himself quali- fied, to administer the Foreign office on the broad and grand scale lie did afterward undertak(*, but was not permitted to i>erfect. I foresaw the rocks, all too plainly, and advised him to remain in the Senate. Rut he determined otherwise and accejited the position." That Blaine did not overestimate his qualifications for the im|>ort- ant duties of Secretary of State, was shown at a later i)eriod, by his successful and brilliant administration of the same l)ei)artment under President Harrison. Hut that he underestimated the difficulties of promoting peace, with himself in the Cabinet, and with as impulsive a man as Garfield in the Presidency, is equally clear.

But this appointment was not as offensive to Mr. ("onkling and his political associates, as the second i)roffer that was made of a Cabinet position, that of the Treasury portfolio to Charles J. Folger, of New York. This offer was made, not only without consulting Senator Coukling, but against his recommendation of Levi P. Morton for the i)lace. Mr. Folger declined the offer, but that did not miti- gate Mr. Conkling's wrath at the slight that had been put upon him. It became known soon afterwards that the New York postmaster Thonms L. James, was to be a])pointed Postmaster (ieneral, and as there was no likelihood of two Cabinet appointments going to the same State, this shut out the Empire State from the Treasury port- folio, which, its Senators had been assured, should go to that State When Senator Piatt heard of this he communicated the information to Senator Conkling and Vice-President Arthur, whom he found at breakfast. The three repaired to the Riggs House, where Garfield had rooms, to which they were admitted. Conkling broke out into an unse(»mly tirade, which he continued for a long time, charging (larfield, wiio was, all the time sitting on the edge of the bi^, with treaclu^ry to his friends in New York, and with being false to his party.. Both Arthur and Piatt subsequently declared that for invec- tive, sarcasm and impassioned eloquence, this was the si)eech of his life.

GARFIELD AND ARTHUR ADMINISTRATION. 30^

The President, after this made a number of appointments in New York that were satisfactory to the Vice-President and the Senators from that State. The most important one of all, that of ('ollector of the Port, was held in abeyance until March 28d, when the President nominated William H. Robertson, of Westchester County, E. A. Merritt, the incumbent at the time, being ap))ointed Consul General to London.

No appointment could have been made more offcmsive to Conk- linjj; than this. There was no objection to Robertson on the score of

fitness or ability. He

had served his District

accei)tably in the State

Senate and in Congress.

But he was restless

under the dictation of

Conkling and his asso- ciates, was the leader

of the anti-Grant ele- ment in the New York

delegation, and was the

first to disregard and

repudiate the unit rule

in the Convention, sup-

])orting Blaine as long

as there was any chance

for him, and then trans- ferring his own vote

and as many others as

he could to Garfield.

The nomination was

sent in March 23d. Conkling and IMatt did their utmost to defeat its confirmation, by argument and by appeals to Senatorial courtesy, but without prospect of success. While this was ))ending, on the nth of May, the Pn^si- dent, hearing that the New York Senators intended to secure the confirmation of the other New York appointments, but to hang up that of Robertson till December, withdrew^ the others, leaving Rob- ertson to stand alone. Vice-President Arthur and the New York Senators sent a letter to the President remonstrating against this, but without avail. The fight had now become so bitter that a com

WILLIAM H. ROBERTSON.

^64 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

mittee of live iiiiitiial friends visited Conklin^ to see if a reeoncilia tion could not be effected. Of the result, Senator Dawes, chairman of the coniniit^(*e of conciliation, afterwards said: "On that occasion he surpassed himself in all those elements of oratorical i>ower, for which he was so distinguished. He continued, for two hours and a half, to play, with consummate skill, upon all the strings known to the orator, and through all the notes, from the lowest to the highest, which the great masters command, and concluded in a lofty apos- trophe to the greatness and glory of the Republican party, and his own devotion to its highest welfare, *and,' said he, 'I trust that the exigency may never arise when I shall be comi)elled to choose between self-respect and personal honor on the one side, and the temporary discomfiture of that party on rhe other; but if that time shall ever come, I shall not hesitate in the choice, and 1 now say to you, and through you to those whom it most concerns, that I have in my pocket an autograph letter from this President who is now for the time being its official head, which I pray God I may never be com pelled in self-defense, to make public; but if that time shall ever come, I declare to you, his friends, h** will bite the dust.' " He after- wards published the letter, but it did not create the sensation he anticipated. It was an ajtpeal for collections from Government officials and clerks for campaign expenses.

On the l()th of May Uonkling and Piatt resigned their seats in the Senate, and two days laler Robertson was confirmed, with very little opposition.

There has been much discussion as to the part that Blaine had in this nomination. His friends, at the time, said that he had noth- ing to do with it, and knew nothing about it until after it was made. His enemies said that he was the instigator of the whole mischief. Probably there is no one else, living at the present time, so well fitted to state the facts in the case as George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts. Mr. Boutwell was in President Grant's Cabinet, was one of his four trusted managers at the Chicago Convention, and was intimate with Conkling, without ever breaking friendship with Blaine. In McClure's Magazine for January, IDIMK Mr. Boutwell gives very interesting reminiscences of this affair. He says that, following the visit of General Grant and Mr. Conkling to Mentor, in the fall of 1880, he was informed by Mr. Conkling that he had not been alone one minute with General Garfield, intending by that care-taking, to avoid the suggestion that his visit was designed to afford an opportunity for

lim HISTORY OF THE REPmLK AX PARTY.

Sunday conference. It was, however, only an instance of General (larticOcrs impulsive and unreasoninji: submission to an expression of public opinion, without waiting for evidence of the nature and value of that opinion. That weakness had bi^n observed by his associates in the House of Rejnesentatives, and on that weakness his admin- istration was wrecked.

When Senators Conkling and Piatt resigned their seats it was with the expectation that the New York l^egislature, then in session, would immediately re-elect them. In this they were disappointed. They had taken the step hastily, and without consulting their friends. Even Vice-President Arthur knew nothing of it, until the resignations leached him in his oflrtcial capacity as presiding officer of the Senate. When the letters of resignation reached Governor Tornell, of New York, he uusu<-cessfully sought to have them withdrawn. On the first ballot in the Legislature Conkling had only 35 votes for the short term, and Piatt 21> for the long term. They did not get beyond this number in the successive ballots, while from 75 to 7\) were necessary to a choice. The Democrats nominated Francis Kernan for the long term, and John i\ .Jacobs for the short term. The Republicans, who were ojiposed to Conkling and Piatt, made no regular nominations, but gradually <-oncent rated their votes on William A. Wheeler and Chauncey M. Uepew, but the highest vote reached by the former was 50 and by the latter 55. Finally the Republicans caucused and named Wainer ^Miller to succeed Mr. Piatt and Elbridge S. I^ipham to su<ce(^d Mr. Conkling. On the forty-eighth ballot Mr. Miller was elected, but it took another cau<us, and several more ballots to land Mr. Lapham. The contest lasted from May HI to July 22. It was during this contest that the names '^Stalwarts'' and "Half Breeds" came into use, the former being ajiplied at first to the Grant-Gonkling wing of the party, and the latter to the Garfield-Blaine followers The failure of re-election concluded Senator Conkling's political career, but Mr. Piatt was soon on his f<»et again, and before many years was the most influential man in his i)arty in the Empire Statej

While the (lection of Senators in New York was still i)ending the country was startled at news of the assassination of President Garfield. On the morning of July 2, as he was in the waiting room of the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Washington, whence he w^as- to start with his Cabinet on a tour through New England, Charles J. Guiteau, a «lisappoiiited office-seeker, approached him, and fired two shots at him, one of which took effect in the back, and ultimatelv

GARFIELD AND ARTHUR ADMINISTRATION. 3(57

caused his death. On Ouiteau^s persou, after his arrest, was found a letter which said: **The President's traj^ic death was a sad neces- sity, but it will unite the Republican party and save the Republic. Life is a flimsy dream, and it matters little when one j!:oes; a human life is of small value. During the war thousands of brave boys went down without a tear. I presume that the President was a Christian, and that he will be happier in Paradise than here. It will be no worse for Mrs. (lai'field, dear soul, to part with her husband this way, than by natural death He is liable to go at any time, anyway. I had no ill-will toward the President. His death was a political necessity. I am a hiwyer, a iheologian and a politician. I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. 1 \^as with (ileneral (Irant, and the rest of our men in New York during the canvass. 1 have some papers for the press, which 1 sliall leave with Ryron Andrews, and his company, journal- ists, at 142t» \ew York Avenue, where all the reporters can see them." The letter was signed "Charles (luiteau,-- and was addressed **To the AVhite House.'*

Ouiteau s declaration that he was a. Stalwart of the Stalwarts, and the information which came out afterwards that he had, himself been disappointed in office-seeking, induced many to think that there was some connection between him and the President's political o[)ponent8 in New York. Nothing could have been further from the truth, than the suspicion that there was any direct connection of this sort, for, all hough the Stalwarts were fighters they were not assas- sins. Some of the leading newspapers, however, found a logical, if not a direct, connection between the political quarrel and the political assassination. The Springfield, Mass., Republican said: **Ouiteau is a miserable ne'er do well, who shares the common feeling that all the off1<*e8 are in the dispensation of the l*resident of the United States, and that he has a claim on that functionary for jiatronage. He is in sympathy with Arthur and Conklingin the struggle over the New York Custom House. His wits have become only a degree more disordered than those of Conkling himself, and being a much w'eaki^r and feebler man, his vengeance has taken the direct and vulgar form of a pistol shot, rather than the more refined form of resigning the seats of the Republican majority in the Senate of the T'nited States, and demanding a vindicati<m from the State of New York."

The New York pajiers were not as direct as this, but drew lessons of much the same tenor. The Tinu»8 said: **Though the murderer was obvioubly of unsound mind, it is impossible to ignore the causes

368 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

which led immediately to this ait; which directed his ill-regulat<Hl will to final aim. He was a disappointed office-seeker, and he linkinl the bitterness or his personal disappointment with the passionate animosity of a faction. This resentment was infiamed and intensified by the assaults upon the President, which have bi»en common in too many circles for the past few months. Certainly, we are far from holding an\ party or any section of a party responsible for this mur- derous act, but we believe it our duty to point out that the act was an exagj^eraied expression of a sentiment of narrow and bitter hatred, which has been only too freely indulged. It is not too much to say, in the first pla<*e, that if Mr. (iarfield had not been the chief of a service in which offices are held out as prizes to men of much the same merit, and much the same career as this murderer, he would not have been exposed to this attack." The New York Tribune had this: "President (larfield has been shot down, not by a political faction, but by the spirit which a political faction has begotten and nursed. Hut for that sjiirit, there was hardly a man in this country who seemed, at sunrise yesjerday, more safe from murderous assault It does not appear that the assassin of yesterday had ever been thought a lunatic by any associate or acquaintance, until the deadly shots were fired. Was he 'crazed by political excitement' then, as many say? /vt what point, if ever, did the madness of faction become the madness of irresponsibility? Do the leaders of factions ever intend all the mischief which grows from the wild and desperate spirit which they create, feed, and stimulate, week after week? Is it not their constant crime against self government, that, by kindling-such a spirit, they send weak or reckless men beyond the bounds of right, or reason? This assassin, it seems, was not ignorant that he was trying to kill one President and make another. His language and letters prove that lu knew what he was doing only too well, and a *Htalwart of the Stalwarts,' his passion was intense enough to do the thing which other reckless men had wished were done.'' Instead of allay- ing factional feeling, this tragic event seemed for the time to inten- sify it.

In spite of treatment by the most eminent surgeons in the coun- try, and the aid of a strong constitution, the President gradually weakened under the effects of the wound, blood poisoning set in, and he died on the IDih of September, at Elberon, N. J., where he had been taken in the hope of being benefited by the cool air of the seashore. The time between the fatal shot and the President's death, was a

^7(1

HISTORY OF THE RErTBLKWN PARTY.

l)ubli(r affairs had not been tested. To many people, who had thought of him only as a loial politician, his letter acreptinji; the nomination came as a revelation. His treatment of the jiublie issues then pend- ing, indicated a soundness and solidity of thought, that were fully as aeceptable as those of the more brilliant and effusive (iarfield After his accession to the Presidency, Oeneral Arthur gaimni very rapidly in public confidence and favor; and before his term clostni he was regardf d as anumg the most juudent, and most discreet, as well as one of the abl(»st of our Presidents.

The changes he made in the Cabinet, wliieh he inherited from Gar- field, were numerous, but they were madi* with deliberation. Mr. Hlaine, who, as the head of the Cabinet, had, during l^resident Oarfteld's illness, caim» nearer the possession of Presidential power, than he ever did before* or afterwards, retained his portfolio till Decern ber V.K 1S81, when he surrendered it to Fred- erick T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey. Edwin 1>. Morgan, who had been nominatcMi and confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, declined, on account of ill health. Charles J. Folger, who had declined the jiosition under Garfield, was appointed and accepted. He afterwards resigned and was succeeded in 1882 by Walter (i. Gresham, and he, in turn, by Hugh McC^ulloch. In April, 1882, William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire, was appointed Secre- tary of the Navy, and Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, Secretary of the Interior. Within the next three years there were three different incumbents of the position of Postmaster General, Timothy O. Howe, of Wisconsin, who succeeded Thomas L. James; Walter Q. Gresham, of Indiana, and Frank Hatton, of Iowa.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

ST2 HISTORY OF THE REPmLKWN PARTY.

Duriuir the two remaining vears of President Arthur's term he applied the law to 15,773 plaees. Cleveland added 11,757 places in his first term, and 42,025 in his second, while Harrison increased the list by 15,5118 in his term, making over 85,000 places brought under the Act during the first three and one-half terms of its existence.

The first general revision of the tariff undertaken since the Morrill Acts of the war period, was made during this Administra- tion. An Act approved May 15, 1882, appointed the following Tariff Commission, consisting of prominent manufacturers and others: J. L. Hayes, H. ^^\ Oliver, A. M. Garland, Robert P. Porter, J. W. H, Underwood, A. R. Rateler and Duncan F. Kennon. In December following, this Committee brought in a Hill, together with a long report, showing very industrious research into the whole subject. The i)uri»ose of the Bill was thus stated: **In the performance of the duty devolved upon them, all the members of the Commission havi» aimed, and, as they believe, with success, to divest themselves of political bias, sectional prejudice or considerations of personal interest. It is their desire that their recommendations shall serve no political jmrty, class, section or school of political economy." Congress, however, did not reach this degree of impartiality. The Senate tacked a ditferent Tariff Bill to a House Internal Revenue Measure, and thus the whole subject was brought before a Conference Committee, which turned out a Bill that was satisfactory to no one. The Commission Bill reduced the rates of duty on an average about 20 jier cent., in some cases as much as 50 per cent. The averagt^ reduction by the Conference Bill was only about 4 per cent., and in some cases there was an actual increase over the war tariff rates. The Commission Bill was <arefully studied, and was symmetrical in its character, while the Conference Bill was contradictory in its methods and incongruous in its provisions. Senator John Sherman said of it in his ^^Recollections:'' "If the Senate Finance Committe«» had embodied in this Bill the recommendations of the Tariff Com- mission, including the schedules, without amendment or change, the tariff would have been settled for many years. Unfortunately, this was not done^ but the schedules prescribing the rates of duty, and tluMr classificjition, were so radically changed by the Committee that the scheme of the Tariff Commission was practically defeated. Many persons, wishing to advance their particular industry, appeareii before the Committee, and succeeded in having their views adopted."

In the next House, which had. a large Democratic majority, William R. Morrison, of Illinois, introduced a measure which gave to

GARFIELD AND ARTHI'R ADMINISTRATION. 373

him the nick-name ''Horizontai Bill.-' It proposed to make a hori- zontal reduction of 20 per cent, on the duties levied by the Act of 1883. But this met with little favor, for, it was argued, if the Act of 188^^ was uneven, irrational and contradictory in its schedules, a uniform reduction of 20 per cent, would not make it a bit less so. Thirty-nine Democrats voted with the Republicans a^j^ainst even giving the i^ill consideration. After it had been discussed at length 37 Democrats voted with the Republicans to strike out the enacting clause, while G Democrats refrained from voting. The motion to strike out carried by 158 to 155, and that was the end of tariff agita- tion for the Forty-eighth Congress.

The situation in regard to the Presidency at the time of (farfield's assassination reminded Congress that legislation was needed relating to the succession to that office. The Act of 1702, which was still in force in 1881, provided that in case the Vice-President, as well as the President dies, is removed or is disqualitied, then the President pro tempore of the Senate, or, after him, the Speaker of the House, should assume the duties of the office until the disability is removed, or a President elected. At this time there was no Si)eaker of the House, because the new Congress had not met. It had been the custom, <m the last day of the sessions of the Senate, for the Vice-President to retire, so that the Senate might elect a President pro tempore, to hold office during the recess, but this had been neglected at the special session of the Senate in May. There was an interval of some weeks therefore, in which, in case of President Arthur's death, there would have been no provision whatever for the succession. On the second day of the first regular session of the Forty-seventh Congress, the Senate ordered its Judiciary Committee to inquire whether any further legislation was necessary in respect to the Presidential suc- cession, and report by Bill, or otherwise. Senator (Jarland, for the Committee, accordingly reported a Bill placing the succession to the Presidency in members of the Cabinet, in an order named, commenc- ing with the Secretary of State. This was in 1881, and it is a curious comment on the disposition of legislative bodies to defer matters when the immediate exigency has jiassed, that no measure on this subject was adopted until January, 188r», when a law based on (Jar land's plan was enacted.

A bill restricting Chinese immigraticm, in accordance with the terms of the Burlingame treaty, passed both Houses of the Forty- seventh Congri^ss, but was vetoed by Pr(»sident Arthur. An effort

n74 HISTORY OF THK REPFBLK \VN PARTY.

to pass it over bis veto failed, when another J^ilK framed so as to meet his objections, passed and beeanie a law.

Under the Act orpiuizing: National Hanks, the charters of these associations had a life time of only twenty years. Their charters begjan expiring? about this time and an Act passed this Congress allow- ing them to reorganize for twenty years more. The first Anti- Polygamy Act, directed esi)ecially against the Mormons in Utah, also passed the Forty-seventh Congress, by a non-partisan vote.

The factional spirit which had been fostered by the incidents of the Chicago Convention and by the events that followed in New York. told heavily in the elections of 1S82. in Pennsylvania for nearly thirty years, there have been two factions among the Republicans. They have generally confined their disputes to caucuses and conven- lions, and afterwards supported the nominations therein made, but 1882 was one of the years when they couldn't agree, and there were two Republican candidates for Governor. The result was the election of Robert M. Pattison, Democrat. The same influences defeated Henry W. Oliver, the Regular Republican nominee for the Ignited States Senate, though they did not elect a Democrat. In Massa- chusetts, up to that time reliably Republican, a combination of Greenbackers and Democrats also defeated the Republicans for GU>v- ernor. But the worst break was in New York State, where about 200,000 **Half Breed" Republicans stayed away from the polls, because the candidate was supposed to represent the Administration, to which they had not yet become re<onciled. The result was to give Grover Cleveland 102,854 majority for Governor, and to put beyond question his nomination as the next Demo<ratic candidate for the Presidencv.

XXIX.

THE EKHITH REPl'BLK^VN ( ()N\ EXTIOX.

Prominent Men in Attendance as Delegates — Contest Over the Ten)- porarv ChairnLan — An Important Change in tlie Unles — Text of the Platform Adopted — Blaine and Arthur the Leading Candi- dates— Xomination of the Former — Analysis of the Vote — (leneral Logan for Vice-President — Opjiosition to the Ticket Within the Party — The Kisi* and (lood Fortune of (trover Cleve- land— He Receives the Democratic Xomination — A Bitter Personal ( 'ontest — Blaine's Western Tour — His Unfortunate Stay in Xew York — Parson Burchard's Misfit Speech — Success of the Democratic Ticket.

The eighth Xational Convention of the Rejiublican party opened in the Exposition Building, Chicago, June '*\, 1884. The proceedings were not lacking in interest, though they were entirely lacking in the strifes and excitements of four years earlier. The contest was recog- nized, at the outset, as being between Arthur and Blaine, though there were, as usual, a few favorite sons in the held. The personnel of the Convention was not as strong as some that have been held, although it included the two next Republican Presidents, Harrison and McKinley, and a third, (leneral Alger, wlio was a leading candi- date for the Republican nomination, four years later. The following were among the leading delegates: Powell Clayton and Logan H Roots, of Arkansas; Shelby M. Cullom, of Hlinois; Richard W. Thompson and Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana; John S. Clarkson, of Iowa; Senator Preston B. Plumb, of Kansas; William (). Bradley. Walter Evans and William C. (loodloe, of Kentucky; William Pitt Kellogg, P. B. S. Pinchback, and A. J. Dumcmt, of Louisiana; (Jeorge F. Hoar, William W. Crapo, John 1). Long, Henry Cabot I^odge and Carroll D. Wright, of Massachusetts; Cushman K. Davis, of Minne- sota; Blanche K. Bruce and John R. Lynch, of Mississip]>i; R. T. Van- Horn, John B. Henderson and Chauncey L Filley, of Misscmri; William McKinley, Mark A. Hanna, Benjamin Eggleston and A. L

:^7(i HISTORY OF THE RErrBLICAX PARTY.

Conger, of Ohio; H. H. Riiighani and (lalusha A. Grow, of Pennsyl- vania; W. P. Brownlow and L. (\ Houek, of Tennessee.

The Michifi:an delepition was as follows: At I^ar^re — Roswell G Horr, William F. Swift, Samuel C. AVatson and Julius C. Burrows. By Districts— (1) Russell A. Alger, William S. Morey; (2) W. A rnderwood, Joseph T. Jacobs; (3) Edward i\ Nichols, William H Powers; (4) S. T. Ri»ed, Josiah Andrews; (5) George W. Webber, Henry F. Thomas; (fi) M. 1). Chatterton, Joseph E. Sawyer; {T) John P. Sanborn, R. R. Noble; (8) W. S. Turck, W. E. Watson; <lh M. P. (Jale, Abel Anderson; (10) H. H. Aplin, (ieorge W. Bell; (11) S^^h i\ Motfatt, Samuel M. Stephenson.

One of the shar])est <ontests of the Convention was over the comparatively unimportant office of temporary Chairman. Ever since the party was organized it had been the province of the National Committee to name that olticial. In accordance with this custom the Committee designate<l for the place Powell Clayton, a one-arnnnl Cnion soldier from Arkansas, then the leading Republican politician in that State. The friends of General Arthur antagonized Clayton with John R. Lynch, a colored delegate from Mississippi, Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, making this nomination. The discussion of this question, which developed more heat than the subject at all warranted, was particii)ated in by fourteen different members of the Convention, and the roll call of states showed 424 votes for Lyneh to 384 for Clayton. This was considered a triumph for President Arthur. In reality it was simply an anti-Blaine vote, for the oppo- sition to Blaine never united on Arthur. Following this, S. W. Hawkins, of Tennessee, moved a sus])ension of the rules, and the adoption of a resolution that, "as the sense of this Convention, every member is bound in honor to support its nominee, whoever that nominee may be; and that no man should hold a seat here who is not ready to so agree." After a short debate, in which half a dozen members jiarticipated, the resolution was withdrawn.

The Committee on Permanent Organization reported the name of John B. Henderson, of Missouri, for President, and Charles W Clisbee, of Michigan, for Secretary. Mr. Henderson, in a brief specH-h. c»n taking the chair, praised all the men that had been talked of as jiossible candidates, and, on his own ac<<)unt. added *'the grand ohl hero of Kenesaw Mountain and Atlanta" to the list.

The report of the Committee on Rules was the subject of a lon^ discussion. Oni* of tlu» propositions, debated at length, and with

THE EIGHTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 377

great earnestness, was that the district representation in future Con- ventions should be based on the number of Republican votes east for Congressman at the last election, instead of being the same for all the districts. This was hotly opposed by the Southern Republicans, who insisted that their representation in the Convention should not be reduced, because Southern Democrats, with the practical conniv- ance of the National Administration, had disfranchised many of their voters. The proposition was finally withdrawn. It has been brought up, either in the National Committee or in open Convention, in every campaign since then, even to that of 1900, and has, every time, been either withdrawn or voted down.

The only rule that was materially changed as a result of the long discussion, was that relating to the duties of the National Commit- tee. As finally adopted the rule read as follows: "A Republican National Committee shall be appointed, to consist of one member from each State, Territory and the District of Columbia. The roll shall be called, and the delegation from each State, Territory and District of Columbia, shall name, through its Chairman, a person to act as a member of the Committee who is not eligible as a member of the Electoral College. Said Committee shall issue the call for a meeting of the National Convention six months at least before thf» time fixed for said meeting; and eacli Congressional District in the United States shall elect its delegates to the National Convention in the same way as the nomination of a member of Congress is made in said District; and in the territories the delegates to the Convention shall be elected in the same way as the nomination of delegates to Congress is made; and said National Convention shall prescribe th«* mode of electing delegates for the District of Columbia. An alter- nate delegate for each deh^gate to the National Convention, to act in case of the absen(*e of the delegate, shall be elected in the same way and at the same time as the delegate is elected. Delegatos-at-larg(» for each State, and their alternates, shall be elected by State Conven- tions in their respective states."

The clause providing that no person should be a member of the Committee who was not eligible as a member of the Electoral College was intended to exclude Federal oflfice-holders from the Committee, and was adopted on account of the Civil Service Act, forbidding such officers to solicit or receive campaign contributions from other Fed- eral office-holders or Government (employes.

378 HIRTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

The report of the Committee on Resolutions was made on the afternoon of the third day of the Convention, by William MeKinley, of Ohio, Chairman of the Committee. It was adopted without amend- ment, and without debate, and was as follows:

The Republicans of the United States, in National Convention assembled, renew their allegiance to the principles upon which they have triumphed in six successive elections, and congratulate the American people on the attainment of so many results in legislation and Administration by which the Republican party, has, after saving the Union, done so much to render its institutions just, ecjual and beneficent, the safeguards of liberty, and the embodiments of the best thought and highest purposes of our citizens.

The Republican party has gained its strength by quick and faithful response to the demands of the people for the fretniom and equality of all men, for a united nation assuring the rights of all citi- zens, for the elevation of labor, for an honest currency, for purity in legislation, and for integrity and accountability in all the depart- ments of the government, and it accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform.

We lament the death of President Garfield, whose sound states- manship, long conspicu<ms in Congress, gave promise of a strong and successful Administration, a promise fully realized during the short period of his office as President of the I'nited States. His dis- tinguished success in war and in peace, have endeared him to the hearts of the American i)eople.

In the Administration of President Arthur we recognize a wise* conservative and jiatriotic policy, under which the country has been blessed with remarkable prosperity, and we believe his eminent services are entitled to and will receive the hearty approval of every citizen.

It is the tirst duty of a good Government to protect the rights and promote the interests of its own people. The largest diversity of industry is most productive of general prosperity and of the comfort and independence of the people. We therefore demand that the imposition of duties upon foreign imports shall be made not for revenue only, but that in raising the requisite revenues for the Gov- <*rnment, such duties shall be so levied as to afl*ord security to our diversified industries and protection to the rights and wages of the laborer, to the end that active and intelligent labor, as well as capital, may have its just reward and the laboring man his full share in the national prosperity.

Against the so-(alled economic system of the Democratic party, which would degrade our labor to the foreign standard, we enter our earnest protest. The Democratic party has failed completely to relieve the people of the burden of unue<essary taxation b.v a wise reduction of the surplus.

THE EIGHTH REPUBLICAN ( OXVEXTION. 379

The Republican party pledges itself to correct the inequalities of the tariff and to reduce the surplus, not by the vicious and indis- criminate process of horizontal reduction, but by such methods as will relieve the taxpayer without injuring the laborer or the great productive industries of the country.

We recognize the importance of sheep husbandry in the United States, the serious depression which it is now experiencing and the danger threatening its future prosperity; and we, therefore, respect the demands of the representatives of this important agricultural interest for a readjustment of duty on foreign wool in order that such industry shall have full and adequate protection.

We have always recommended the best money known to the civilized world, and we urge that an effort be made to unite all com- niercial nations in the establishment of an international standard which shall fix for all the relative value of gold and silver coinage.

The regulation of commerce with foreign nations and between the states is one of the most imj)ortant [)rerogative8 of the general government and the Republican party distinctly announces its pur- pose to support such legislation as will fully and efficiently carry out the Constitutional power of Congress over its State commerce.

The principle of public regulation of railway (Corporations is a wise and salutary one for the protection of all classes of the people; and we favor legislation that shall prevent unjust discrimination and excessive charges for transportation, and that shall secure to the people and to the railways alike the fair and equal protection of the laws.

We favor the establishment of a National Bureau of labor; the* enforcement of the eight-hour law, and a wise and judicious system of general education by adequate appropriation from the National revenues wherever the same is needed. We believe that everywhere the protection to a citizen of American birth must be secured to citi- zens of American adoption; and we favor tin* settlement of National differences by international arbitration.

The Republican party, having its birth in a hatr(»d of slave labor and in a desire that all men may be free and eciual, is unalterably opposed to placing our workingmen in competition with any form of servile labor, whether at home or abroad. In this spirit we denounce the importation of contract labor, whether from Europe or Asia, as an offence against the spirit of American institutions, and we pledge ourselves to sustain the present law restricting Chinese immigration, and to provide such further legislation as is necessary to carry out its purposes.

Reform of the civil service, auspiciously begun under Republi can Administration, should be completed by further extension of the reform system, aln^ady established by law, to all the grades of the ser- vice to which it is applicable. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be observed in all executive appointments; and all laws at

380 HISTORY OF THE REPrBLICAX PARTY.

variance with the object of existing reform lepslation should be repealed, to the end that the danj^ers to free institutions which lurk in power of official patronage may be wisely and effectively avoided.

The public lands are a heritage of tiie people of the United States, and should he reserved, as fiw as possible, for small holdings by actual settlers. \Ve are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts of these lands by corporations or individuals, especially where the hold- ings are in the hands of non-resident aliens. And we will endeavor to obtain such legislation as will tend to correct this evil. \Ye demand of Congress the speedy forfeiture of all land grants which have hipsed by reason of non-compliance with Acts of Incorporation, in all cases where there has been no attempt in good faith to perform the conditions of such grants.

The grateful thanks of the American people are due to the rnion soldiers and sailors of the late war. And the Republican party stands pledged to suitable pensions for all who were disabled, and for the widows and orphans of those who died in the war. Thf» Republican party also pledges itself to the repeal of the limitation contained in the Arrears Act of 1S71), so that all invalid soldiers shall share alike and their pension shall begin with date of disability, or discharge, and not with the date of their application.

The Republican party favors a policy which shall keep us from entangling alliances with foreign nations, and which shall give th«^ right to expect that foreign nations shall refrain from meddling in American atfairs — the policy which seeks peace and can trade with all powers, but especially with those of the Western hemisphere.

We demand the restoration of our Navy to its old-time strength and efficiency, that it may in any sea protect the rights of American citizens and the interests of American commerce; and we call upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American shipping has been depressed, so that it amy again be true that we have a <-omnieri-e which leaves no sea unexplored, and a Navy which takes no law from superior force.

RESOLVED, That appointments by the IVesident to offices in the territories should be made from the bona tide citizens and resi- dents of the territories wherein they are to serve.

RESOLVED, That it is the duty of Congress to enact such laws as shall promptly and etTectually suppress the system of polygamy within our territories, and divorce the political from the ecclesiasti- cal power of the so-caHed ^iormon Church: and that the laws so enacted should be rigidly enforced by the civil authorities, if {>ossible, and by the military, if need be.

The peoph* of the Cuitt^d States in their organized capacity con- stitute a Nation and not a mere confederacy of states. The National (xovernment is supreme within the sphere of its National duties; but the States hav(» reserved rights which must be faithfully maintained;

THE EIGHTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 381

each should be guarded with jealous care so that the harmony of our system of government mav be preserved and the Tnion be kept invio- late.

The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance of a free ballot, an honest count and correct returns.

We denounce the fraud and violence practised by the Democracy in the Southern States, by which the will of the voter is defeated, as dangerous to the preservation of free institutions; and we solemnly arraign the Democratic party as being the guilty recipient of the fruits of such fraud and violence.

We extend to the Republicans of the South, regardless of their former party affiliations, our cordial sympathy; and pledge to them our most earnest efforts to promote the passage of such legislation as will secure to every citizen, of whatever race and color, the full and complete recognition, possession, and exercise of all civil and political rights.

The order of nominating candidates for the Presidency was reached on the evening of tin* third day. The nominating speeches were numerous, several of them long, most of them good, but none of them specially striking. Augustus Brandegee, of Connecticut, was the first to speak, placing in nomination Oeneral Joseph R. Haw- ley, of that State. Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois, placed General John A. Logan in nomination, referring in eloquent terms to his brilliant military service, and his long civil career; and the nomination was supported by Benjamin H. Prenlis, of Missouri.

Judge William H. West, of Ohio, presented the name of Jame^ G. Blaine, and the nomination was supported by (^ushman K. Davis, of Minnesota; William C. Goodloe, of Kentucky; Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania; and, strange as it may seem in view of the events of three years earlier, by Thomas C. Piatt, of New York.

President Arthur's name was placed before the Convention by Martin I. Townsend, of New York, who was seconded by Henry H. Bingham, of Pennsylvania; John R. Lynch, of Mississi])pi; Patrick H. WMnston, of North Carolina, and P. B. S. Pinchback, of Louisiana.

J. B. Foraker, of Ohio, and William H. Holt, of Kentucky, spoke for John Sherman, while John I). Long, of Massachusetts, and George William Curtis, of New York, performed a like service for Senator George F. Edmunds, of Vermont. This brought the proceedings up to 1:45 a. m., in the morning of the sixth, when adjournment was had until 11 a. m.

;4U	375	541
!7«	274	2(>7
95	(59	41
fil	Si	7
28	25	. . .
13	13	15
4	8	2
o	o

;5^2 UISTOKY OF THE REPUHLICAN PARTY.

It rcMpiirod only four ballots to make the Presidential uomina tion, the record being as follows:

1st. 2d. 3d. 4th.

James (J. Blaine, of Maine 334Vi» 349

(blester A. Arthur, of New York. 278 27 George F. Edmunds, of Vermont. 93

John A. Logan, of Illinois H3V^

John Sherman, of Ohio 30

Joseph R. Hawley, of (\>nne(tieut. 13

Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois 4

William T. Sherman, of Missouri 2

There was a strong feeling among Republieans that President Arthur was entitled to the candida<*y. Every Vice President pre- ceding him who had succeeded to the Presidency, had disappointed his party and the jmblic, but President Arthur had given a rery satisfactory administration. It had been entirely free from scandals. except thos(* connected with star route bids for the Mail Service, and these had commenced under a jirevious administration, to be broken up under his. He had striven to allay factional (juarrels, his conduct had been prudent and dignified, and his State papers were aiuonfi: the most thoughtful in substance, and clear in expression, of any in the archives of the (lovernment. Although ISlaine was still the |K>pu- lar favorite and had a decided lead in the Convention, he had not a majority at the start. It was evident that a combination of the votes of all the opposing candidates was the only method of beatinj? him. Rut to the th(H)rists who supported Edmunds, Arthur was no more accejitable than Blaine. Besides that, Arthur had not the sup- port of his own State. Twenty of the New York delegates addresscnl a message to the Convention, in which they said: "Blaine can get more votes in the Convention than any other man, and can carry the State triumphantly. An analysis of the Republican representa- tion in the National Convention, on the basis of the Presidential vote of 18S0, shows that from President Arthur's own State a deeided majority of the delegates to the Convention are opposed to his nom- ination; that the overwhelming preponderance of the delegates from the districts giving Republican majorities is for Blaine; that twelve Republican districts and four Democratic districts are for Blaine; that five other districts send Edmunds, or anti-Arthur delegates, while but five Republican districts send delegates for Arthur, the large majority of his support coming from Democratic districts; that

THE EIGHTH KEPI BLICAN CONVENTION.

38a

in the Blaine districts there is an aggregate of G:{J73 Republican majority, against 17,456 Republican majority in the Arthur districts. These facts and figures are conclusive, that in New York, as in other States, where the Electoral votes nuiy be given to a Republican candi- date for President, the direct Republican expression is in favor of James G. Blaine's nomination; indeed, that he is the accepted leader of the Republican party to a sure victory/'

On the first ballot in the Convention New York gave Arthur 31 votes, Blaine 28, and Edmunds 12; on the last it gave Arthur 30 and Blaine 29. Pennsyl- vania, on the first bal- lot, gave Blaine 47, and Arthur 11, Edmunds and Logan each 1. On the last it gave Blaine 51, and Arthur 8. The Michigan votes were as follows: First ballot, Arthur, 2; Blaine, 15; Edmunds, 7; William T. Sherman, 2. Second, Arthur, 4; Blaine, 15; Edmunds, 7; General Shernmn, 2. Third, Ar- thur, 4; Blaine, 18; Ed- munds, 3; General Sherman, 1. Fourth. Blaine, 20. In Hlinois, on the first ballot Blaine had 3 votes, and

Arthur 1, to 40 for Lo- james g. blaine.

gan, and in Ohio Blaine had 21 votes to 25 for Shernum. There were comparatively few of the States that voted solidly for any one candi- date.

For Vice President the current set all one way. General Logan having 770 votes, to 3 for Walter Q. Gresham, of Indiana, and 1 for J. B. Foraker, of Ohio.

Blaine's nomination, however, was not accepted by all Repub- licans. June 7th, the day after the nomination was made, the New York Times said: **The Times will not support Mr. Blaine for the

^84 H I STORY OF TH E REPUBLICAN PARTY.

PreBidencv. It will advise no man to vote for him." It prediited his defeat, and further declared: *That defeat will be the salvation of the Republican party. It will arouse its torpid eonscienee; it will stir it to self-purification; it will depose the false leaders who have fastened themselves upon it; it will send the rogues to the backgronnd and will nmke the jmrty once more worthy of honor and of power in the Republic it has so nobly served." The New York Evening Post and the Roston Advertiser, which had, before tiiat, been Republican, also bolted tiie ticket, as did also the Boston Herald and the Spring field Republican, which had been Independent, with Republican leanings.

But the metropolitan paper which, of those that had been Repub- lican, was the bitterest against Blaine, was Harpi^r's \Vt*ekly. Its editor^ (leorge William Curtis, was a delegate to the Convention. When the resolution was pending, declaring that every member of the Convention was bound in honor to support the nominee, whoever lie might be, and that no man should hold a seat who was not ready to so agree, Mr. Curtis, in a burst of virtuous indignation, referred to the example of Joshua R. Ciiddings in leaving the Convention in 1850, and added: **Well, gentlemen, he yielded to persuasion, and took bis seat, and before that Convention proceeded to its nomination, by a universal roar of assent, the Republican party then assembliHl declared, without one word of doubt or dissent, that no sound should ever be heard in a Republican Convention that in the slightest degre«» reflected upon the honor, or upon the loyalty of the men who took part in that Convention." After the nomination for President was uiiule, instead of following the example of Mr. Giddings in 1856, or ])ursuing the course taken by the Silver Republicans at St. Ix>nis in 1890, in leaving the Convention, with a protest, Mr. Curtis remained taking part in the rest of the proceedings, till the close. It was not until after he had returned to New York, and had his conscience vac- cinated by the employers who were paying him a large salary, that he decided whether he should abide by the ordinary rules of |>o1itica1 honor or not. Having come to the determination, he was one of the bitterest and most unjust of Blaine's assailants. He doubtless injured Blaine in the campaign, but himself lost caste with the party more rapidly than any other political leader of that generation.

The most jKitent factor in the early stages of the campaign, how- (»v( r, was an organization, <all(»d at first "Independent Republicans," and aft(»rwards ^'Mugwumps." This association was organized in

THE EKJHTII REPrHLlCAN CONVENTION. ^85

Boston in December, 1883, and on May 12, sent a circular to the Repub- lican National Convention in reference to the character of the men who should be nominated. Being ignored by the Convention, it held a meeting in New York, June 16, and adopted a preamble, declaring that Blaine and Logan were nominated "in absolute disregard of the reform sentiments of the Nation." The meeting also resolved: "That it is our conviction that the country will be better served by opposing these nominations than by supporting them; and that we look with solicitude to the coming nominations by the Democratic party; they have the proper men; we hope they will put them before the peo[)le." This was intended as an ofifer of Independent Republican support to Grover Cleveland, in case he should be nominated, and was so under- stood at the Democratic Convention which met at Chicago, July S. 1884

That Convention was called to order by the Chairman of the National Committee, AVilliam H. Barnum, of Connecticut, and Richard

D. Hubbard, of Texas, was made temporary Chairman. Without waiting for permanent organization, Tammany Hall, which was hostile to Cleveland on account of his course while (iovernor of New York, made an etTort to break down the unit rule, in order to divide the New York delegation. This delegation had not been instructed for (Cleve- land, but had been instructed to vote as a unit. Tammany's effort failed, and with the failure went much of Tammany's chance of influ- encing the nomination. William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, was made permanent President of the Convention, and while waiting for the report of the Platform Committee, a day was spent in naming candi- dates for the Presidency, the following being formally presented: Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio; Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware; Joseph

E. McDonald, of Indiana; John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky; Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, and Grover Cleveland, of New York.

The platform adopted was inordinately long, and prefaced its promises of what the Democrats would do by the following recapitula- tion of the Republican sins of commission:

The Republican party, so far as principle is concerned, is a remin- iscence. In practice it is an organization for enriching those who control its machinery. Th(* frauds and jobbery which have been brought to light in every Department of the Government, are sufficient to have called for reform within the Republican party; yet those in authority, nmde reckless by long possession of power, have succumbi^d to its corrupting influence, and have placed in nomination a ticket

386 HISTORY OF THE KEPl'BLICAN PARTY.

against which the independent i)ortion of the party are in open revolt. Therefore a change is demanded. Such a change was alike necessary in 187G, but the will of the i)eople was then defeated by a fraud which can never be forgotten or condoned. Again in 1880 the change demanded by the people was defeated by the lavish use of money, contributed by unscrupulous contractors and shameless jobbers, who had bargained for unlawful profits or high office. The Republi<-an party during its legal, its stolen, and its bought tenures of power, has steadily decayed in moral character and political capacity. Its plat- form promises are now a list of its past failures. It demands the restoration of our Navy — it has squandered hundreds of millions of dollars to create a Navy that does not exist. It calls upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American shipping has Imhmi depressed — it imposed and has continued those burdens. It professes a policy of reserving the public lands for small holdings by actual settlers — it has given away the i)eople's heritage, till now a few rail- roads and non-resident aliens, individual and corporate, possess a larger area than that of all our farms between the two seas. It pro- fesses a preference for free institutions — it organized and tried to legalize a control of State elections by F(»deral trooj)s. It professes a desire to elevate labor — it has subjugated American workingmen to the competition of convict and imported contract labor. It professes gratitude to all who were disabled or died in the war, leaving widows and orphans — it left to a Democratic House of Representatives the first effort to equalize both bounty and pensions. It proffers a pledge to correct the irregularities of tariff — it created and has continued them. Its own Tariff Commission confess the needs of more than twenty per cent, reduction — its Congress gave a reduction of less than four per cent. It [irofesses the protection of American manufacturers — it has subjected them to an increasing flood of manufactured goods and a hopeless competition with manufacturing nations, not one of which taxes raw materials. It professes to protect all American industries — it has impoverished many to subsidize a few. It professes the protection of American labor — it has de])leted the return of American agriculture, an industry followed by half of our |>eople It professes the equality of all men before the law, attempting to fix the status of colored citizens — the Acts of its Congress w^ere overset by the decisions of its Courts. It "accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform'- — its caught criminals are per- mitted to escape through contrived delays or actual connivan<*e in the prosecution. Honeycombed with corruption, outbreaking exposures no longer shock its moral sense. Its honest members, its independent journals no longer maintain a successful contest for authority in its councils, or a veto upon bad nominations. That change is necessary is proved by an existing surplus of more than |100,000,000, which has yearly been collected from a suffering people. Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation. We denounce tlie Reiniblican party for having failed to relieve the jx^oph* from crushing war taxes, which have

THE EIGHTH UEPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 387

paralyzed business, crippled industry, and deprived labor of employ- ment and of just reward.

One ballot for a Presidential nominee was taken on the evening of the third day, with the following result:

Grover Cleveland, of New York 392

Thomas A. Bayard, of Delaware 170

Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio 88

Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania 78

Joseph E. McDonald, of Indiana 56

John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky 27

Scattering 9

Total number of votes 820

Necessary to choice under two-thirds rule 547

An adjournmt^nt was had over night. During the interval the Indiana delegation withdrew Joseph E. McDonald and substituted Thomas A. Hendricks as their candidate, in the hope that this might cause a stampede to the latter. But the hope was delusive, for on the s(»cond ballot, Cleveland had 683; Bayard, 8I14; Hendricks, 451/0; Thurman, 4; McDonald, 4; Randall, 4. Hendricks was then nominated for Nice-President by acclamation.

The year 1SS4 was a year of conventions. Previous to the gather- ing of the two great parties two dilTerent organizations had nominated General B(»njamiu F. Butler, of Massachusetts, for President. The first of these was a party which had came suddenly into existence, and called itself the Anti-Monopoly party. It met at •Chicago, May 14, and named P>utler as its Presidential nominee by a vote of 122, to 7 for Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, and 1 for Solon Chase, of Maine, one of the original Greenbackers. The nomination of a Vice-President was left to be de<'ided by the National Committee, acting in co-operation with the GreenbackcMs. The latter held their Convention at Indian- apolis, May 2S, and on the first ballot gave General Butler 322 votes, to 99 for Jesse Harper, of Illinois; 2 for Solon Chase, of Maine; 1 for Edward P. Allis, of Wisconsin, and 1 for David Davis, of Illinois. General Alanson M. West, of Mississippi, was nominated for Vice- President. General Butler accepted both nominations, and issued an address to his constituents which really formed the platform of the combination. It was decidedly Populistic in its utterances, and was flavored with spicy criticisms of both the old parties.

A straight Prohibition Convention was held at Pittsburg, Pa., July 23, and nominated John P. St. John, of Kansas, for President.

liSH

HISTORY OF THE KEIM'HLR AN PARTY.

with William Daniel, of Maryland, for Vice. There was also an American Prohibition Convention at Chicago, Jnne 19, which nanunl Samnel i\ I'omeroy, of Kansas, for President, and John A. Conant, of Connecticnt, for Vice President. To complete the lifet, an Equal Rights Convention met at San Francisco, September 20, and nom- inated Belva A. Lockw<M)d, the tirst woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia, for President, and Marietta L. Snow, of Cali- fornia, as second on the ticket. With tine satire on their chances tbey adopted the following as the tirst clause in their platform: '*We

pledge ourselves, if elected to power, so far as in us lies, to do equal and exact justice to every class of our citi- zens, without distinc- tion of color, sex or nationality."

At the o|K^ning of the* campaign there were s e V e r a 1 elements of unc'ertainty. Cleveland had been a remarkable vote-getter in several local campaigns. Erie county, in which Buf- falo was situated, was generally Republican, yet in \Hiyt^ he was chosen Assistant Dis- trict Attorney for the County, and in 1870 he was electc^d Sheriff. In ISSl he was elected Mayor of Buffalo, by a combination of three or four parties or sections of parties, and served with great acceptance to the Reform elements in the City. He was in great luck in 18S2 when he ran for (lovernor of New York, for while his own votc^ was less than SiH) in excess of the Demoeratie vote for President two years c^arlicM*. disaffection among the Repub- licans r(*duced the* vote* of that j^arty 21.*^»,(MM) below its last Pivsi- (lential vote. T1h» Re])ublicaiis in 1SS:{, however, rallied and again carried the State.

GROVKR CLEVELAND.

THE EIGHTH KEPT'HLK'AN (M^^NVENTION. 381)

Tammany continued to oppose Cleveland even after the nomina- tion, while the Independent Republican organization favored him. In the end, however, by the personal solicitation of Thomas A. Hend- ricks, Democratic candidate for Vice-President, Tammany was brought into line for the New York candidate, while the Mugwumps could not be brought over to the support of the man from Maine. The unknown strength of the third and fourth parties added to the uncertainty. While it was expected that Hutler's candidacy would injure the l)emo<Tats, it was very certain that St. John would draw most from the Republicans.

The campaign early took a i)ersonal turn. All the old stories against Blaine, whether refuted or not, were revived. As to Cleve- land, plausible evidence was otTered that he had shamefully neglected and maltreated the mother of his illegitimate child, and that, during the war he hired a substitute, whom he afterwards sutTered to die in the poorhouse. Cleveland, himself, made no explanation or denial of these alTairs, and probably the statements did not very materially affect his vote. He was not running on the moral character of his early life, nor on his patriotism in the war period, but on the official career of his later years.

Mr. Blaine's letter of acceptance was a statesmanlike document, and in an extended campaign tour which he made through the Middle and Western States, where he was received with unbounded enthus- iasm, his masterly addresses helped his prospects. Indiana and Pennsylvania had changed the time for holding their State elections from October to November, so that they no longer furnished pointers as to the gen(»ral result. But Ohio was still an October State, and gave a Republican majority. On the whole, when Blaine finished his Western tour, the i)ro8peets looked favorable for the Republicans, and he was inclined to go directly to his home in Maine. In an evil hour he was overi)ersuaded, by some of the party leaders, to remain in New York, for rece])tions, and a banc} net at Delmonico's. One of the leaders remarked to another that if they could secure Blaine's presence at the banquet it would be *'worth a thousand dollars a plate,'' and as campaign funds were running low, subscript icms of a thousand each were in demand.

Two unfortunate* results followed this breaking into Mr. Blaine's plans. His meeting so many of the rich men and corporate ])roperty- owners at a banquet was used to his disadvantage with the class of restless and dissatisfied men, who were half inclined to vote the Anti-

390 HISTORY OF THK REPUBLirAN PARTY.

Monopoly ticket anyway. The second result was worse yet. Mr. Blaine's mother was a Roman Catholic. His father was a Presbyter- ian, and on one occasion, when runninjj: for a local office he found that his prospects of el(Mtion were injured by the charge that he was a Catholic because his wife was. He, therefore, went to the priest for a certificate of non-membership, whicli was given him. It ran as follows: "This is to certify that Ephraim L. Hlaine is not now, and never was, a member of the Catholic- Church. Furthermore, in my opinion, he is not fit to be a member of any church.-- James G. Blaine once described his own religion as ^'Christianity tinctured with the Presbyterianism of the Blaines and the Catholicism of thp Gillespies.'' On another occasion he said: *4 would not, for a thousand presidencies, speak a disrespectful word of my mother's religion." Partly on account of his broad. Catholic spirit in religion, and partly on account of wliat was called his '^jingoism" in his rela- tions with foreign nations during the ten months of his service as Secretary of State under Oarfield and Arthur, he was popular with Irishmen and Catholics, many of whom were his avowed supi)orters. This fact cost him some Protestant votes. But in order to reassure him on this score, a delegation of Prot(»stant clergymen called upon him at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, to tell him that he bad their unwavering support. It was during this interview that a "misfit preacher named Burchard,'' let go his alliterative description of the Democracy as the party of "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion." Blaine did not catch the words at the time, or he would undoubtedly have been quick-witted enough to resent, or at least to repudiate, the expression, which was used greatly to his disadvantage during the short remaining time of the campaign.

In the election New York turned the scale against Blaine, by giving the Cleveland Electors 1,149 plurality in a total vote of 1,107, 169. The total Electoral vote was, for Chneland, 219; Blaine, 182. Cleveland had the votes of the Solid South, together with those of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Indiana. The popular vote is given as: Democratic electors, 4,874,98(>; Republican electors. 4,851,981; Butler electors, 175,.S7(); Prohibition, 150,869. Both the Democratic and Republican electors, however, received credit, through fusion, for some votes that properly belonged to the Green- back and Anti-Monopoly parties. In Iowa the fusion was between the Greenbackers and Democrats, and the whole vote is credited in the Cleveland column. In Wisconsin it was between the Greenback-

THE EIGHTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 391

era and Republicans, and the vote is credited to Blaine. Similar fusions were made in a few other states.

Blaine's defeat by such a narrow margin in New York State was a great disappointment to his supporters. It required, to accomplish it, the combined effects of Senator Conkling's personal hostility and political influence, the Mugwumps, the l^rohibition vote, which was drawn largely from the Republicans, and Burchard's bad break. The wrath of the Republicans expended itself chiefly upon the Mugwumi):^, and in a secondary way upon the I^rohibitionists. But little was said about Coukling*s hostility, which was perfectly natural, con- sidering the past relations of the two men. As to Burchard, he was regarded as a mysterious dispensation of Providence. Before the next election he turned Democrat, but never had the opportunity to do the party of his second choice the ill service that he did the party of his first choice. Blaine himself took his defeat philosophically, and occupied his time in retirement and in travel, until called to tho head of Harrison's Cabinet in 1889.

Congress, during Cleveland's Administration, was composed politically, as follows:

Forty-ninth Congress. Senate — Republicans, 41; Democrats, 34. House — Republicans, 140; Democrats, 182; Nationals, 2.

Fiftieth Congress. Senate — Republicans, 39; Democrats, 37. House — Republicans, 151; Democrats, 170.

In Michigan the campaign was one of the hottest and closest in the history of the party. The vote on President was:

Blaine and Logan 192,669

Fusion, Democratic, Greenback and Anti-Mon- opoly 189,361

Butler and West, Straight Greenback 753

St. John and Daniel 18,403

The Presidential Electors chosen were: At Large — Dwight Cutler, Joseph B. Moore. By Districts — (1) James McMillan; (2) William S. Wilcox; (3) George H. French; (4) J. Eastman Johnson; (5) George G. Steketee; (6) Josephus Smith; (7) George W. Jenks; (8) Charles W. Wells; (9) Lorenzo A. Barker; (10) Seth McLean; (11) John Duncan.

3l>2 mSTOKY OF THE REPVBLK AN PARTY.

The vote for Governor was as follows:

Russell A. Alger, Republican 190,840

Josiah \V. Begole, Fusion 186,887

David Preston, Prohibition 22,207

Scattering 414

Of the Congressional delegation elected at this time, seven were Democrats, as follows: (1) William i\ Maybury; (2) Nathaniel I>. Eldridge; (5) Charles C. Comstock; (6) Edwin B. Winans; (7) Ezra i\ Carlton; (8) Timothy E. Tarsney; (10) Spencer O. Fisher. The Repub- licans elected were: (,*{) James O'Donnell; (4) Julius (\ Burrows; (9) Byron M. Cutcheon; (11) Seth C. Moflfatt.

At the election occurring in the middle of President Cleveland's term, the vote of Michigan for Governor was:

Cyrus G. Luce, Republican 181,474

George L. Yaple, Fusion 174,042

Samuel Dickie, Prohibitionist 25,179

Imperfect and Scattering 190

The Congressional delegation chosen at this time contained six Republicans, as follows: (2) Edward P. Allen; (3) James O'Donnell; (4) Julius C. Burrows; (0) Mark S. Brewer; (9) Byron M. Cutcheon; (11) Seth C. Moffatt. There were also these five Democrats: (1) John Logan Chipman; (5) Melbourne H. Ford; (7) Justin R. Whiting; (8) Timothy E. Tarsney; (10) Spencer O. Fisher. Mr. Moflfatt died December 22, 1887, and Henry ^V. Seymour was chosen at a special election in February, 1888, to fill the vacancy.

XXX.

CLEVELAND'S FIKST ADMIXISTRATION.

His Civil Service Attitude Pleases Neither the Partisans Nor th(* Reformers — Coolness Between the President and Vice-President — Selection of the Cabinet — Repeal of the Tenure-of-Office Act — Clean Sweep of the Oflfices — Cleveland's Pension Vetoes — Order for Restoring the Southern Flags — Resentnicait of the Grand Army Posts — Rebuilding the Navy — The Electoral Count and Presidential Succession Acts — The Inter-State Commerce Meas- ure— The Newfoundland and Alaska Fisheries — The President's Extraordinary Tariff Message — The Mills Bill and General Tariff Discussion.

The consideration of President Cleveland's Administration natur- ally divides itself into topics, instead of suggesting the treatment of events in their chronological order. In the matter of civil service reform he offended both classes of his supporters, the Democratic partisans and the Mugwump non-partisans, the former by his profes- sions and by the dilatory manner in which he made changes in office, and the latter by the clean sweep, which he did make when he once commenced. He had been accepted as a candidate by many of the Democratic party rather as a necessity than from any liking they had to him, and he was not very popular with the mass of the party. This was shown on the day of his inauguration, when the cheers for him were faint compared with those which went up from the crowd when Vice-I*resident Hendricks' carriage appeared. It was to this discrimination in the applause that many ascribed the coolness toward the Vice-President which Cleveland showed up to the time of Mr. Hendricks' death. A month after the inauguration Mr. Hendricks called upon the President, and on returning to his rooms said: "1 hoped that Mr. Cleveland would put the Democratic party in powder, in fact as well as in name, but he does not intend to do it." About the same time a Southern Congressman said

394 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

to some of his I )eniocTatic friends: "(Jentlemen, we've got a big elephant on our hands. I fear there will be some disappointment about the oftices." The appointment of his Cabinet furnished no indi- cation of a i)urpose to follow out the spirit of the Civil Service law, as none of the gentlemen composing it, named below, had made any record on this subject. December B, 1887, Don M. Dickinson, of Detroit, succeeded Postmaster Oeneral Vilas.

Secretary of State — Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware. Secretary of the Treasury — Daniel Manning, of New York. Secretary of War — William C. Endicott, of Massachusetts. Secretary of the Navy — William C. Whitney, of New \"ork. Secretary of the Interior — Lucius Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi. Postmaster General — William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin. Attorney (Jeneral — Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas.

Though the Cabinet appointments included no "reformers," Cleveland understood that his Mugwump support was due quite largely to the stand he had taken on the evils of Congressional pat- ronage, and he had promised to abate this so far as he could. He was better situated for doing this than any previous President, for the Pendleton Law, passed during the last Administration, required that 15,000 of the offices should be filled by non-partisan tests, and authorized the President to extend this method of appointment. But in attemi)ting to make good his promises, he encountered the opposi- tion of almost every Democratic leader, and finally of Congress. His first clash with the Senate was over a removal from office, that of G. M. Duskin, District Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. It was made during a recess of Congress, and when the Senate again convened it called on him for the reasons for his action, and for the papers in the case. This he refused, in a strong message, taking the ground that for his acts of removal and suspension he was responsi- ble to the people alone, and not to the Senate, and that the papers in the Duskin case were of a private nature. The Senate receded from its position, and three months later Congress rei>ealed the Tenure-of -Office Act, which had been passed twenty years earlier to prevent Andrew Johnson from removing Executive officers after they had been confirmed by the Senate. This left Mr. Cleveland with no check on his j)ower to remove from office. In 1886 Congress refused to make any appropriation for the salaries or expenses of the C*ivil Service Coniniissioners, and the President then surrendered. Within a year from that time he had made a clean sweep of nearly all the

CLEVELAND'S FIRST ADMINLSTRATION. 305

Presidential postmasters, foreign ministers, collectors of internal revenue, district attorneys, marshals, territorial judges and pension agents, while 40,000 of the 52,600 fourth-class postmasters lost their positions. In the course of another year he had added a large number more, bringing uj) to about 80,000 the list of Republican office-holders who had been replaced by Democrats. Such wholesale changes greatly impaired the service, as well as the President's reputation for sincerity. Although the members of the Cabinet had, before this, made no public record on the Civil Service reform matter, they made records fast enough now. Daniel Manning, of the Treasury Dei)art- nient, and Postmaster General Vilas, especially, took delight in the official slaughter. When Cleveland first took office it was given out that only those Republicans who were guilty of "offensive partisan- ship'' would be removed, but in these later stages the fact that a man was a Republican at all was enough to set him upon the order of his going.

In 1887 the President made another effort to disprove the asser- tion that he was **no Democrat." Senator Gorman was then making a desperate effort to retain his political hold on the State of Mary land, and was using methods that rivaled those in Louisiana and South Carolina. It was stated on Democratic authority that, in Bal- timore, election after election was carried by the grossest frauds; that to stop a ballot in an important ward murder was recognized as a political service; that ballot boxes were oi)ened and votes taken out, and that in one ward nineteen men with criminal records, drew pay from the City for doing political work of doubtful or criminal character. The President, by his ai)pointments, gave Mr. Gorman all the aid that he could, and this, following his weakening on the Civil Service matter, effectually alienated the great mass of reform voters.

President Cleveland aroused the bitterest feeling among the soldiers of the country by the number and character of his pension vetoes. During the two sessions of the Forty-ninth ('ongress alone he vetoed more bills than all the other Presidents combined, from Washington down. In all 364 measures which passed this Congress failed of his approval, though 107 of these became laws, by lapse of time, without his signature. Of the whole number lM)i) were private pension bills, and he wrote 123 separate vetoes on these. lie often sat far into the night, laboriously writing out, with his own hand, these long veto messages. Some of them were insulting, and some of

8<)G HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLKWN PARTY.

them were marked by cheap wit at the expense of the wounds and suffering of the soldiers. They gave the impression of personal hos- tility to overy man that wore th(* blue, and, loupled with his own record during the war, made the most effective of campaign docu- ments wiien he came before the i)(H)ple for re-electicm. He pursued the same policy in the Fiftieth ("ongress, and further intensified the feeling against himself by vetoing the Dependent Pension Bill VYorst of all was his order, given in ISHl, through Adjutant (leneral Drum, to return to the various Southern States the Rebel flags cajn tured during the war. The order could not be carried out, for it was illegal, as the flags were in the custody of the (lovernment, and could b(* removed only under authority of an Act of Congress. But before this fact became generally known there was abundant time for popular indignation to find expression, (leneral Butler called the order **an attempt to mutilate the archives.'' (Jeneral Sherman wrote: ^*Of course I know Drum, the Adjutant (ieneral. He has no sympathy with the Army which fought. He was a non-combatant. He never captured a flag, and values it only at its commercial value. He did not think of the blood and torture of battle; nor can Endicott, the Secretary of War, or Mr. Ch^veland.'' (irand Army Posts, throughout the North, pass(Hi resolutions denouncing the order in the strongest terms. After a time it was formally revoked, but the impression of a want of patriotism on (Cleveland's part remaintnl. Two incidents illustrate the intensity of the fettling on this subject. A number of Grand Army I*osts in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, held a camp Are at Wheeling. A banner had been suspended over the street on their line of march, bearing the Presi- dent's portrait, with the inscrijjtion, * (Jod Bless our President, Com- mander-in-Chief of our Army and Navy." Most of the posts, with colors folded and reversed, marched around this, although in order to do so, they had to go through the gutters. Again, the National Encampment of the (fraud Army was held at St. Louis, and the President had accepted an invitation to be present. After the flag incident \w withdrew the acceptance, because he thought it his duty to protect the dignity of the jieople's highest ottice, adding: "If among the memb(*rshij) of that body there are some, as certainly seems to be the case, determined to denounce me and my official acts at tlie National Encampment, I believe that th(\v should be permitted to do so, unrestrained by my j>resence as a guest of their organization, or as a guest of the hospitable city in which their meeting is held."

CLEVELAND'S F1K8T ADMINISTRATION. 397

President Cleveland was very fortunate in his selection of a Secretary of the Navy. William C. Whitney was a lawyer of high standing in New York City, but he was also a practical man of affairs, and he soon had a thorough knowledge of the business of his depart- ment. The American Navy had gone to decay very rapidly after the war, and in 18S1 was in a decidedly unserviceable condition. Under the (rarfield Administration, Secretary Hunt secured the appointment of a Naval Advisory Board of capable and experienced men. Then President Arthur's Secretary of the Navy, William E. Chandler, of New Hami)8hire. dinned into the ears of Congress such notes of alarm as to prepare that body for the rehabilitation, in a comprehensive way, of that branch of our service. The final report of the Advisory Board recommended that, within the next eight years, f30,000,000 should be expended on the Navy, and it was estimated that this would construct twenty-one ironclads, seventy unarmored cruisers, five rams, five torpedo gunboats, and twenty torpedo boats. There was objection in Congress to nmking a beginning that looked to so large an expenditure. Some even declared that the United States did not need a large Navy, as we were certain to have no more civil war, and not likely to be engaged in any foreign war. But Secretary Chandler's counsels prevailed, and ♦he Forty-sixth Congress author- ized the construction of three unarmored cruisers. The work was continued through Secretary Chandler's term of oflHce, was taken up with zeal by Secretary Whitney and continued through President Harrison's Administration. T'p to the time of the meeting of Con gress in December, 1894, forty-seven vessels were either in commission or under construction, including the battleships Oregon, Massachu- setts, Indiana and Iowa, which rendered such etficient service four years later in the war with Spain.

Although the Senate was of one stripe in politics and the House another, and neither was in full accord with the President, three important Acts, of a non-partisan character, nmrked this Adminis- tration. Two of these, though non-partisan, were of a political nature; the Electoral Count Act and the Presidential Succession Act. These, as passed, were practically the same as the measures Introduced during the Arthur Administration, and explained in some detail in a previous chanter of this book. Th(» first of the two. which provides for settling p]|(*(toral count disputes within th(* states, and requires th<» concurrent action of both Houses of (\m- gress to reject an p]lectoral vote, passed the Senate without division

;3!KS niSTORY OF THE REPL'BLICAN PARTY.

and the House by a vote of 141 to 100. It became a law by the signa- ture of the President, Maroli 8, 1887. The second of the two measures passes the Presidential succession throuj^h the Cabinet, instead of making the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House eligi- ble to that office. It has two manifest advantages over the old law of succession, in that the Cabinet offices are never entirely vacant, and the Cabinet is made up of men of the same political faith as the President. This also passed the Senate without division, and the House by a vote of 185 to 77. It was signed, January 18, 1886.

Another inheritance from former Congresses was the Inter-State Commerce Measure. A Bill to establish an Inter-State Commerce Commission was first introduced in the FortA'-sixth Congress in 1879, but it failed in the House. It was reintroduced in the Forty-seventh Congress, when many facts brought out by an investigation of the New York Railroads in 1870 were given wide publicity. The unre- strained power of railroads to make such charges as they chose, or, as one of the railroad magnates put it, to charge **a8 much as the traffic will bear," was the cause of great uncertainty and loss to busi- ness. In many articles the cost of transi)ortation had such an important effect upon the price at which goods could be sold with any chance for profit, that it was easy for the railroads to enrich one man and impoverish another in the same line of business, and this power often led to corruption of the railroad officials themselves. It was shown in the investigation mentioned that the milling busi- ness of certain towns in Northern New Y'ork was ruined by the rail- roads granting rates which were more favorable to Minneapolis and other Western points. The merchants of New York complained that discriminating rates were driving trade from that city to Baltimore. Where there were comi)eting railroads the long hauls of freight were almost invariably lower in rate i)er mile than short hauls. Man- ufacturers in Rochester, New York, desiring to send goods to San Francisco, found it clu^aper to shij) them first to New Y'ork City, the goods going through Roclu^ster again on their way Westward. The subject was agitated at every session of Congress till the last of the Forty-ninth Congress, when a Bill passed for regulating freight and jKissenger rales, and appointing an Inter-State ('ommerce Commis- sion. It was signed F(4)ruary 4, 1SS7. It forbade special rates to special shijipers, and provided that all charges for the transportation of pass(»ngers or proj)erty from State to State, or from this to a foreign country should be *'just and reasonable." It forbade rebates.

CLEVELAND'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 399

drawbacks, unjust discriminations and all undue or unreasonable preferences, and required that freight tariffs should be conspicuously posted, and that they should, in no case, be advanced without ten days' previous notice. It provided for the api)ointnient of a Commis- sion of five members, at the head of which, for some years, was Thomas M. Cooley, of Michigan, an admirable selection for the place. This Commission was open to complaints from any person or corpor- ation, and was required to investigate all charges so made. It had the power to direct railways to remedy evils complained of, and in case of refusal to comply with its requirements, it might bring suit in the Ignited States Courts, against the officers of the offending road. It required a uniform system of book-keeping for the different roads, with annual reports of their business and financial condition. It prohibited **pooling" between different roads, and prohibited any greater compensation for a shorter haul of freight or passengers than for a longer haul over the same line, and in the same direction though the Commissioners were empowered to suspend the operation of this clause when its enforcement was likely to give Canadian rail- roads an advantage over those in this country, or to throw^ the traffic into the hands of carriers by water. This Act, with occasional modi- fications by legislation or court interpretations, has been in operation ever since its first enactment. It has not remedied all the evils com- plained of, but it has been of great benefit to shippers.

Much excitement was occasioned during this period by disputes over the Newfoundland cod and mackerel fisheries and the Alaska seal fisheries. The fishery clause of the Treaty of Washington cecosed to be operative July 1, 1885, and as nothing else had been substituted for it, the Treaty of 1818 again became in force. Cnder this treaty American vessels could not enter Canadian ports for bait, nor fish within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays or harbors of any of Her Majesty's dominions in North America. In determining these limits England measured from headland to headland at the entrance of bays or indents of the coast, thus shutting the Americans out of all the bays, even though they might be more than three miles from the nearest coast line. As we were then collecting a customs duty on Canadian salt fish, the Canadians were inclined to enforce the harsh provisions of this treaty with the utmost rigor. Several of our fishing vessels were detained in Canadian ports and for some* weeks the excitement over the subject Wcas great. In May, 188(5, Con- gress gave the President power to suspend commercial relations

400 HI8TOKY OF THE KKPl'liLK^VN PARTY.

with Canada, and later a Bill was introduced in the House making* such suspension absolute without reference to the President. A more moderate measure was finally adopted, which provided that the Pres- ident, on beinji: assured that our fishing masters or crews were U8t*d in Canadian ports any less favorably than the nuisters or crews of trading vessels from the most favored nations, could, "in his discre- tion, by proclamation to that effect, deny vessels, their masters and crews, of the British dominions of North America, any entrance into the waters, ports or places within the T'nited States." The President did not use this power, but arranged with Great Britain for a joint Commission to consider the whole matter. This Commission con- sisted of Secretary Bayard, President Angell, of Michigan I'niversity, and William L. Putnam, of Maine, on the part of the United States, and Joseph Chamberlain, Sir ChaHes Tupper, of Canada, and the British Minister at Washington, Sir Lionel West. The three months' deliberations of the Commissicm resulted in an arrangement that was satisfactory to neither country, and it was rejected by the Senate. Meantime the excitement had died down, and the matter settled itself. American fishermen became accustomed to carrying their bait and provisions from home, and no longer cared to visit the Cana- dian seaport towns. The only losers, in the end, were those Canadians who were nuiking part of their living by selling bait, pro- visions and nmrine sundries to the outside fishermen.

In the matter of the Alaskan seal fisheries the British considered themselves the aggrieved parties. In order to prevent poaching and to preserve the seals, the United States set up the claim that the Behring Sea was a closed sea, and a number of British vessels were seized and condemned, their skins ccmfiscated and their masters fined. The release of the vessels was demanded by the British Gov- ernment, and ordered by I^resident Cleveland. In August, 1887, cir- cular letters were sent by ScM-retary Bayard to the Ignited States Ministers in England, France, Gernumy, Japan, Russia and Sweden, asking the co-operation of those countries in settling pending dis- putes, and in determining the best methods of regulating the seal fisheries. All the i)ower8 appealed to, except Sweden, assented to the conference, but it was not until 1892, during President Harri- son's Administratiim, that a treaty was agreed to, referring the whole matter to seven Commissioners, one each from Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, France and Italy, and two from the United States. The Commission gave the following decisions on points submitttHi to

(M.KVP:LAXirS FIKST ADMINISTKATION. 401

it: (1) By the Treaty of 1824 with the United States and by that of 1825 with Oreat Britain, Hnssia abandoned the riji^ht of exclusive jurisdiction beyond cannon shot from sliore, and never, from that day till the cession of Alaska, exercised it. (2) Great Britain never recognized Kussian claims to exclusive jurisdiction outside of terri- torial waters. (8) In the An{i:lo-Kussian Treaty of 1825 the term **Pacific Ocean'' included 15(»hrinj^ Sea. (4) At the cession all Russia's rights jiassed to the United States without impairment or increase. (5) The United States has no right to the protection of, or to prop- erty in, seals outside the ordinary three-mile limit. These decisions, with the exception of jioint four were all against the contentions of the T'nited States. The Board also made provision for a joint police of Behring Sea, by (ireat Britain and the United States, for an open and closed season, and for the licensing of sealing vessels. These latter provisions have probably deferred for numy years the final extinction of the seal in these waters.

During the last part of Cleveland's first term revision of the tariff occupied much attention. \Vm. R. Morrison, of Illinois, rein- troduced his bill for a horizontal reduction of taritf rates, but it met with a worse fate even than it did in the previous Congress. For this time it was refused consideration by a vote of 157 to 140, 35 of the former being l)(»mocrats. But at the opening of the Fiftieth Congress. December t;, 1887, Cleveland precipitated the discussion again by devoting his whole message to the tariff question. He spoke of the large and increasing s!iri)lus in the Treasury as a reason for reducing tariff rates, and argue d at some length the industrial bearings of the subject. lie gave large space to the tariff on wool, which he wanted greatly reduced or wholly removed. He also favored a great reduction in the rales on all other raw materials, and the removal of the taritf on the n(M('ssari<»s of life. While leaning toward free trade* in practice, h<» discarded the theory in the following passage, which furnished one* much cjuoted sentence: **()ur progress toward a wise <-oiHlusion will not be improved by dwelling upon the theories of protection and free trade. This savors too much of ban- dying epitlnMs. It is a condition which confronts us — not a theory. Relief from this condition may involve a slight reduction of the advantages whirh we award our home productions, but the entire withdrawal of such advantages should not b(» contemplated. The question of free trade is absolutely irrelevant.''

The imm(*(liat(* effect of this message was the introdu<*tion of the Mills Bill, i-(Hlucing tariff rates. This Bill was so named from Roger

402 HISTORY OF THE REPITBLICAN PARTY.

Q. Mills, of Texas, who was Chairman of the Ways and Means Com- mittee of the House, though in its preparation he was assisted by the other Democratic members of the Committee: William L. Scott, of Pennsylvania; Clifton R. Breckenridge, of Arkansas; William D. Bynum, of Indiana^ and William L. Wilson, of West Virginia. These members all supported the Bill with speeches on the floor of the House, as did also the following prominent Democrats: John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, Speaker of the House; Samuel S. (^ox, of Ohio; John E. Russell, of Massachusetts, and Charles R. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania. The Bill did not go the full length of Cleveland's message in inclining toward free trade, but it leaned sufficiently that way to meet with almost solid Republican opposition. The leading speakers against it were: William D. Kelk\v, of Pennsylvania; William McKinley, of Ohio; Thomas B. Reed, and Charles A. Bou- telle, of Maine; Julius C. Burrows, of Michigan, and Henry G. Burleigh, of New York. The Bill passed the House by a vote of 162 yeas, of which one was Republican, to 149 nays, 4 being Democrats. In the Senate it was antagonized by a measure of far different scope The ultimate result of the long agitation was that no tariff legisla- tion at all was adopted at this session, and the question became the leading one in the next campaign.

XXXI.

THP: campaign of 1888.

A New Set of Candidates for the Kepubliean Nomination — Blaine and Sherman the Only Old Ones Mentioned and Blaine Posi- tively Withdraws — McKinley Forbids the Use of His Name — Sherman Leads Through Six Ballots — (leneral Alger, of Mi(*hi- gan, a Strong Possibility — The Nomination Finally Goes to Harrison — The Text of the IMatform — The Democrats Renomin- ate Cleveland by Acclamation, With Thurman Second on the Ticket — A Quiet Campaign — The Murchison Incident — The Republicans Win.

As the time for the Republican Convention in 1888 approached a new set of candidates appeared in the field. Only two of the men who had been prominently before previous conventions were at all mentioned in connection with this, Blaine and Sherman. After President Cleveland issued his famous tariff message and the Mills Bill was introduced, Blaine, who was then in Paris, made a reply to th(* message in an interview which was furnished by the Associated Press to the leading jjapers in the country. It was received with great favor and created a strong demand for his nomination for the Presidency, as being the best man to meet the issue which was thus thrust upon the people. Mr. Blaine was at this time under medical treatment in Paris for the physical ailments which afterward ter- minated in his death, and was morbidly sensitive as to the condition of his health. He felt himself unable to endure the fatigues and excitements of anoth(M* campaign. Although he afterwards recovered sufficiently to enter again into the activities of public life, his inti- mate friends knew that at this time he had no anticipation of being able to do so. He wrote two letters from Paris, declining, in posi- tive terms, to have his name presented as a candidate. One of these, written May 17 to Whit(»law Reid, editor of the New York Tribune, was very emphatic in its withdrawal.

404 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Notwithstanding these expressions of his desire there was a strong sentiment, when delegates gathered for the Convention at Chicago, in favor of putting him forward, even against his consent. The temporary President of the Convention, John M. Thurston, of Nebraska, himself a strong personal friend of Blaine, sought, in his opening address, to clieck this. Having in mind the claim, vigorously maintained for years by General Butler, that part of the vote cast for Butler in New Y'ork (Mty was counted for Cleveland, thus defeat- ing the Republican candidates, Mr. Thurston said that he '*had hoped that 1888 would right the great wrong of 1884." He then paid a high tribute to the worth of General Logan: ^*The citizen soldier, the warrior statesman, the Black Eagle of Illinois, who had been summoned by the silent messenger to report to his old commander beyond the river.'' After referring further to General Logan's place on the ticket of 1884, he continued:

The other, that gallant leader, the chevjilier of American politics, the glory of Republicanism and the nightmare of Democracy, our Henry of Navfirre, is seeking in foreign travel the long needed relax- ation and rest from the wearisome burdens of public life and service With the sublime magnanimity of his incomparable greatness, he has denied us the infinite pleasure of supporting him in this Convention. Desiring above all things party harmony and success, he has stepped from the certain ladder of his own laudable ambition that some other man may climb to power. As his true friends we cannot, dare not commit the political crime of disobedience to his expressed will. We cannot place him at the head of the ticket, but we will make him commander-in-chief at the head of the forces in the field, where he will be invincible. And though James G. Blaine may not be our President, yet he remains our uncrowned king, wielding the baton of acknowledged leadershij), supreme in the cillegiance of his devoted followers. Honest and respected by all honest and loyal men, the greatest living American, and the worthy object of our undying love.

Mr. Thurston's reference to Blaine's refusal to allow himself to be nominated was received with cries of "No!" "No!" from all over the hall, but his declaration that the Convention dare not commit the offence of going contrary to Blaine's expressed wish was wildly applauded. His withdrawal of Blaine's name was, however, resented by many of the admirers of the man from Maine, who claimed that Thurston had no right to assume such authority, and they declared that they would work harder than ever for the man of their choice. Some votes were cast for him on each ballot, reaching 48 on the fifth which was taken on a Saturday. On Monday, two dispatches were n*ceived from Mr. Blaine, addressed to Delegates Boutelle and Man-

thp: tampaion of isss. 405

ley, of Maine. The first said: ^'Earnestly request all friends to respect my Paris letter/' The second read thus: **I think I have the right to ask my fric^nds to resjiect my wishes, and refrain from voting for me. Please make this and former dispatches public.'- This ended the talk about a break for Blaine as the final result of the num<»rous ballots, though fifteen enthusiasts voted for him on the seventh, which was taken after these dispatches had been read.

In his relation to the Presidency Mr. Hlaine has often been com- pared to Henry Clay. The comparison might be extended much further than to this single matter of their high ambitions. Both had brilliant careers in the House of Representative's, of which they were elected Speaker. Both served in the Senate. Both made reputations in diplomacy, (May as a Foreign Minister, and Blaine as Secretary of State. Both twice sought unsuccessfully, the Presidential nomina- tion at the opening of (ampaigns in which their parties were successful. Both obtained the nominations in years when their parties met defeat, ("lay, in 1S44, lost the election by a slender adverse majority in New York. Blaine, in 1884, lost the election by a still narrower margin in the same State. But they were unlike in this resi)ect, (May never had the oi>portunity to refuse the nomination in a campaign in which his i)arty was in the ascendancy, and if he had, would never have put away the long-coveted honor, as Blaine did in 1888.

The other candidate who had before this been a prominent candi- date for the Presidency was John Sherman. Mr. Sherman had served with distinction in the House, the Senate and the Cabinet. He was for- mally placed before the Conventions of 1880 and 1884, but the highest vote he n^ached at either of these gatherings was 120. In 1888 he started with 229, rose to 240 on the second, and for the first six ballots was ahead of every other candidate. But when the break came it did not go to him, and he failed to win. He appeared as Ohio's avowed choice. William McKinley, Jr., another resident of Ohio, received the votes of a few delegates from other states, and one of the stirring incidents of the Convention was a short speech from Mr. McKinley, in which he tried to take himi^elf out of the field. Evidently having in mind the asjiersions cast, in 1880, upon General Oarfield, who was sent to Chicago to help nominate Sherman and afterwards received the nomination himself, Mr. McKinley said:

I am here, as one of th(» chosen representatives of my State. I am here by a r<»solution of the Kejmblican party, without <me dissent-

406 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

ing voice, comuiandiug me to cast my vote for John Sherman, ami use every worthy endeavor for his nomination. 1 accepted the trust because my heart and judgment were in accord with the letter and spirit and purjiose of iliat resolution. It has pleased certain dele- gates to cast their voles tor me. I am not insensible to the honor they would do me, but in the presence of the duty resting upon me 1 cannot remain silent with honor. I cannot, consistently with th«* credit of the State, whose credentials 1 bear, and which has trusttnl me, I cannot with honorable tidelity to John Sherman, who trusted me in his cause with his confidence, 1 cannot with consistency with my own views of personal integrity, consent, or seem to consent, to permit my name to be used as a candidate before the Convention. I would not respect myself if I cciuld find it in my heart to do, to say, or permit to be done, that which would even be gnmnd for ;inyone to suspect that 1 wavered in my loyalty to Ohio, or my devotion to the chief of her choice, and the chief of mine. 1 do request, 1 demand, that no delegates, who would not cast reflection upon me, shall cast a ballot for me.

Notwithstanding this ap])eal, McKinley continued to receive a few- votes, his highest number being on the seventh ballot. This was emi- nently a vote-as-you-i)lease Convention.

Of the new candidates the one whose chances, at the outset, seemed the most promising, and in whom Michigan was most especi- ally interested, was (Jeneral Russell A. Alger. At the Republican State Convention, held in (irand Rapids, May 8th, the following dele- gates were chosen to the National Convention: At Large — Robert E. Frazer, John K. Roies, W. Q. At wood and Thomas B. Dunstau. By Districts— (1) Henry M. Duttield, (^harles Wright; (2) Thomas S. Applegate, Joseph T. Jacobs; (:5) I>. B. Ainger, William H. Withing- ton; (4) Theron F. (liddings, A. B. (V)pley; (5) William Alden Smith, George W. Webber; («) Charles F. Kimball, Otis Fuller; (7) A. R Avery, W. II. Acker; (8) F. (\ Stone, N. J. Brown; (9) Newcomb McGrath, E. B. Martin; (10) F. T. Carrington, D. C. Page; (11) H. O. Young, Thomas T. Bates.

The Convention also unanimously adoi)ted the following declara- tion: **The Republicans of Michigan, desiring only the success of the principles and candidates of the great party that saved the Union, and renewing their pledges of loyal fealty to both, but recognizing the great worth and strong availability of their generous and noble- hearted fellow citizen, that gallant soldier statesman and successful man of business, General Russell A. Alger, do hereby unanimouslv and earnestly recommend him as the man who should be chosen as the standard-bearer of the party in the great contest about to ensue.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1888.

407

and who, if so selected, will harmonize and unite the party every- where, and lead the Republican hosts to certain and triumphant victory." On the second ballot in the National Convention General Alger was next to Sherman in the number of votes received. At one time the indications, and some promises made by delegates from other states, led his supporters to believe that the final break would be to him, instead of to Harrison; in this they were disappointed, but the twenty-six Michigan delegates stood by him loyally to the end. After the nomination was made, the General sent the following dispatch: "Please convey to the delegates w^ho have so loyally supported my candidacy, my heartfelt thanks. No State or man will give the gal- lant gentleman who has won this fight, heartier support than Michigan and myself." The read- ing of this dispatch in the Convention was fol- lowed by the familiar cry, already heard three or four times at the gathering: **What's the matter with Alger?" "He's all right."

Two of the other men who received votes in this Convention, and both of whom after- wards became President, were regarded with interest by Michigan Republicans, by reason of the addresses they made at the annual banquet of the Michigan Club in the February preceding. On that occasion General Harrison responded to the toast, "Washington, the Republican," and Major McKinley to one on "Washington, the Ameri- can." Both addresses were received with great favor. General Harrison spoke with strong emphasis upon the duty of securing a free ballot and a fair count of the votes of every citizen. South, as well as North. As this subject was again beginning to come to the

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

408 HISTOKY OF THE RKriBLKWN PARTY.

front in Tong^ress, General Harrison's dean cut utterances on this occasion were v(m y reassuring to tlie Ki^puhlicans durinjj: the cani- pai^^n.

The proceedings of the Ninth National Republican Convention commenced in Chicajro, June V.K ISSS, with the readinjr of the call and the designation of .John M. Thurston, of Nebraska, as temiK>rary Chairman. The first day's session was occupied larji:ely with routine business, and with the discussion of the claims of contesting delega tions from Virginia. But the monotony of business was agreeably reliev(Hl by specnhes from (Jeneral John (\ Fremont, the first Repub- lican nominee for the Presidency, and from Frederick Douglass, the venerable colored orator.

On the second day Mauiice M. Kst(H», of California, was uam^Ml permanent Chairman, and sj)oke very brielly as lie assumed tlie duties of the position. The rest of the day was occupied with a discussion of the rules, and with contested delegate disjiutes. Only two essen tial changes were made in the rul<*s. One establish<»d those of the House of Representatives in Washington, as a guide to the order of jH'ocedure. The other provided that an Executive Committee, con- sisting of nine members, should b<» chosen by the National Commit- tee to conduct the affairs of the i»arty.

It was not until the third day that the order of resolutions was reached, and the following jdatform was then received:

The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their dele- gates in National Convention, pause on the threshold of their pro- ceedings to honor the memory of their first great leader, the immortal champion of liberty and the rights of the people — Abraham Lincoln; and to cover also with wreaths of imperishable remembrance and gratitude the lieroic names of our later leaders who have more recently been called away from our councils — Orant, Oarfield, Arthur. Logan, Conkling. ^lay their memories be faithfully cherished. We also recall with our grtn^tings, and with prayer for his re;overy, the name of one of our living hero(»s, whose memory will be treasured in the history both of Republicans and of the Republic — the name of that noble soldier and favorite child of victory, Philip H. Sheridan

In the spirit (»f those great lead(*rs, and of our own devotion to human liln^rty, and with that hostility to all forms of despotism and oppression which is tli(» fundam<»ntal idea of the Ri^publican i>arty we send fraternal <-ongratulation to our f(*llow-Americans of Brazil upon their great Act of Emanci|)ation, whirh comj)lete<l the abolition of slavery rhroughout the two American continents. We earnestly

THE TAMPA ION OF 18S8. 400

hope that we may soon eongratuhite our fenow-citizens of Irish birth upon the peaceful rtnovery of home rule for Irehmd.

We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the National Constitution and to the indissoluble union ol the States; to Xho autonomy reserved to the states under the ('onsiiiution; lo the personal rij^hts and liber- ties of citizens in all the states and territories in the Tnion, and especially to the suprtnie and sovereign right of every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or foreign born, white or black, to cast one frtM» ballot in public elections and to have that ballot duly counted. We hold the free and honest popular ballot and tlu* just and equal repre sentatlon of all the people to be the foundations of our republican (rovernment, and demand effective legislation to secure the integrity and purity of elections, which are the fountains of all public authority We charge that the ])resent Administration and the Democratic, majority in Congress owe their existence to tlie sujipression of the ballot by a criminal nullification of tin* Constitution and the Laws of the Ignited States.

We are uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of protection; we protest against its destru<tion as proposed by the President and his party. They serve the interests of Euroi>(»; we will support the interests of America. A\'<» accept the issue and conli dently appeal to the people for their judgment. The ]»rotectiv(» system must be maintained. Its abandonment has always been fol- lowed by general disaster to all interests, except those of the usurer and the sheriff. We d(»nounce the Mills bill as destructive to the general business, the labor and the farming interests of the country, and we heartily indorse the consistent and patriotic action of the Republican Representatives in Congress in o])i)osing its passage.

We condemn the proposition of the Democratic party to ])lace wool on the free list, and we insist that the duties thereon shall be adjusted and maintained so as to furnish full and adequate protec- tion to that industry.

The Republican party would efi*(Mt all needled reduction of the National revenue* by re])ealing the taxes u])on tobacco, which an* an annoyance and burden to agriculture, and the tax upon spirits used in the arts and for mechanical j)urposes, and by such revision of the tariff laws as will tend to check im])orts of such articles as are produced by our people, the production of which gives employment to our labor, and release from imjiort duties those articles of foreign production (except luxuries) the like of which cannot be produced at home. If there shall still remain a larger revenue than is recpiisite for the wants of the Uovernment, we favor th(» entire repeal of int(*r- nal taxes rather than i\w surrender of any jmrt of our protective system, at the joint behests of the whisky trusts and th(» ag(»nts of foreign manufacturers.

We declare our hostility to the introduction into this country of foreign contract labor and of Chinese* labor, alien to our civilization

410 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

and our Constitution, and we demand the rigid enforcement of the existing laws against it, and favor such immediate legislation as will exclude such labor from our shores.

We declare our opposition to all combinations of capital, organ- ized in trusts or otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens; and we recommend to Congress and the State Legislatures, in their respective jurisdictions, such legislation as will prevent the execution of all schemes to oppress the people by undue charges on their suppliers, or by unjust rates for the trans- portation of their products to market. We approve the legislation by Congress to prevent alike unjust burdens and unfair discrimina- tion between the States.

We reaffirm the policy of appropriating the public lands of the United States to be homesteads for American citizens and settlers, not aliens, which the Republican Party established in 1862, against the persistent opposition of the Democrats in Congress, and which has brought our great Western domain into such magnificent devel- opment. The restoration of unearned railroad land grants to the public domain for the use of actual settlers, which was begun under the administration of President Arthur, should be continued. We deny that the Democratic party has ever restored one acre to the people, but declare that by the joint action of the Republicans and Democrats about r)(),(MH),000 of aci*es of unearned lands originally granted for the construction of railroads have been restored to the public domain, in pursuance of the conditions inserted by the Republican party in the original grants. We charge the Democratic Administration with failure to execute the law^s secur- ing to settlers title to their houM^steads, and with using appropria- tions made for that ])uri)ose to harass innocent settlers with spies and prosecutions under the false jnetense of exposing frauds and vindicating the law.

The Government by Congress of the territories is based upon necessity only, to the end that they may become states in the T'^nion; therefore, whenever the conditions of population, material resources, l)ublic intelligence and morality are such as to insure a st«ible local Government th(»rein, the people of such territories should be per- mitted, as a right inherent in them, the right to form for themselves Constitutions and State Governnnrnts, and be admitted into the I'ni(m. Pending the preparation for Statehood, all officers thereof should be seU^cted from the bona fide residents and citizens of the Territory wherein they are to serve.

South Dakota should of right be immediately admitted as a Stat(» in the Union, under the Constitution framed and adopted by li(»r people, and we heartily indorse the action of the Republican Senate in twice passing bills for her admission. The refusal of the Democratic Hous(* of Re])resentatives, for partisan purposes, to favorablv consider these l)ills, is a willful violation of the sacred

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1S88. 411

American principle of local 8elf-j!:overument, and merits the condem nation of all just men. The pending bills in the Senate for Acts to enable the people of Washington, North Dakota and Montana Terri- tories to form Constitutions and establish State (lovernments should be passed without unnecessary delay. The Republican party i)ledges itself to do all in its power to facilitate the admission of the Terri- tories of New^ Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and Arizona to the enjoyment of self-government as States, such of them as are now qualified, as soon as possible, and the others as soon as they may become so.

The political power of the Mormon Church in the territories, as exercised in the past, is a menace to free institutions, a danger no longer to be sutTered. Therefore, we pledge the K*^]rahlican party to appropriate legislation asserting the sovereignty of the Nation in all territories where the same is questioned, and in furtherance of that end to place upon the statute books legislation stringent enough to divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power, and thus stamp out the attendant wickedness of polygamy.

The Republican party is in favor of the use of both gold and silver as money, and condemns the policy of the Democratic Admin- istration in its efforts to demonetize silver.

We demand the reduction of letter postage to one cent per ounce.

In a Republic like ours, where the citizen is the sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — the people — should possess intelligence. The free school is the promoter of that intelli- gence which is to preserve us a free Nation; therefore the State or Nation, or both combined, should support free institutions of learn- ing, sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the oppor- tunity of a good common school education.

We earnestly recommend that prompt action be taken by Con- gress in the enactment of such legislation as will best secure the rehabilitation of our American merchant marine, and we i)rotest against the passage by Congress of a free shij) bill, as calculated to work injustice to labor, by lessening the wages of those engaged in preparing materials as well as those directly emi)loyed in our ship- yards. We demand appropriations for the early rebuilding of our navy; for the construction of coast fortifications and modern ordnance and other approved modern means of defence for the protection of our defenceless harbors and cities; for the payment of just pensions to our soldiers; for the necessary works of national importance in the improvement of harbors and the channels of internal, coastwise and foreign commerce; for the encouragement of the shipping inter- ests of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Stat(»s, as well as for the pay- ment of the maturing public debt. This policy will give employment to our labor, activity to our various industries, increase the security of our country, promote trade, open new and diriMt markets for our

412 HISTORY OF THE REPI'BLICAN PARTY.

produce, and ilieapen the cost of transportation. We affirm this to be far better for our countrv than the Democratic policy of loaning the Government's money without interest to '*pet banks."

The conduct of foreijijn att'airs by the present Administration has been distinjjcuished by its inefliciency and its cowardice. Having with- drawn from the Senate all pending treaties effected by Republican Administrations for the removal of foreign burdens and restrictions upon our commerce, and for its extension into better markets, it has neither elTected nor i)roposed any others in their stead. Professing adherence to the Monroe doctrine, it has seen, with idle complacency, the extension of foreign influence in Central America, and of foreign trade everywhere among our neighbors. It has refused to charter, sanction, or encourage any American organization for constructing the Nicaragua Canal, a work of vital importance to the maintenance of the Monroe doctrine, and of our National influence in Central and South xVmerica; and necessary for the development of trade with our Pacific territory, with South America, and with the islands and further coasts of the Pacific Ocean.

We arraign the present Democratic Administration for its weak and unpatriotic treatment of the fisheries question, and its pusillani- mous surrender of the essential ju'ivileges to which our fishing vessels are entitled in Canadian ports under the treaty of 1818, the reciprocal maritime legislation of 18150 and the comity of nations, and which Canadian fishing vessels receive in the ports of the United States. We condemn the jiolicy of the present Administration and the Demo- cratic majority in Congress toward our fisheries as unfriendly and conspicuously unpatriotic, and as tending to destroy a valuable national industry and an indispensable resoune of defence against a foreign enemy. The name of American applies alike to all citizens of the Republic and imposes upon all alike the same obligations of obedience to the laws. At the same time that citizenship is and must be the panoply and safeguard of him who wears it, and protect him, whether high or low, rich or poor, in all his civil rights, it should and must afford him protection at home, and follow and protect him abroad in whatever land ]w may be on a lawful errand.

The men who abandoned the Republican party in 1884 and con- tinue to adhere to the Democratic ])arty have deserted not only the cause of honest governmxMit, of sound finance, of freedom, of purity of the ballot, but especially have deserted the cause of reform in the civil service. We will not fail to keep our pledges because they have broken theirs, or because their candidate has broken his. We there- fore repeat our declaration of 1884, to-wit: *The reform of the Civil SiM'vice auspiciously b(»gun under the Rej)ublican Administration should be com])leted by the further extension of the reform system already established by iaw to all the grades of the service to which it is applicable. The si)irit and purpose of the reform should be observed in all Executive appointments, and all laws at variance

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1888. 4i:i

with the object of existing reform legishition should be repealed, to the end that the dangers to free institutions which lurk in the power of oflieial patronage may be wisely and eflectually avoided/'

The gratitude of the nation to the defenders of the Union cannot be measured by law^s. The legislation of Congress should conform to the pledge made by a loyal people, and be so enlarged and extended as to provide against the possibility that any man who honorabl.v wore the FcMieral uniform should become the inmate of an almshouse, or dei)endent upon private charity. In the presence of an overflowing Treasury it would be a public scandal to do less for those whose valorous service preserved the (lovernment. We denounce the hostile spirit of President Cleveland in his numerous vetoes of measures for pension relief, and the action of the Democratic House of Represen tatives in refusing even a consideration of general pension legislation.

In support of the princijiles herewith enunciated, we invite the co-operation of patriotic men of all parties, and especially of all work- ingmen whose prosperity is seriously threatened by the free-trade policy of the present Administration. The first concern of all good government is the virtue and sobriety of the people and the purity of their homes. The Rei)ublican ])arty cordially sympathizes with all wise and well-directed efforts for the promotion of temperance and morality.

The platform was read by William McKinley, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, and was unanimously adopted. It was followed immediately by th(» presentation of candidates, of whcmi there was a larger number in the field, and for whom more nominating speeches and seconds were made than at any other Convention In the history of the party. The first speech naming a candidate was by Leonard Swett of Illinois, nominating Walter Q. (Jresham, of Indiana, who was supported by Cushman K. Davis, of Minnesota. John R. Lynch, of Mississij>pi, Mr. McCall, of Massachusetts, and John B. Rector, of Texas. Ex-Governor Porter, of Indiana, presented the name of the '^Soldier Statesman, General Benjamin Harrison," who was supported by Messrs. Terrell, of Texas, and (Jallinger, of New Hampshire. Sc^nator Allison's name was presented by Congress- man Hepburn, of Iowa, and was seconded by Benjamin A. Bosworth, of Rhode Island. Robert E. Frazer, of Detroit, in a speech of gn^it elocjuence and power, presented the name of (lener.al Russell A. Alger, who was heartily supported by Charles J. Noyes, of Massachusetts, Patri<k Egan, of Nebraska, M. M. Estec\, of California, and L. F. Eggers, of Arizona. Senator Hiscock, of New York, nominated Chauncey M. D(»pew, of the same state, who was su])i)<>rted by a Min nesota (irang(»r namcHl Hartley, (ieneral Hastings, of P(»nnsylvania,

414 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN' PARTY.

named John Sherman, of Ohio, who was supported by liovernor J. B. Foraker, of the same State, and by the distinguishtMi colored delegate, John M. Langston, of Virginia. Charles Emory Smith, of Philadel- phia, named Mayor Fitter, of the same City, and Senator Spooner, of Wisconsin, proposed Jeremiah Rusk, of the same State.

The balloting commenced on Friday, June 22, and continued till Monday, June 25. In all eight ballots were taken with the following result:

1 Benjamin Harrison, (Ind.).. 80

John Sherman (Ohio) 229

Russell A. Alger (Mich.) 84

Walter Q. Crresham (Ind.).. Ill William B. Allison ilowa).. 72 (Miauncey M. Depew (X. Y.) 1H>

Jeremiah Rusk (Wis.) 25

Wm. Walter Phelps (X. J.). . 25

John J. Ingalls (Kan.) 28

E. II. Filler (Penn.) 24

William McKinley (Ohio)... 2 James G. Blaine (Maine). . . . 35

Robert T. Lincoln (III.) 3

Scattering

2	3	4	5	6	7	8
91	94	217	213	231	278	544
249	244	235	224	244	231	118
IIG	122	135	142	137	120	100
108	123	98	87	91	91	59
75	88	88	99	73	76
!>0	91		...	. . .	. . .
20	k;	. . .		...	...
18	5
k;
:{	8	ii	14	12	16
:\:\	35	42	48	40	15
•)	2	1			2
	2 8:^0	2 825)	827	2 830	2
KM)	831	830
41(»	416	415	414	416	416	416

Whole number of votes.. 830 Necessary for choi<e 41(5

There was only one ballot for Vice President, and that gave 591 to Levi P. Morton, of Xew York; 119 to William Walter Phelps, of New Jersey; 103 to William O. Bradley, of Kentucky; 11 to Blanche K. Bruce, of Mississippi, and one for Walter F. Thomas, of Texas.

Encouraged by their success in 1884, and ready to make the issue in 1888, the Democrats, for the first time in a long i)eriod of years, called their Convention earlier than the Republican. It met in St. Louis, June 7. Its duties were somewhat perfunctory, for Cleveland's nomination was a foregone conclusion, and Cleveland had made the issue for the <ampaign. Before the Convention met. Democratic Con- ventions in every State in the Cnion had declared in his favor, and had indorsed his position on the tarilf. In the Convention he was laud<»d to tli(* skies by Stejihen M. White, of California, temporary President; Patrick A. Collins, of Massachusetts, Permanent Presi- dent; and by Daniel Dougherty, the '*Silver-Tongued Orator" of Phil- adelj»hia. The President was then renominated by acclamation. Only one ballot was taken for Vice President, resulting in the nomination

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1888.

415

of Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, by 607 votes, to 104 for Isaac P. Gray, of Indiana, and HI for John (\ Black, of Illinois. The platform renewed the party's old declarations in favor of the maintenance of the Union, extension of Civil Service reform, reduction of taxation and of the surplus, the admission of Washinjrton, Dakota, Montana and New Mexico as states, and expressed sympathy for the cause of home rule in Ireland. The following was the tariff plank:

"Our established domestic industries and enterprises should not and need not be endaufj^ered by the reduction and correction of the burdens of taxation. On the contrary, a fair and careful revision of our tax laws, with due allowance for the dif- ference between the wages of American and foreign labor, must pro- ni o t e and encourage every branch of such industries and enter- prises, by giving them assurance of an extend- ed market and steady, continuous operations In the interests of American labor, which should in no event be neglected, the revision of our tax laws, con- templated by the Dem- ocratic party, should promote the advantage of such labor by cheapening the cost of the necessaries of life in the home of every working man, and at the same time securing to him steady and remunerative employment. Tpon this question of tariff reform, so closely conterning every phase of our national life, and ujK)n every <]uestion involved in the problem of good government, the Democratic party submits its principles and professions to the intelligent suffrages of the American people."

In addition to the nominations of the two leading parties, there were two Union Labor tickets, both nominated at Cincinnati, May 16.

LEVI P. MORTON.

41(> HISTOKV OF THP: KEITBLK AX PAKTV.

The first iiaiiud Andrew J. Streator, of Illinois, for President and Charles E. Ciinninghani, of Arkansas, for Vice President. The second was Robert H. Cowdrey, of Illinois, for President, and W. H. T. Wakefield, of Kansas, for Vice. The Prohibition ists voted for Clinton U. Fisk, of New Jersey, for President, and John A. Hrooks, of Missouri, for Vice. The "American'' party nominated James l.anji^don Curtis, of New York, for President, and James R. (ireer. of Tennessee, for \'ice. Some other factions went tlirouj^h the formality of making nominations, but did not ^o throujjh the formality of votinj:: for them in sufficient numbers to be counted as anythinj^ but "s( atterinj^."

The campaign was much less spirited tlmn any which had pre- ceded it since the Kepublican party was establishiMi. There was trickery and bribery charjj:ed in Ohio and Indiana, but without attract ing wide attention. The only real sensation of the canipaig:n was occasioned by the ".Murchison letter," written in California, and addressed to Lord SackvilleAVest, British Minister at Washinjjton. The writer, calling*: himself Charles F. Murchison, a voter of Eufi:lish birth, and still considerinjjf England the motherland, asked the Minis ter's advice how to vote. It said:

Many Enjj^lish <*itizens have for yeais refrained from being natur- alized, as they thought no good could accrue from the act, but Mr. Cleveland's Administration has been so favorable and friendly toward England, so kind in not enforcing the Retaliatory Act passed by Con- gress, so sound on the Free Trade question, and so hostile to th<» dynamite schools of Ireland, that, by the hundreds — yes, by the thousands — they have become naturalized for the express purpose of helping to elect him over again, the one above all American politicians they considered their own and their country's best friend. . . If Cleveland was ]>ursuing a new ])olicy toward Canada, temporarily only, and for the sake of obtaining popularity and continuation of his office four years more, but intends to cease his i)olicy when his re-elec- tion in November is secured, and again favor England's interests, then 1 should have no further doubt, but go forward and vote for him. I know of no one better able to direct me, sir, and I most respectfully ask your advice in t\w matter. . . As you are the fountain head of knowledge* on th<» question, and know whether Mr. (Meveland's policy is temjiorary only, and whether he will, as soon as he secures another \vrm of four years in the Presidency, suspend it for one of friendshi]! and frcM' trad(», I a|)ply to you, privately and confidentially. for information which shall in turn b(* treated as entirely se<*ret. Such information would put me at r<»st myself, and if favorable to Mr. Cli^veland, would enable un\ on my own resj)onsibility, to assure

THP: (\\MPA1GN of ISSS. 4X7

many of my eouiilrymen that they would do England a service by voting for Cleveland, and against the Republican system of tariff.

It was alHrmed afterwards that there was no such person as Murchison, and that the letter was a Republican trap, set to secure campaign material. The British Minister very innocently fell into the trap, for he wrote in reply:

I am in receipt of your letter, and beg to say that I appreciate the difticulty in which you find yourself, in casting your vote. You are probably aware that any political party which openly favored the mother country at the present moment, would lose popularity, and that the party in power is fully aware of the fact. The party, how- ever, is, I believe, still desirous of maintaining friendly relations with Great Britain, and still desirous of settling all questions with Canada which have been, unfortunately, reopened since the retraction of the treaty by the Republican majority in the Senate, and by the Presi- dent's message to which you allude. All allowances must, therefore, be made for the j)olitical situation as regards the Presidential election thus created. It is, however, impossible to i)redict the course which President Cleveland may pursue in the matter of retaliation should he be re-elected; but there is every reason to believe that, while upholding the position he has taken, he will manifest a spirit of con- ciliation in dealing with the (|uestion involv(»d in his message.

In spite of the diplonmtic impropriety of Mr. West's action, Cleve- land was inclined to ignore the matter, until a member of the (Cabinet showed him a letter from a member of the Democratic National Com- mittee saying: ^*l)oes the President know that the Irish vote is slipping out of our hands through dii)lomatic shilly-shallying? S(»e Lamont at (mce. Something must be done at once." Then he acted. He asked for the recall of Minister West, and when this was refused, gave him his passports. The British Oovernment resented this, and sent no one to take Mr. West's place till the close of Cleveland's Administration.

In the election which followed the Democrats carried the Solid South, with Connecticut and New Jersey, giving Cleveland and Thur- nmn KJS Electoral votes, while Harrison and Morton had 283.

The popular vote for IMesident was as follows:

Harrison and Morton, Republican 5,441,989

Cleveland and Thurman, Democratic 5,538,464

Fisk and Brooks, Prohibition 250,299

Streator and Cunningham, I'nion Labor 147,045

Cowdrey and Wakefield, I'nion Labor 2,668

Curtis and (rreer, American 1,591

Scattering '. 6,053

418 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

The totals ^Wen on the popuhir vote vary some in different statis- tical publications. The above aggrepjate is computed from the highest vote given an Elector in each State. During Harrison's Administration Congress was divided politically as follows:

Fifty-first Congress. Senate — Republicans, 47; Democrats, .37. House — Republicans, 169; Democrats, 161.

Fifty-second Congress. Senate — Republicans, 47; Democrats, 39; Farmers' Alliance, 2. House — Republi<ans, XH: Democrats, 235; Alliance, 9.

In the Fifty-first Congress the Republican vote, giv€»n above, was afterwards increased as the result of decisions on contested election cases.

The vote of Michigan for President was as follows:

Harrison and Morton 236,387

Cleveland and Thurman 213,469

Fisk and Rrooks 20,945

Streator and Cunningham 4,555

The Presideniial Electors chosen were as follows: At T^rge — Russell A. Alger, Isaac Cappon. Ry Districts — (1) Edward Burk; (2) Junius E. Real; (3) Richmond Kingman; (4) Joseph W. French; (5) Don J. Leathers; (6) James M. Turner; (7) John S. Thomson; (8) Elliott F. Cirabill; (9) Wellington W. Cummer; (10) Henry P. Merrill; (11) Perry Hannah.

The vote for (fovernor, at the same election was as follows:

Cyrus G. Luce, Republican 233,595

Wellington R. Burt, Democratic 216,450

Amherst B. Cheney, IM-ohibition 20,342

Wildman Mills, Union Labor 4,388

Imperfect and Scattering 17

The Congressional delegation was all Republican except the members from the First and Seventh Districts and was as follows in the order of the Districts: (1) J. Logan Chi]mian; (2) Edward P. Allen; (3) James O'Donnell: (4) Julius C. Burrows; (5) Charles E Belknap; (6) Mark S. Brewer; (7) Justin R. Whiting; (8) Aaron T. Bliss: (9) Byron ^f. Cutclu»on; (10) Frank W. Wheeler; (ID Samuel M. Steph- enson.

XXXII. PRESIDENT HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION.

A (/lose House in Congress — Prospect of Little legislation — The Device of Speaker Reed — A Small Majority Made Effective — Obstructive Tactics Baffled— The Silver Question Made Promi- nent— Passage of the Sherman Silver Act — The Republicans Not in I'ontrol on This Subject — The Bargain Under Which the Passage of the McKinley Tariff Act Became Possible — Effects of That Act on Trade— The Political Whirlwind of 181)0.

The Fifty-first Congress had not been long in session when it began to appear as if no important legislation could be accomplished on account of the closeness of the House. The Republicans had there a majority of only eight, and could not often have enough of those present to constitute a quorum. The Democrats, by refraining from voting, <ould generally break a quorum, and by dilatory motions could harass the Republicans. But the new Speaker, Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, was equal to the emergency. He was a man of strong will, ready wit, great resourcefulness, and utterly fearless. He facilitated business by refusing to entertain dilatory motions, and established the I>ractice of counting a (juorum, even when the roll call did not show one present. The Hous(» had power to compel the attendance of a member, but no jmwer to make him vote, after it had secured his attendance. Speaker Reed took the ground that if a member w«a8 visible on the floor of the House, he was present, whether he voted or not, and on a numlx^r of occasions ordert^d the Clerk, in order to make up a quorum, to record as present c(M*tain non- voting members whom he saw in the Hall. This ^^counting a quorum," as it was called, was bitterly denounced by the Democrats, who gave to the Speaker the title of "Czar Reed." Then they began to use various devices to escape being counted, hiding behind the seats, or making for the doors

On one occasion Rcquesentative Kilgore, of Texas, made himself famous by kicking down a door which he found locked at one of the exits. Mr. Reed was sustained in his course by the Republicans, as

420 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

well as by thaf broad oonuuon sense and sense of justice which requires that, in a parliamentary body, the majority shall, at least, have i\w means of bringing a measure to a vote. The Speaker, not wishing to depend upon his individual rulings, devised a system of rules to enable the majority, which was always held responsible for legislation, to exercise more control under the proceedings than was possible under the old rules. These rules, after a long contest, were adoi)ted by a party vote of Ifil to 144, with 28 members not voting Their main principles have been applied in the House ever since, even Speaker Crisp taking advantage of them in the next House, which had nearly a three-fourths Democratic majority.

With the new methods of facilitating business, this Congress transa(^ted more business that was of serious moment than almost any other Congress sinre the war. The first of the important meas- ures to pass, though not the first to be introduced, was the Coinage Act of July 14, 1800, commonly called the Sherman Silver Act. The Bland-Allison Act of 1S78 had not a<*complished the purpose designed, of getting silver into circulation in any large amount, nor of bringing it to par with gold. On the contrary the white metal had suffered a material decline in value. In 1S77, the average value of the silver contained in a standard dollar was .02058. In 1878, the year in which the Bland-Allison Bill passed, it was .80222. In 1880 it had fallen to .72o25. Not only did the comi)ulsory purchase of |2,000,000 worth of bullion a month not bring silver to par with gold, but the silver dollars themselves would not circulate to any great extent. The Govern- ment had ])urchased, under the Bland-Allison Act 12,136 tons of silver at a cost of 1308,100,262, and had coined out of this 378,166,793 standard silver dollars, at a mintage cost of |5,000,000. These dollars were legal tender for most purposes, and the Government, at one time took pains to get them into use l)y shipping them to remote points yet not more than one-eighth of them found their way into circula- tion. The Government might have saved the cost of minting by stor- ing the bullion, and issuing certificates against it.

Still the cry was for more silver, coupled with the demand for the free coinage of that metal. Fpon this subject the President said in his first annual message to Congress December 3, 1889: "The Act of February 28, 1878, re(]uiring the purchase by the Treasury of |2,000,. 000 of silver bullion each month, to be coined into silver dollars, has been obs<»rved by the l>(*partm(»nt, but neither the present Secrotarv, nor any of his predecessors, has deemed it safe to exercise the disore-

PRESIDENT HAKUISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 421

lion given by law to increase tlie monthly purchase to |4,000,000. He further said he thought it was elear that **if we should make the coin age of silver at the i)resent ratio free, we must expect that the differ- ence in the bullion value of the gold and silver dollars will be taken account of in commercial transactions;" in other words, that gold would disappear, and that business wouia be conducted on the basis of the bullion value of the depreciated silver dollar. However, he 'avored the use of silver in the currency, and approved a plan, sub- mitted by Secretary Windom, providing for the issue of notes against the deposits of American silver bullion at the market price of bullion on the day of deposit. These notes were to be redeenxed, either in gold or silver bullion, at its then nuirket value, at the option of the Government, or in silver dollars at the option of the holder. It would seem as if this measure was likely to produce a currency of fluctuating and uncertain value, but the exi)eriment contained in it was never tried. As a substitute for this, E. H. Conger, of Iowa, introduced a bill providing for the purchase of $4,500,000 worth of silver bullion a month, and the issue of Treasury notes against it; providing also for free coinage when the market price of silver reached fl.OO for '^7114 grains of the pure metal. This Bill passed the House but in the Senate a clause was inserted i)roviding for the free and unlimited coinage of silver. This was done, June 17, 1890, on motion of Senator Plumb, of Kansas, by an attlrmative vote of 29 Democrats and 14 Republicans, to a negative vote of 22 Republicans and 2 Demo- crats. The House, by a vote of 152 to 135, rejected the free coinage amendment, and the Bill went to a Committee of Conference. A com- promise measure was the result. It repealed the Bland-Alli- son Act, and directed the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase 4,5(K),000 ounces of silver each month, at the market price, and to issue in payment for it Treasury notes, these notes to be a legal tender for all debts, public and private, excei)t where other- wise provided in the contract, the notes to be redeemable in gold or silver coin, at ihe oj^tion of the Secretary. After the legal tender clause was one which read: **It being the established policy of the United States to nmintain the two metals on a ])arity with each other, upon the present legal ratio, or such ratio as may be provided by law\'' The A<t also provided for the actual coinage of 2,000,000 silver dollars a month uj) to July 1, 1891. After that date no dollars were to be coined, but tlu* bullion pui<hased was to be held in the form of fine* silver bars.

422 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

This Bill passed the Senate by a vote of 39 to 26, and the House by a vote of 122 to !U), the yeas in both Houses bein^ all Republican except one Independent, and the nays all Democratic. Under this Act 28,298,455 silver dollars were coined, and up to April 1, 1891, |89,602, 198 in Treasury notes had bet^n issued to pay for bullion deposited and of this sum |T7,605,000 was in circulation. November 1, 1891, the total of silver dollars coined, and in existence in the United States under all the Acts, was 1409,475,368, of which f347,339,907 was in the Treasury, and only |62,135,461 was in circulation.

The 54,000,000 ounces of silver bullion which, under this Act, the Treasuiy was required to purchase, represented just about the output of the mines in this country in 1890. It was thought that by furnishing so large a sure cash customer for the whole American product of the white metal, its nuirket price would very materially appreciate, perhaps come even to par with gold. This result did not follow, for though there was a temporary api)reciation, a rapid decline followed. In 1889, the year pre<eding the passage of the Sherman Act, the average value of a silver dollar, as compared \^ith gold, was .72325. In 1890, during about half of which that law wa« in operati(m, it was .80927. In 1891 it was .76416; the next year .67401, and in 1893, the year of the panic, and of the repeal of the Sherman Act, it was .60351. The year following that, 1894, it fell to .490t)7 and since then it has had some fluctuations, the lowest average being in 1898, when it was .45640.

Although the Republicans were in a numerical majority in both Houses of the Fifty-first Congress, and in the Senate of the Fifty- second, they could not control that majority on all questions. The admissii)n of North and South Dakota and Washington as States, in time to be represented in the Fifty-first Congress, and of Montana and Idaho in time for representation in the Fifty-second, seemed to give them control of the Senate for a long time to come. But it turned out that upon the silver question, the Senators from those States, as well as those from Colorado and Nevada, and Senator Plumb, of Kansas, were as much against the majority of the Reptib- Means as were the Democrats themselves. Whatever legislation was a<complished, therefore, was necessarily the result of compromise, if not of bargain. Of the passage of this Act, Senator Sherman says in his ^'Recollections of Forty Years:" 'The situation at that time was critical. A large majority of the Senate favored free silver, and it was fearcHl that the small majority in the other House might yield

PRESIDENT HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 423

and agree to it. The silence of the Tresident on the matter gave rise to an ai)prehenBion that, if a free coinage Bill should pass both Houses, he would not feel at liberty to veto it. Some action had to be taken to prevent a return to free silver coinage, and the measure evolved was the best attainable. I voted for it, but the day it became a law I was ready to repeal it, if repeal could be had without substi- tuting in its place absolute free coinage.^' In a speech in the Senate in 1896, Mr. Teller, of Colorado, one of the silver Senators in 1890, took issue with Mr. Sherman on the reason for passing the Bill. He said the real reason was that the free coinage men in the Senate would not permit any taritf bill to pass without some concession to silver.

Tariff revision shared with the Silver question the greatest amount of public attention during President Harrison's Administra- tion. The Republicans, in their National platform, were pledged to this, and the interests of the country demanded it. The war tariff had produced a larger income than the country needed. The Act of 1883 did not greatly help in that respect, and besides that, was unequal in the operation of its protective features. The AVays and Means Committee of the House undertook the preparation of a measure which should at the same time reduce the revenue, and afford increased protection to American industries. Fortunately it had for Chairman a man who was singularly well equipped for the work of preparing such a measure. William McKinley, of Ohio, had been thirteen years on the Ways and Means Committee and had made a special study of the subject. He made his first tariff speech in 1878, when the Wood Bill was under discussion, and it was regarded as one of the best speeches delivered on that measure. When the Bill which resulted in the Act of 1883 was before the House, his part in securing its passage was so conspicuous that J. W. D. Kelley, the veteran protectionist of that body, said that McKinley had ''distanced all of his colleagues in mastering the details of the tariff." He resented the course taken by the promoters of the Mills Bill in 1888, in considering the measure in secret, without even permitting the minority of the Committee, which was to report it, to be present. When that Bill was printed and ready for inspection, he prepared, in a very short time, a masterly report against it. The Mills Bill was framed according to preconceived notions, not only without the benefit of such suggestions as the minority of the Ways and Means Commit- tee could have given, but without adequate information from the

424 HISTORY OF THE RP:rrBLI(\\X PARTY.

^vent mauufactnrinp: and conmieiH-ial interests that were involved. The majority of the Coniniittee even went so far as to rebuflf leading manufacturers of the country, who souji^ht information as to the con- tents of the Bill, and who desired to he heard in reference to its details.

The McKinley J^ill was framed after a far different method. All previous acts were carefully studied. Manufacturers, jobbers, shippers and importers were given attentive hearinjijs, their evidence making a valuable contribution to economic literature. After the most careful preparation, following consultation with a great variety of interests, the measure was sifted through a long debate in the House, in which the majority of the Committee which framed it were ready with the fullest explanations of details. Its preparation and consideration occupied almost the whole of the first session of the Fifty-first Congress. As it passed the House it contained no reci- procity feature. This was added in the Senate after a plan outlined by Secretary* Blaine, and was as follows:

With a view to secure reciprocal trade with countries producing the following articles, and for this purpose, on and after the 1st day of January, 1892, whenever and so often as the President shall be satisfied that the (rovernment of any country producing and export ing sugars, molasses, cotTee, tea and hides, raw and uncured, or any of such articles, imposes duties or other exactions upon the agricnl tural or other products of the Tnited States, which, in view of the free introduction of such sugar, molasses, coffee, tea and hides into the United States, he may deem to be reciprocally unequal and unrea sonable, he shall have the power, and it shall be his duty, to suspend, by proclamation to that etfect, the provisions of this Act relating to the free introduction of such sugar, molasses, cotTee, tea and hides, the production of such country, for such time as he shall deem just; and in such case, and during such susjjension, duties shall be levied, collected and paid upon sugar, molasses, cotfee, tea and hides, the product of, or exported from, such designated country as follows. The rates of duty in such cases are then given, being from seven-tenths cent to two cents a pound on sugar; four cents a gallon on molasses; ten cents a pound on tea, and one and one-half cents a pound on hides.

The Bill passed the House May 21, by a vote of 164 yeas, all Re- publicans, to 142 nays, consisting of 140 Democrats, 1 Republican and 1 Independent. The reciprocity clause was not added in the Senate till Septemb(»r \K when it received the vote of :\H Republicans, to 27 Democrats and 2 Republicans against it. The Bill, as thus amended, and with some other modifi<ations, passed the Senate l^v a strictly

PRESIHENT HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 425

partisan vote of 40 to 29. After refusal of the House to concur in the Senate amendments, the Hill went to a C'ommittee of Conference, which endorsed most of the Senate Amendments, and the House final- ly concurred, by a vote of 152 to 81. The Bill was signed by the President, October 1. 181M).

The Act increased duties on 115 articles, embracing farm products, manufactures not sutticiently protected, manufactures to be established, and luxuries. It decreased duties on 190 articles, includ ing some branches of manufacture already well established, or such as would not suffer from foreign competition. It left the duties unchanged on 249 articles. It enlarged the free list, so as to make it cover 55.75 per cent, of all imports, or 22.48 per cent, more than the previous tariff. It was effective in reducing the revenue. In 1890, the year before the Act passed, the receipts from customs were |229,- r>68,584. In 1891, during part of which year the law was in operation, they were |219,522,205, and in 1892, during the whole of which year it was in operation they were |177,452,964. A great reduction of revenue was made by putting sugar on the free list, and the price of that article of universal use was reduced. In 1890 the surplus of revenue over expenditure was |8(>,0(f0,000, and in 1892 it was only about 110,000,000. Resides thus reducing the revenue to the actual needs of the Government, the law gave a wonderful impetus to man- ufacturing in this country, while the treaties negotiated under the reciprocity clause enlarged old markets and opened new ones for American breadstuffs and provisions.

Legislation intended to secure the colored people of the South their right to vote, and to have their votes counted, was attempted, for the last time, in the Fifty-first Congress. The measure introduced for this purpose was called the "Force Rill,'' and its purpose was to extend and strengthen the Federal election laws of 1870, 1871 and 1872. It provided for Federal supervision of Federal elections, sup- ported, if need be, by the military. It was strongly favored by the President. It met with strong opposition from the Democrats, and the feeling aroused by it led to acts of violence in the South, and to thiH^ats of a Southern boycott on Northern merchandise. It passed the House by a vote of 155 to 149, the former all Republican except 1 Independent, and i\w latter all Democrats except 2. In the Senate Cameron, of Pennsylvania; Jones and Stewart, of Nevada; Teller and Wolcott, of Colorado, and Washburn, of Minnesota, com- bined with the Democrats to defeat it. On motion of Senator

426 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Wolcott it was, by a vote of 85 to 84, side-tracked, to make wav for the Apportionment Bill, and was not reached again that session. The next House was Democratic, as was also the next Administration, and in 1894 all the laws which this was designed to supplement were repealed. The South has, ever since, been allowed to go its own way in its treatment of Republican votes, whether white or black.

In the last days of its second session the Fifty-first Congress passed a Bill much more restrictive of immigration than any previ- ously adopted. It provided that the following persons besides Chinese should be excluded from admission to the United States:

All idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome disease, or a dan- gerous contagious disease, jiersons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpi- tude, polygamists, and also any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another, or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown, on special inquiry, that such person does not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes, or to the class of contract laborers, excluded by the Act of February 20, 1885; but this section shall not be held to exclude persons living in the X'nited States from sending for a relative or friend, who is not of the excluded classes, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe; provided, that nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to, or exclude persons con- victed of a political offense, notwithstanding said political offense may be designated as a felony, crime, infamous crime, or misdemeanor, involving moral turpitude by the law of the land whence he came, or by the court convicting.

The Act also added to the stringency of the law of 1885, making steamship companies responsible for the bringing in of the proscribed classes of immigrants, and forbidding them to solicit the immigra- tion of aliens, except by the ordinary advertising methods.

It is not easy to account for the political whirlwind that struck the middle of this period. Harrison's Administration had been clean, conservative and prudent. The McKinley Tariff A(*t was merely the carrying out of a policy which the voters had endorsed in advance in the elections of 1S88. If any evil effects were to come from it, they were not yet apparent, for it had hardly gone into effect. The country was prosperous and the outlook for busi- ness continued good. Vet the State and Congressional elec- tions in November, 181H), resulted in a complete overturn. From a

PRESIDENT HARRISON'S ADMJNISTRATON. 427

majority of fifteen, which the Republicans had in the last House after the contested election cases were settled, they were reduced to a number not much exceeding one-fourth the membership of that body. In fact there were hardly enough of them to make up respectable minorities on the committees. The following seventeen States did not send a single Republican Representative: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Mis souri, Montana, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Rhode Island, South Car- olina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Five States, having four or more members, sent only one Republican each; Connecticut, Ken- tucky, Minnesota, North Carolina and Wisconsin. In States having four or more members each, the Republicans had a majority of the members in only three; California, Maine and Pennsylvania.

Michigan fared as badly as the rest of the states. The vote on Governor was 18J^725 for Edwin B. Winans, Democrat, to 172,205 for James M. Turner, Republican; 28,681 for Azariah S. Partridge, Prohi- bition, and 13,198 for Eugene H. Relden, Industrial. The Democrats also elected their entire State ticket, and eight out of the eleven Con- gressmen, as follows: (1) J. Logan Chipman; (2) James S. Gorman; (5) Melbourne H. Ford; (G) Byron G. Stout; (7) Justin R. Whiting; (8) Henry M. Youmans; (9) Harrison H. Wheeler; (10) Thomas A. E. Weadock. The Republicans elected James O'Donnell in the Third District, Julius C. Burrows, in the Fourth, and Samuel M. Stephen son in the Eleventh. In April, 1891, Mr. Ford died, and Charles E. Belknap was elected to fill the vacancy.

With a House so strongly Democratic and Senate Republican, it could not be expected that any legislation of a partisan character would be enacted. An attempt was made to crowd a free coinage Bill through the House, but it met with an unexpected defeat. The Bill was introduced by Mr. Bland, of Missouri, and was pushed with the zeal that was common with him when advocating that measure. After some discussion of the Bill, on a motion for the previous ques- tion, enough Eastern Democrats united with the Republicans to make the vote stand 14S to 148. Speaker Crisp broke the tie in favor of the Bill, but it was finally beaten by dilatory motions.

One important and enduring Act which this Congress did pass, and that by a very mixed, non-partisan vote in both Houses, was the Geary Law afl'ecting Chinese immigration. This extended for ten years all former laws prohibiting and regulating Chinese immigra tion, i)rovided for the dej^ortation of all Chinamen not lawfully

428 HISTORY OF THP: REPT'BLICAN PARTY.

entitled to remain in the I'nited States, and required Chinese labor- ers, already in this country, to secure certificates of residence from Collectors of Internal Revenue, within a year, on jienalty of deporta- tion.

Two Executive Acts of this Administration were of interest. The Edmunds Law for punishing polygamy had been enforced with a good deal of rigor against the Mormons in I'tah, and under its provisions, in the course of two years, 12,000 persons were disfran- chised, though monogamous, as well as polygamous Mormons made common cause against the law, and Southern members of Congress opposed it as unconstitutional, impolitic and sectional. Test cases were made under the Law, and in 1890 the Supreme Court rendered two decisions sustaining its constitutionality. This was followed by a general promise to obey the law in the future, and a petition for amnesty for past offenses. January 4, ISOi^ President Harrison granted a full amnesty and pardon to all persons liable to the penal- ties of the Act "by reason of unlawful cohabitation under the color of polygamous or plural marriages, who had, since November 1, 1890, abstained from such unlawful cohabitation; but upon the express condition that they should, in the future, faithfully obey the laws of the United States hereinbefore named.-'

By a bloodless revolution in the Hawaiian Islands in January, 1898, the Queen, Liliuokalani, who wa« in ill-favor with nmny of her native subjects, as well as with the foreign residents, was deposed, a (^ommittee of Safety organized a new (Government, and concluded a treaty annexing the islands to the United States. The treaty pro- vided for the assumption by the United States of the Hawaiian debt, and for the payment of |20,000 a year to the dethroned Queen, and fl50,000 in a gross sum to Princess Kaiulani. The President sent the treaty to the Senate, with his approval, but that body had not acted upon it when its term and that of the Administration ended. President Cleveland withdrew the treaty, soon after his inaugura- tion, thus initiating the work, which occupied a large share of the time of his second Administration, of undoing the good which his predecessor had done.

XXXIll.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1892.

Hard Work for Minneapolis as the Place of Gathering for the Repub- lican Convention — A Stirrinjj: and Comprehensive Platform — Recognition of Woman's Aid in the Campaign — Harrison in the Lead for the Nomination — Rlaine's Name Presented at the Last — Three L'nwonted Demonstrations at the Convention — Harrison and Reid Nominated — The Democratic Convention and the Cam- paign— An Unexpectedly Sweeping Triumph for Cleveland and His Party.

The Exposition lield in Minneapolis in 188G brought about the erection of a large hall, ample for the needs of a National Convention, and some etfort was made to secure the Rejiublican gathering for 1888 in that hall. The City received but a small vote at that time, but was first in the field for the next Convention. It was represented before the National Ccmimittcn* by a capable and hustling committee of citizens, who had already flooded the country with literature showing the attractions of the City, and who urged the political advan- tages to the Northwest of holding the Convention tliere, and oiTered a guarantee fund of |50,00() to cover the expenses of the gathering. New York, Omaha, Cincinnati and San Francisco were actively in the field, and on the first two ballots in the National Committee there were a few scattering votes for other cities. Kut Minneapolis led from the start, and on the eighth ballot carried its point, having 29 votes to t\ for New York and LI for Cincinnati.

The Convention met on Tuesday, June 7, with Hon. J. Sloat Fas- sett, of New York, as temporary President. Mr. Fassett was one of the prominent young men of the day, who had gained a high repu- tation in the New York State Senate, and won the good will of the Convention by an earnest and enthusiastic sj^eech on the past and future of the i)arty, with eloquent refer(»nc(»s to a number of its lieroes, dead and living. The first day's session was very brief. Th(»

430 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

second day was occupied chiefly with the designation of the perma- nent officers, William McKinley, of Ohio, being permanent President, and with the consideration of the rules. Only two modifications were made in these, one adopting the rules of the House of Representa tives of the Fifty-first Congress and the second providing that it should be in order to lay on the table a proposed amendment to a pending measure, and that such motion, if adopted, should not carry with or prejudice such measure. The first rule was supported by the Committee, by reference to the efficiency of the Reed rules in enabling a small majority in Congress, to carry through important legislation.

Arguments and votes over contested seats in the Convention occupied the whole of the third day until late in the evening, when the following platform was reported and adopted:

The representatives of the Republicans of the United States assembled in general Convention on the shores of the Mississippi River, the everlasting bond of an indestructible Republic, whose most glorious chapter of history is the record of the Republican party, <'ongratulate their countrymen on the majestic march of the Xation under the banners inscribed with the principles of our platform of 1888, vindicated by victory at the polls and prosperity in our fields, workshops and mines, and make the following declaration of prin- ciples :

We reaffirm the American doctrine of protection. We call atten- tion to its growth abroad. We maintain that the prosperous condi- tion of our country is largely due to the wise revenue legislation of the last ReiMiblican Congress. We believe that all articles which cannot be produced in the United States, except luxuries, should be admitted free of duty, and that on all imports coming into competi- tion with the products of American labor there should be levied duties equal to the diffen^nce between wages abroad and at home.

Wo assert that prices of manufactured articles of general con- sumption have been reduced under the operations of the Tariff Act of 1890.

We denounce the efforts of the Democratic majority of the House of Repre8entati^es to destroy our tariff laws by piecemeal, as mani fested by their attacks upon wool, lead and lead ores, the chief pro- ducts of a number of States, and we ask the peoj»le for their judgment thereon.

We point to the suicess of the Kejiublican policy of reciprocity, under wliirh our export trade has vastly increased, and new and enlarged mark(*ts have been opencnl for the products of our farms and workshops. We remind the people of the bitter opposition of the

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1892. 431

Deniorratic party to this practical business uieasure, and claim that, executed by a Republican Administration, our present laws will eventually give us control of the trade of the world.

The American people, from tradition and interest, favor bimetal- lism, and the Republican party demands the use of both gold and silver as standard money, with such restrictions and under such pro- visions, to be determined by legislation, as will secure the nminte- nance of the parity of values of the two metals, so that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether of silver, gold or paper, shall be at all times equal. The interests of the jn'oducers of the country, its farmers and its workingmen, demand that every dollar, paper or coin, issued by the Government shall be as good as any other. We commend the wise and patriotic steps already taken by our Government to secure an international conference to adopt such measures as will insure a parity of value between gold and silver for use as money throughout the world.

We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot in all public elections, and that such ballot shall be counted and returned as cast; that such laws shall be enacted and enforced as will secure to every citizen, be he rich or poor, native or foreign-born, white or black, this sovereign right guaranteed by the Constitution. The free and popular honest ballot, the just and equal representation of all the people, as well as their just and equal protection under the laws, are the foundation of our Republican institutions, and the party will never relax its efforts until the integrity of the ballot and the purity of elections shall be fully guaranteed and protected in every State.

We denounce the continued inhuman outrages perpetrated upon American citizens for political reasons in certain Southern States of the Union.

We favor the extension of our foreign commerce, the restoration of our mercantile marine by home-built ships, and the creation of a navy for the protection of our National interests and the honor of our flag; the maintenance of the most friendly relations with all foreign powers; entangling alliances with none, and the protection of the rights of our fishermen.

We reaffirm our approval of the Monroe doctrine and believe in the achievement of the manifest destiny of the Republic in its broadest sense.

We favor the enactment of more stringent laws and regulations for the restriction of criminal, pauper and contract immigration.

We favor eflficient legislation by Congress to protect the life and limbs of employes of transportation companies engaged in carrying on interstate commerces and recommend legislation by the respective states that will protect employes engaged in state commerce, in mining and manufacturing.

432 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

The Republi<an party has always been the champion of the oppressed, and recognizes the dignity of manhood, irrespective of faith, color, or nationality. It sympathizes with the cause of home rule in Ireland, and protests against the persecution of the Jews in Russia.

The ultimate reliance of free popular government is the intelli- gence of the people and the maintenance of freedom among all men. We therefore declare anew our devotion to liberty of thought and conscienc e, of spee<h and press, and approve all agencies and instru- mentalities which contribute to the education of the children of the land; but while insisting upon the fullest measure of religious liberty, we are opposed to any union of Church and State.

We aftirm our opposition, declared in the Republican platform of 188S. to all combinations of capital organized in trusts or otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens. We heartily indorse the action already taken upon this subject, and ask for such further legislation as may be required to remedy any defects in existing laws and render their enforcement more complete and effective.

We ai>prove the policy of extending to towns, villages and rural communities the advantages of the fre<»-delivery service now enjoyed by the larger cities of the country, and reaffirm the declaration con- tained in the Republican i)latform of 1888, pledging the reduction of letter postage to one cent at the earliest possible moment consistent with the maintenance of the Post Oflice Department and the highest class of postal service.

We commend th(» spirit and evidence of reform in the Civil Ser- vice, and the wise and consistent enforcement by the Republican party of the laws regulating the same.

The construction of the Nicaragua Canal is of the highest impor tance to the American people as a measure of defense and to build up and maintain American commerc(\ and it should be controlled by the X'nited States (xovernment.

We favor the admission of the remaining territories at the earliest possible date, having due regard to the interests of the people of the territories and of the X'nited States.

All th(^ Federal officers appointed for the territories should be selected from bona fide residents thereof, and the right of self-govern ment should be accorded as far as practicable.

We favor cession, subje<t to the homestead laws, of the arid jMiblic lands to the states and territories in which they lie, under such Congressional restrictions as to disposition, reclanmtion, and occu- pancy by settlers as will secure the maximum bentits to the people.

The World's Columbian Exposition is a great national undertak- ing, and Cotigress should promptly enact such reasonable legislation in aid then^of as will insure a discharging of the expense and obliga-

434 IllSTOKY OF THE KEPUBLICAN PARTY.

Up to within a few days of tlie Convention Harrison's name wa8 the only one seriously mentioned in connection with the nomination. Then opponents of Harrison succeeded in fanning into a new flame the dying fires of Blaine's old ambition. He had exerted a strong influence, both on the Administration and on Congressional action, and was supposed to be well satisfied with his position as Secretary of State. But four days before the Convention, he resigned that office, and permitted his friends to i^resent his name. William McKinley was also brought forward without his consent, and at the last against his protest.

The leaders of the Blaine forces at Minneapolis were Thomas C. Piatt, of New York; Joseph H. Manley, of Maine; Senator Quay, of Pennsylvania, and J. S. Clarkson, of Iowa. Of their first test of strength, which occurred on the fourth day of the Convention, a cor- respondent wrote at the time:

When they went into the Convention last evening they were reduced to the necessity of making a demonstration. They had been thrown into a panic, which they could not disguise, by the bold expedient of the Harrison managers in calling their delegates to make a display at midday. The caucus proved, as it was intended to do. the determination of the issue, and when the 403 men got together, Harrison's nominati(m was ]>ractically assured. It did not suit the purposes of the opposition to recognize this. They undertook to recover some of their lost ])restige by forcing an issue on the report of the Committee on Cred<»ntials. and fought d(»sperately from S o'clock until nearly 1:80 tjiis morning to get something out of it. When the first test was won by the Harrison men by 403 votes, exactly the number that had been counted at the Market Hall mean- ing, it was noticed that a majority of the (Convention was elbow to elbow under the leadership of Depew on the floor. Exact figures had a striking and impressive etTect, in showing that the organization of the Harrison forces was altogether complete, and could not be broken, even on a side issue. The next ballot, taken on the majority report of the Credentials Committee, gave the Harrison peo])le thirteen additional votes. Jt left the opposition in a state of depression.

Only two names were formally presented to the Convention. Senator AA'olcott, of Colorado, whose hostility to President Harrison was probably deeper than his affection for any particular opposing candidate, nuide the o])ening speech for Blaine, bringing in a number of terse, incisive sentences, which called out tremendous applause. Blaine's nomination was sujiported by William H. Eustis, of Minne sota; ^^ . E. Mollisson. of Mississippi; Senator Warner Mijler, of New

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1892. 435

York; G. L. Boyd, of Tennessee; and Stephen W. Downey, of Wyoming. The venerable Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, pro- posed the renoniination of President Harrison, and was supported by Chauncey M. DepeAv, of New York; H. P. Cheatham, of North Car- olina; Senator Spooner and P.rnnno E. Fink, of Wisconsin. Mr. Depew made the most taking speech of the occasion. The speaking generally was of a high order, and although the result of the ballot was a fore- gone conclusion, the adherents of the two candidates vied with each other in the length and volume of their applause.

There were three unwont(Kl and sensational scenes during this order of business, two of them caused by women, who seemed to take literally and immediately the decision that they were to be recognized in the campaign. At the conclusion of Mr. Eustis' speech occurred a scene, which was thus described by George O. Seilhamer, of the New York Herald Bureau:

While the cheers were rapidly dying out, a pretty woman, with a sweet, girlish face and blue, sparkling eyes, rose suddenly among the mass of men and women behind the Chairman's desk. She was Mrs. Carson Lake, of Washington. In full view of the vast multitude she waved a silken umbrella round her shapely head and cried "Blainel Bhiinel James G. Blaine!'' Then she grasped her sun umbrella, pure white, with a white silk cord and tassel, opened it, and swung it round her head and danced it up and down, sometimes grasping it with one hand and sometimes with both. "Blaine I Blaine I'' she cried again, and thousands of jieople in the galleries, and Blaine people among the delegates rose in' a mass and shouted. Mrs. J. S. (^larkson, who sat beside her, caught her enthusiasm, too, and springing to her f(*et, waved a silken flag, and even Mrs. Kerens, whose husband was a stanch Harrison man, added her mite to the tribute to Blaine. It ran wildly, outburst aftiT outburst. Big "Tom" Reed, who sat just in front of Mrs. Kerens, took u]) the movement. His face melted into a broad grin, and he stood and shouted in honor of his old-time enemy. All over the hall the delegates were crying: "Blaine! Blaine! James G. Blaine!" Delegates opened their umbrellas and waved them aloft. Judge Thurston, of Nebraska, waved a big white umbrella with Bhiine's name in big black letters. An Illinois delegate, standing on his chair, fan in hand, led the chorus of: "Blaine! Blaine!" on the floor like the leader of a chorus in a comic opera. Then the band brought u]) the rear of the procession with a melody, and just as the crowd in the galleries and on the floor started the stamping again. Chairman McKinley began to ])ound the table with his gavel. His call brought most of the delegates to order for a minute, bur the confusion in the galleries continued. Again the Chairman pounded the table, and again his signal mingled with the

436

HISTORY OF THE KEPUJILICAN PARTY.

echoes. After thirty-one minutes of pandemonium, Governor McKin- ley's voice was at hist heard, requesting that as a matter of safety, suggested by those having a knowledge of the building, the stamping of feet be discontinued.

Hut there were Harrison ladies, as well as Blaine ladies in the Convention. As Chauncey M. I)e[)ew closed his ringing and eloquent second of Harrison's nomination there was great cheering and shout- ing, and the waving of flags and banners. Then four ladies, with Mrs. Depew as leader, rose on the platform, waving handkerchiefs, fans

and flags, and calling to t he crowd : "Louder, louder, louder." Then with increased volume of sound the immense assemblage shouted "HaiTison," "Harrison," some one cried out '*Glory, glory, hallelu- jah," and then came the song, with that chorus from thousands of voices. Just then a group of men appeared with an immense por- trait of the President, and the shouting was renewed with greater force than ever. Then a delegate rushed down an aisle with the silken banner of the Chicago Blaine Club, having on it a portrait of the man from Maine, and placed it in front of the Harrison portrait. Then opposing forces shouted: **J^laine" and ''Harrison,'' until they were hoarse, while the band struck up the '*8tar Spangled Banner.''

When the State of Ohio was reached on the ballot for President, another scene occurred. Some of the President's opponents thought they might start a stampede for McKinley at the expense of Harrison, and also throw to (he Ohio man as mu<h as possible of the Blaine vote. They began with Alabama, which was expected to give Harrison i*s

CHAl'NCEY M. DEPEW.

THE (\\MPAIGN OF 1892. 437

full 22 votes, but which actuallydid give hiuionly 15, to 7 for McKinley. When Ohio was reached Harrison had 382 votes, of which 27 were from New York, Blaine had 138, including? 35 from the Empire State, and McKinley 7(>, of which 10 were from the same divided common- wealth. When Ohio was called, the vote was announced by Mr. Nash as 44 for McKinley, and 2 for Harrison. "I challenge the vote of Ohio," said Mr. McKinley, from his position as permanent President of the Convention. "The gentleman is not a member of this dele- gation at present,'' said Governor Foraker, Chairman of the delegation. *'I am a member of that delegation,-' retorted McKinley. To this Jacob A. Ambler, of Ohio, replied: **The gentleman has left the delegation to assume a higher jiosition, and has left a substitute;" and (lovernor Foraker added: **The gentleman's alternate has taken his place in the delegation, and the gentleman is not recognized as a member of the delegation now, and we make that point of order." The chair overruled the point of order, and the roll of Ohio was called, with the result of 45 votes for McKinley and 1 for Harrison. It was hoped that the whole vote of Pennsylvania could be carried over to McKinley, and he did get 42 of its 64 votes, but 19 of the delegates from that State stood by Harrison, and the stampede was checked. The vote of Texas, 22 for Harrison to 6 for Blaine and 2 for Speaker Keed, gave the President enough to nominate, and after that it went his way.

The proceedings for the three hours preceding the announcement of the ballot had been much livelier than in many conventions which were closer, and which furnished much more real occasion for excite- ment. The McKinley episode, while the roll was being called, was characteristic of the num. It is quite certain that, even then, he had Presidential aspirations, but he was clear-headed enough to see that crowding them then might injure his future prospects. He was content to abide his time.

The footings of the ballot were announced as follows:

Henjamin Harrison, of Indiana 535

James (J. Blaine, of Maine 182

William McKinley, of Ohio 182

Thomas B. Heed, of Maine 4

Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois 1

Total number of vot(*s 904

Necessarv to a choice 453

438 HI8TORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

The Miehif^an delegation was as follows: At Large — Dexter M. Ferry, Charles W. Wells, Delos A. Blodgett and James M. Wilkin- son. By Districts— (1) Henry M. Duffield, William H. Elliott; (2) William H. Withington, William S. Willcox; (3) Charles Austin, Charles L. Truesdell; (4) Fred E. Lee, George W. Merriam; (5) James H. Kidd, L. M. Sellers; (6} Marshall E. Rumsey, Salmon S. Matthews: (7) John W. Porter, George W. Jenks; (8) Aaron T. Bliss, William M. Kilpatriok; (9) Charles H. Hackley, Fred A. Diggins; (10) Selwyn Eddy, Robert J. Kelley; (11) George P. Stone, Thomas T. Bates; (12) Orrin W. Robinson, John Q. Adams. The delegation voted 7 for Harrison, 2 for Blaine and 19 for MeKinley.

Only two names were presented for N'ice-President, Whitelaw Reid, of New York, and Thomas B. Reed, of Maine. General Little- field, of the latter State, informed the Convention that, in the opinion of the Maine delegation. Speaker Reed would decline the nomination if it were tendered him, and requested the delegates not to vote for Thomas B. Reed until they were assured that it was by his authority that his name was used in the Convention. His name was, therefore, withdrawn and Whitelaw Reid was nominated by acclamation.

The Democratic National Convention met in Chicago, June 21. The permanent President of the Convention was William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, who afterwards tried his own hand at tariflf tinker- ing with deplorable results. He said in his address on taking the chair: **The distinguished leader who presided over the Republican Convention boasted that he does not know what tariff reform is. Who ever said that he did? Let us hope, with that charity that endureth all things and believeth all things, that he is as ignorant SIS he vaunts himself to be. Unfortunately, the people are not so ignorant of the meaning of protection which is doled out to them in the Bill that bears his name. They see that meaning written large today in a prostrated agriculture*, in a shackled commerce, in stricken industries, in the compulsory idleness of labor, in law-made wealth, in the discontent of the workingm(*n, and the despair of the farmer."

This kind of sentiment was echoed in the ])latform, and was the main point of attack in the campaign. Of the tariff, the jilatform said: **We denounce Republican i)rotection as a fraud, a robbery of the great majority of the American people for the benefit of the few. We declare it to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic party that the Federal Government has no Constitutional power to impose and collect tariff duties, except for the purposes of revenue only, and

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1892. 439

we demand that the collection of such taxes shall be limited to the necessities of the Government when honestly and economically adnxinistered/' This was the boldest declaration of the tariff-for- revenue-only principle that the party had made in any of its plat- forms. The resolutions also declared against the principle of the Force Bill, reciprocity, trusts and combinations, contract immigra- tion, and sumptuary laws; and in favor of repealing the ten per cent, tax on the circulation of State Banks; the honest enforcement of all laws regulating the civil service; "a foreign policy consistent and vigorous," which made the committee laugh in their sleeves, when Ihey remembered the feebleness of Cleveland's Administration of foreign affairs; **just and liberal pensions for all disabled Union soldiers, their widows and dependents," which was a hard drive at Cleveland's pension vetoes; aid to the Nicaragua canal and the Colum- bian Exposition, and the admission of the remaining territories as states.

There was no real question of Cleveland's nomination for a third time, but there were other candidates in the field. Tammany Hail was opposed to him, and presented David Bennett Hill. The other candidates, either formally or informally before the Convention, were Horace M. Boies, of Iowa; Arthur l\ Gorman, of Maryland; John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, and Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois. It required only one ballot to give Cleveland the nomination by 617 1-3 votes, to 115 for Hill, 103 for Boies, 361/^ for Gorman, 16 2-3 for Stevenson, 14 for Carlisle, 2 for William R. Morrison, of Illinois; 2 for James E. Campbell, of Ohio, and one each for Robert E. Tattison, of Pennsyl- vania, William E. Russell, of Massachusetts, and William C. W'hitney, of New York. Although Cleveland's vote was so much in excess of that of any other single candidate, he had only a very little more than the two-thirds necessary to nominate. The total number of votes cast was 909 V^, requiring 007 to make a nomination. On the single ballot taken for Vice-President Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, had 402 votes; Isaac P. (iray, of Indiana, 343; Allen B. Morse, of Michigan, 80; John L. Mitchell, of Wisconsin, 45; Henry Watterson, of Kentucky, 20; Bourke Cochran, of New York, 5, and Lambert Tree and Horace M. Boies, one each. Mr. Stevenson was then nominated by acclamation.

The third party in this campaign took the name of the National People's Party, and at a Convention held at Omaha, July 2, nomin- ated James B. Weaver, of Iowa, for IMesident, and James G. Field, of

440 HISTORY OF THE REPIBLIOAN PARTY.

Virginia, for Vice-President. Its platft)rni covered a great variety of subjects, but its most distinctive features were the financial planks, wliicli demanded the fr(»e and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the ratio of IG to 1, and a speedy increase of the circulating medium to not less than f5() per capita. It also demanded a gradu- ated income tax, and the establishment of postal savings banks. While this party did not choose many Presidential Electors, it drew away enough Republican votes to give several states to the Demo- crats, and polled so large a popular vote that it was able, four years later, to dictate both candidate and platform to the Democratic party. The Prohibitionists, at Cincinnati, June 22, nominated John Bid- well of California, for President, and J. B. Cranfill, of Texas, for Vice- President. A Social Labor Convention, held in New York, August 28, 1892, nominated Simon Wing for President, and Charles H. Machett, for Vice President.

The campaign, on the part of the J(epublicans, was the most spiritless of any since the party was organized. On the part of the Democrats it was bold and aggressive. The McKinley Tariff Act, which had not yet had time to bring about its beneficial effects, was vigorously assailed at every point, as were also the Reciprocity Act, the Sherman Act, the large appropriations made by the Fifty-first Congress and nearly ever^-thing else the Republicans did in 1889 and 1890. The popular vote for Cleveland was only about 20,000 greater in 1892 than it was in 1888, but the Republicans lost so heavily to the People's Party, that the result to them was a disastrous defeat. In view of subsequent events, it might be said also that to the Demo- crats it was a disastrous victory, for their next Administration was unfortunate from the start.

Cleveland and Stevenson carried the Solid South, together with Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and West Virginia, and had one vote from Ohio, f\\o from Michigan, eight out of the nine from California and one out of three from North Dakota. His total Electoral vote was 277 to 145 for Harrison, and 22 for Weaver. Of the latter Oregon gave 1, Kansas 10, Nevada 3, Colorado 4, North Dakota 1 and Idaho 3. The popular vote was as follows:

Cleveland and Stevenson, Democratic 5,550,533

Harrison and Reid, Republi4an 5,175,577

Weaver and Field, People's l*arty 1,122,045

Bidweil and Cranfill, Prohibition 279,191

Wing and Machett, Socialist Labor 21,191

THE CAMPAIGN OF 181)2. 441

During the second Cleveland Administration the eoni])osition of (Congress was as follows:

Fifty-thjrd Congress.

Senate — Democrats, 44; Republicans, 40; Farmers' Alliance,

2; Populist, 1; Independent, 1. House — Democrats, 218; Republicans, VM); Third Party, 8.

Fifty-Fourth Congress.

Senate — Republicans, 42; Democrats, :M); Populists, 4: Silver,

1; Vacancy, 1. House — Republicans, 245; Democrats, 108; Populists, 6;

Silver, 1.

The vote in Michigan for President was:

Harrison and Reid 222,708

Cleveland and Stevenson 202,290

Bidwell and Cranfill 20,857

Weaver and Field 19,931

Scattering 925

The Presidential Electors from Michigan were: At Large — George H. Durand, Jay A. Hubbell. }U Districts— (1) Rufus W. Gillett; (2) Edwin R. Smith; (8) Otto Ihling; (4) Philip T. Colgrove; (5) Conrad G. Swenborg; (0) Henry H. Haigh: (7) Frank W. Hubbard; (8)FredSlocum; (9) Justus S. Stearns; (10) Worthy L. Churchill; (11) Julius T. Hannah; (12) John H. Comstock. Under a law passed by the Democratic Legislature of 1891, the Electors were chosen by dis tricts, the Democrats having five and the Republicans 9.

The vote of the State for Governor was <as follows:

John T. Rich, Republican 221,228

Allen B. Morse, Democratic 205,188

John W. Ewing, Populist 21,417

John Russell, Prohibitionist 20,777

The Democrats elected Congressmen in the First, Second, Seventh and Tenth districts and the Republicans in the rest. The list was as follows: (1) J. Logan Chipman; (2) James S. Gorman; (3) Julius C-. Burrows; (4) Henry F. Thomas; (5) (Charles E. Belknap; (0) David D. Aitkin; (7) Justin R. Whiting; (8) William S. Linton; (9) John W. Moon; (10) T. A. E. Weadock; (11) John Avery; (12) Samuel M. Stephenson. During the term J. Logan Chipman died and Levi T. Griffin, Democrat, succeeded him.

442 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

At the election midway of Cleveland's term, in 1894, Michigan's vote for Governor was:

John T. Rich, Republican 237,215

Spencer O. Fisher, Democrat 130,823

Alva W. Nichols, People's Party 30,012

Albert M. Todd, Prohibitionist 18,788

Imperfect and Scattering 150

The Congressmen elected at this time were all Republicans, as follows: (1) John B. Corliss; (2) George Spalding; (3) Julius C. Bur rows; (4) Henry F. Thomas; (5) William Alden Smith; (fi) David 1). Aitkin; (7) Horace G. Snover; (8) William S. Linton; (9) Roswell P. Bishop; (10) Rousseau O. Crump; (11) John Avery; (12) Samuel M. Stephenson.

XXXIV.

( LEVELANirS SECOND ADMINISTRATION.

The Selection of the Cabinet — Geograi)hical Considerations Disre- j^arded — The Democrats in Complete Power for the First Time Since 1861 — Delays in Action on the Sherman Law and th(? Tariff Question — The Special Session Called Late — Repeal of the Sherman Law^ Finally Accomplished — Unsatisfactory Work on the Tariff Measures — Becomes a Law Without the President's Signature — An Act of ^*Party Perfidy and Dishonor" — Tremend- ous Political Overturn in 181)4 — The Sandwich Island Affair.

In making up his second Cabinet, as in the first, President Cleve- land ignored geographical considerations, and selected two personal friends from New York. The list was as follows:

Secretary of State — A\'alter Q. Gresham, of Indiana. Secretary of the Treasury — John O. Carlisle, of Kentucky. Secretary of War — Daniel S. Lamont, of New York. Secretary of the Navy — Hilary S. Herbert, of Alabama. Postmaster-General — Wilson S. Hissell, of New York. Secretary of the Interior — Hoke Smith, of Georgia. Attorney General — Richard Olney, of Massachusetts. Secretary of Agriculture — J. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska.

After the 4th of March, 181)3, the Democrats, for the first time since January, 18(n, were in possession of all branches of Govern- ment. They had come into power largely upon the strength of two specific promises. The first was thus stated in their platform: "We denounce the M<Kinley Tariff Law, ena<*ted by the Fifty-first Con- gress, as the culminating atrocity of class legislation; we endorse the <*fforts made by the Democrats of the present Congress to modify its most oppressive features in the direction of free raw materials and cheaper manufactured goods that enter into general consumption, and we promise its repeal as one of the beneficent results that will follow the a<!tion of the people in intrusting power to the Democratic party." The se<'(md piece of legislation which the Democrats had

444 TIISTOKY OF THE KEPUBLirAN PARTY.

proDiised to do away with, as speedily as possible, was the Sherman Act for the i)iir(hase of silver bunion. This A<*t their platform clenoun<*ed as **a cowardly makeshift, frauj;ht with possibilities of danger in the future whi<h should make all of its supporters, as well as its author, anxious for its speedy repeal.''

If the evils brouglit about by these two measures w^ere as great as Mr. Cleveland, and those who stumped for him during the cam- paign, declared them to be, it was certainly the j)art of duty to wipe them ot! the statute books as soon as it <*ould be done. Everyone expected that Congress would be at once called together for this purpose. But a new danger had arisen. The Populist demand for the free coinage of silver, at the ratio of IG to 1, had taken a strong hold of the Democrats, and there was a small sprinkling of Republi- cans from the Northwest who joined in the same demand. The Presi- dent feared that he <<)uld not control liis own forces in the Senate, and delaytnl calling a special session of Congrc^ss, in order that the proper influences might be brought to bear upon those members wiio were not sound upon this question. Meantime the business of the country was in a disturbed condition. The continued purcliases of silver and the threat of its free coinage had begun to drive gold abroad. The probability of radical clianges in the tariff prevented manufacturers from making calculations for any long time in the future, and stagnation in that bran<h of industry, of paramount importance to the country was the result; while the threatened abro- gation of the reciprocity treaties bid fair to c urtail the foreign demand for our agricultural ])roducts. A panic followed, accompanied by a general want of confidence. Depositors made runs on the banks, some of which closed, and all of the banks found it necessary to call in their loans. Credits of all kinds shriveled; mills were shut down; laboring men were thrown out of work, and if not brought to actual distress, found their purchasing power very much diminished, and business failures increased enormously, both in numbers and in the amount of liabilities. Congress Anally assembled in special session, August 7th, and the Pi'esident attempted to prod it up to its work by tlie following utterances in his message:

Our unfortunate financial plight is not the result of untoward events, nor of conditions related to our natural resources; nor is it traceable to any of the attlicti<ms which frequently check National growth and prosperity. With plenteous crops, with abundant j)romise of remunerative i)roduction and manufacture, with unusual

( CLEVELAND'S SE("ONl) ADMINISTRATION. 445

invitation to safe investment, and with satisfactory assurance to business enterprise, suddenly financial distrust and fear have sprung uj) on every side. Numerous moneyed institutions have suspended because abundant assets were not immediately available to meet the demands of frij^htened depositors. Survivinji; corporations and indi- viduals are content to keep in hand the money they are usually anxious to loan, and those en^a^ed in legitimate business are sur prised to find that the securities they offer for loans, though hereto fore satisfactory, are no longer accepted. Values, supposed to be fixed, are fast bec(miing conjectural, and loss and failure have invaded every branch of business. I believe these things are principally chargeable to Congressional legislation touching the ])urchase and coinage of silver by the General Government. This legislation is embodied in a statute, passed July 14tli, 1890, whicli was the culmina- tion of much agitation on the subject involved, and it nmy be considered a truce, after a long struggle, between the advocates of free silver coinage and those* intending to be more conservative. Undoubtedly the monthly purchases by tlie Government of four mil- lions and five hundred tliousand ounces of silver, enforced under that statute, were regarded by those interested in silver production as a certain guaranty for its increase in prices The result, however, has been entirely different, for immediately following a spasmodic and slight rise, the price of silver began to fall after the passage of the Act, and has since reached the lowest point ever known. This dis- appointing result has led to renewed and persistent effort in the direction of free silver coinage. It was my purpose to summon Con- gress in si)ecial session early in the coming September, that we might enter ]»ron]ptly upon the work of tariff reform, which the true interests of the country clearly demand; whi<'h so large a majority of the people, as shown by their suffrage desire and expect, and to the accomplishment of which every effort of the present Administra tion is pledged. But while taritf reform has lost nothing of its immediate and paramount importan<*e, and must, in the near futui*e, engage the attention of Congress, it has seemed to me that the finan cial condition of the country should at once, and before all other subjects, be considered by your honorable body.

Instead of taking immediate action in a line to which the Demo- crats were pledged, and in which a very large proportion of the Republicans were ready to concur, the majority in the House delib- erately planned for a long dis<ussion of a Hill which was introduced repealing the Sherman Act. A resolution, introduced by Mr. Bland, was adopted, providing that fourteen days should be allowed for debate under the following order:

Eleven days to be given to general debate under the rules of the last House, the time to be equally divided between

44() HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLICAX PARTY.

the two sides, as the Speaker may determine. The last three days may be devoted to the consideration of the Bill and the amendments herein provided for nnder the usual five- minute rule of the whole House. General leave to print is hereby g:ranted. Order of amendments. The vote shall be taken first on the free coinaj^e of silver at the present ratio. If that fails, then a separate vote to be had on a similar amendment proposing a ratio of 17 to 1 ; if that fails, on one proposing a ratio of 18 to 1; if that fails, on one proposing a ratio of 10 to 1; if that fails on one proposing a ratio of 20 to 1. If the above amend- ment fails, it shall be in order to offer an amendment reviving the Act of February 28, 1878, restoring the standard silver dollar, com- monly known as the Bland-Allison Act: the vote then to be taken on the engrossment and third reading of the Bill, as amended, or on the Bill itself, if all amendments shall have been voted down, and on the final passage of tlie Bill, without other intervening motion.

This elaborate program was carried out. And so, while busineRs men were in suspense, and the industries of the country were at a standstill, the solemn trifling of debate over propositions which every body knew were untenable went on. It was not until August 28, three weeks after the House met, that the bill for un<'onditional repeal l)assed, by vote of 239 to 109. The proposition to revive the Bland Law was defeated by Republican votes, the Democratic vote stand ing 112 for to 109 against. The Republican vote was 15 for to 110 against, and 9 Po])ulists voted for the proposition. The 239 votes by which unconditional repeal finally passed consisted of 138 Demo- crats and 101 Re])ublicans, the negative vote being 76 Democrats, 24 Republicans and 9 Populists. Thus, six months after the Democrats came into power, and three weeks after Congress met, the House passed, by the aid of Republicans, an Act to which the Democrats were j)ledged, and which ought not to have required more than three hours for its disposal. It was a striking illustration of the incapa- city of the latter day Democracy for assuming the responsibilities of Government.

But this was not the worst, for the Senate, a smaller body, which might be supposed to act more expeditiously than the House, took just two months over the matter. The Finance Committee of that body reported a substitute for the House Bill, and to this substitute no less than seven others were added by individual Senators. Mr. Pett'cM*, Poi)ulist, fr(mi Kansas, wanted to go back to the coinage Act of 1834, and if he cimldn't have that, then to the Act of 1^37. Mr. Berry, of Arkansas, wanted to revive the Bland-Allison Act of 1878.

CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 447

Senator Pasco, of Florida, wanted a coniniission to ascertain or estab- lish a proper ratio between gold and silver. There were other sub stitiites offered by Senators Perkins, of California; Allen, of Nebraska; Bla<kburn, of Kentucky; Scpiire, of Washington, and Stewart, of Nevada. They included propositions for additional Treasury notes, for silver coinage with a seigniorage of 20 per cent., and the coinage of the seigniorage. At last, on the 28th of October, the Senate passed a substitute for the House Bill, repealing the Sherman Law, andaddingadeclaration in favor of bimetallism through international agreement. The yeas on this were 28 Republicans and 20 Democrats, and the nays were 19 Demo<Tats, 9 Silver Republi cans and 9 Populists. The House agreed to the substitute by a vote of 194 yeas and 94 nays. The proposition for bimetallism through international agreement was a perfectly harmless one, but utterly futile. The experiment of an international conference was thoroughly tried by the Republican Administrations at earlier stages of the silver discussion, and had sliown that it was impossible for the European countries to agree upon the subject.

The long delay in repealing the Sherman Act neutralized any good effect that the repeal itself was designed to have; for the debates upon it, and the strong assertion of free coinage sentiment continued to keep business men in a state of alarm, and business itself in a condition of uncertainty.

The proposed revision of the tariff was another cause of disturb- ance and apprehension Ihat loomed up before business men. Since this revision was bound to come in some form, it would have been vastly better if this also had come promptly, but all consideration of it was deferred from the special to the regular session of Congress. During this delay the question of the free coinage of silver continued to come uj) in one form or another, while the condition of the Treas- ury was such as to occasion alarm. When the regular session of Congress met in December the Treasury reserve of gold for redemp- tion purposes had fallen below the |il 00,000,000 which had, for a long time, been considered the lowest limit of safety and there was a deficit of ^68,000,000 in the Treasury. Fur the first time since the days of Presidt^nt Buchanan the Ciovernment became a borrower of money to pay current expenses, in time of peace. The first loan of |50,000,- 000 was called for at about this time, and this was followed in the course of this Administration by four others of ecpial or larger amount, till the whole sum borrowed reached 1202,000,000.

448 IlISTOKY OF THE REPUBLICAN PAKTY.

As a temporary relief for the Treasury Mr. Bland, who was always rt^ady with some new silver seheiiie, proposed that the Treas- ury should coin the seif^niora^e silver in its vaults. This had a nominal value at the time of |55,000,000, and if coined into silver del lars would have added that amount to the Treasury holdings. This scheme was seized upon with avidity by the free coinaijje men as beinj^ a step in their direction, but was opposed by most of the Repub- licans and the ^sound money'' Democrats, as being a measure of sheer inflation, without any security behind it, as silver certificates had already been issued against this bullion. This Bill passed the House, March 1, 1894, by a vote of lf>8 to 121), and the Senate, March 7, by 44 to 'M. It was vetoed by the President, and fortunately there were not votes enough to carry it over the veto.

The most alarming thing about the Treasury at this time was the continual outflow of gold from the country and the reduction of the Treasury reserve of that metal. PVbruary 1, 185)4, the reserve was 165,488,877. A sale of f50,(K)(),0(IO in bonds was made to replen- ish it, but by June 10 it had again fallen to about f 65,000,000. November 24, 1894, it was |57,669,701 and February 1, 1895, it had fallen to f41,810,181. The Government was rapidly approaching bankruptcy, and its policy was one of floundering. The Treasury was depleted by a very simple ^*endless chain'' process. Bonds were sold for gold. The very parties who bought the bonds could then gather up greenbacks, present them for redemption and draw out the gold. The Treasury would i)ay out the greenbacks for current expenses, and they could be gathered up and redeemed over again. The process was well understood, but could not w^ell be checked, as long as the (lovernment receipts were less than its expenses, and greenbacks, once redeemed, were reissued. The Fifty-third Congress made no intelligent attempt to check it. That was left for a Repub- lican Congress under a Republican President to do.

The preparation of the new tariff* Bill was placed in the hands of a queerly constituted committee. William M. Springer, of Illinois, was Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the Fifty-second (^ongress, but Speaker Crisp had appointed in Springer's place at this time, William L. Wilson, of West V^irginia, a college professor, a scholarly theorist on the subject of Free Trade and Protection, but unfamiliar with the wants of business, even in his own section, to say nothing of those of the country at large. He took as his model for a revenue taritT that of 1846, which was begotten of false pretenses.

CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 449

and which worked great injury to the country. With him on the Committee were five members from the South, a section which had not yet attained any great prominence in manufacturing, and which had scarcely begun to appreciate the value of diversified industries. These members were McMillin, of Tennessee; Turner, of Georgia; Montgomery, of Kentu<-ky: Breckinridge, of Arkansas, and Tarsney, of Missouri. This Committee, with five Northern Democrats, sat down to frame a measure on a subject, upon the practical aspects of which most of the members were densely ignorant. The delibera- tions were carried on without the presence of the Republican mem- bers. In refusing, or ignoring suggestions from outside, the Com- mittee made tlie sanu* mistake, though in an exaggerated degree, that prevailed in preparing the Mills Bill. Great complaint was made that the business interests were denied a hearing, or that, when <me was granted, the facts and arguments presented went for naught.

The Bill was finally reported to the House, December 19, 1893. As soon as it was printed various incongruities were pointed out in it, the general and avowed plan of the Bill having been departed from in numerous instances, for the benefit of particular interests. Although the great industries of the country had been refused hear ings, the members of the Committee seem to liave got the ear of their associates, to the extent of helping themselves and their friends in cases where the tariff might be made a "local issue." The Bill made sweeping reductions from the rates fixed by the McKinley Act, made most classes of lumber free, and placed coal, animals and iron ore on the free list. It carried out the idea, long advocated by Presi- dent Cleveland, of putting wool on the free list, and reduced the duties on manufactured wool below the protective point. In the various changes that were subsequently made in the Bill, these two features rf»niained, and they inflicted a deadly blow to the wool growing and woolen manufacturing interests of this country. Mod- ifications of other schedules, particularly those relating to agricul- tural products, greatly enlarged the free list. The bill wiped out entirely the reciprocity feature of the McKinley Act, under which treaties very valuable to our export trade had been negotiated with Spain in behalf of her West Indian possessions and with several of the South American Republics.

An unexpected feature of the Bill was the revival of an income tax, the amount being two p<*r cent, on all incomes over |4,000. No tax of this kind had ever been levied before, excejit under the pres-

450 HISTOKV OF THE KErrHLKWN PAKTY.

sure of war necessity. Even then the popular elamor against it was very great. It was denouneed as an unreasonable and im|)ertinent prying into the private business of individuals. The publicity which was given to the lists of income tax-payers was especially distasteful, and the tax was removed soon after the war. The Democrats were especially vigorous in denouncing it at that time, and no Democratic platform had ever demanded its re-enactment. Yet now it was brought in, at a time of peace, and not long after the Democrats had be<*n declaiming in favor of some measure for "reducing the surplus." It was a confession that the \\'ilson tariff could not be depended upon to produce revenue enough to support the (lovernment. Yet its intro- duction was no accidc^nt. It was referred to in the President's mes- sage December 4, 181K*i, a fortnight before the Committee made its report. The message said: *'The Committee, after full consideration, and to provide against ii temjmrary deticien<-y which may exist before the business of the country adjusts itself to the new tariff schedules, have wisely embraced in their plan a few additional internal revenue taxes, including a small tax upon inccmies derived from certain cor- porate investments. These new assessments are not only absolutely just and easily borne, but they have the further merit of being such as can be remitted, without unfavorable business disturbance, whenev(»r the necessity of their imj>ositioii no longer exists." Proba- bly the real reason for the addition of this section was found in a desire to get Populist votes for the measure as a whole. The Popu- list Convention at Omaha in 1892 had demanded a ''graduated income tax," and the main grievance of that party was that, in their opinion, the rich were not bearing their share of the public burdens. The income tax was a method of ''getting even with the rich fellows."

When Mr. Wilson reported the Bill, he made a s|>eech, in which he set forth, with eloijuence and ingenuity, the merits of the measure, and urged, if he did not exactly predict, its s|HH»dy passage. But he soon found that he had run against, not only active ojjposition, but an inert obstruction that it was difficult to move. A good many of the Democrats, while conceding the ])arty obligation to make a revis- ion of the tariff in the direction of revenue as against protection, yet did not take kindly to this measure, because it affected injuriously interests in their own districts. The Republicans adopted the Demo- cratic tactics of the Fifty-tirst Congress, sometimes making dilatory motions, and sometimes refraining from voting so as to show ''no i|Uorum." At last the Democrats, with a clear majority of 80 in the

CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 451

House, were obliged to resort to the same method of "counting a quorum,-' that the Kepublieans had found necessary to use when they had a majority of only 8. No one was in greater glee over the situation than **Czar Reed,'- as he jibed his political opponents on their tardy wisdom in conceding the necessity and justice of the rules which he was mainly instrumental in establishing. In course of time all obstacles were overcome, and the Bill passed by a vote of 204 to 140. Of the yeas 104 were Democrats and 10 were Populists. Of the nays 125 were Republican, and 15 were Democrats.

When the mangled remains of Tariff Bill came from the Senate Finance Committee its foster father in the House would no longer recognize it, and objected to having it named after him; and during the remainder of the discussion it was called the Brice-Gorman Bill, instead of the Wilson Bill. It took the Finance Committee from February 1 to March 8, to make out its rejmrt, although it followed the example of the House in refusing hearings to interested parties. The Bill as thus reported was far from satisfactory, and so the Com- mittee took several weeks more at it, made all together about 400 amendments to it, and it finally came up for consideration May 8. It was then the object of bitter attack by nearly all the Republican speakers, and by a few Democrats. The greatest hostility was aroused by the income tax feature of the measure, which was attacked on the grounds that it had no legitimate place in a tariff reform Bill; that it was neither Democratic nor Republican in principle, and had never been approved by the j)eople, but was a doctrine of Populism ; that it was unnecessary as a revenue measure; that it was a direct tax and thert^fore unconstitutional; that it was unequal, unjust and sectional in its ojierations; that its exemptions stamped it as an offensive piece of class legislation; that it was inquisitorial and offen- sive; that it usurped a tield of taxation lawfully belonging to the states and would lead to conflict between Federal and State authori- ties. Senator Hill, of New York, was one of the Democrats who opposed this feature of the Bill, whi<h he called Populistic and not Democratic. He iM*])udiated the "spurious Democracy of these modern apostles and proj>h(»ts, who are part Mugwump, part Populist, and the least part Democratic, who seek to lead us astray after false gods, false theories and false* methods.'' The charge that this feature of the Bill was sectional in its character was very well sustained by the attitude of the Southern Senators toward it. They were aggres- sive in their sup]»ort of it, and used the argument that the rich men

452 lllSTOKV OF THE KEPrBLK AN PARTY.

of the North, particularly those in New York City, were not payinj? their share of the taxes. Tnder this kind of talk, and the pressure from the Administration, the income tax was finally retained as part of the Bill.

Then a great scandal arose over the measure. The direct charge was made that corrupt means had been used to mani])ulate the sugar schedule; that members of the Sugar Trust had secretly visit(*d members of the Senate Finance (Vmimittee, and had secured a moditicatitm of that schedule, by means of which they would reap great profits. These profits were to be realized by placing a duty on sugar, but making this part of the Act take effect January 1, 1895, so that the Trust could accumulate a large stock without duty, and then advance the price to the extent of the duty. It was also charged that the Secretary of the Treasury had personally dictated a change in the sugar schedule, in accordance with the wishes of the Trust, and that the Trust demanded and obtained this concession, in accord- ance with a pre-existing understanding with the leaders of the Demo- cratic party, that its interests should be protected, in return for a contribution of ;j;500,0(M) to the Democratic cam])aign fund in 1892. It was still further charged that information with reference to the work of the Finance ('(mimittee was secretly given to New York brokers, and that Senators had taken advantage of this information by making ]>rofitable investments in sugar stock. An investigation of thesi* serious charges was ordered, but while it served to deepen the con- viction that the charg(»s were at least in part true, it did not bring out positive proof. The newspaper men who had made the exposure r»c«fused to testify, and were sent to the criminal courts to be tried for contumacy. The officers of the Tr^ust admitti^ to giving money for campaign expenses to State, but not to National campaigns. They admitted, also, that they (»xpected benefits from these inv(*stments. One of the Senators examined admitted that he had been speculating in Sugar Trust stocks, and d(*fended his (*ourse in so doing, and others, who were not so frank, did not make absolute denials. The revelations came nearer to positive proof of extensive Senatorial corruption than anything that ever before occurred in the country. They did not, however, serve to lessen the hold which the Trust had on the Senate, but were accepted as an ample explanation of the indif- ference which the Trust showed to the Bill in the House. It served also to ex]ilain the belief which had bec(mie g<»neral, that no Tariff Bill at all could be passed unless the Trust dictatt^d the sugar

CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMLXISTRATION. 453

schedule. The concessions made to what was at that time the second iarirest Trust in the country, served to weaken faitli in the sincerity of the Democrats, especially when taken in connection with a strong? Anti-Trust plank in th(*ir platform, on wliich this Congress was elected.

Before the IViU left the Senate tliat body had added more than 200 amendments to the 400 which the Finance Committee had ta<-ked upon it. On its final jmssage two Populists, Allen, of Nebraska, and Kyle, of Souih Dakota, voted with the J>emocrats, givin|i: .TJ yeas. The Populists, Stewart, of Nevada, and Pefl'er, of Kansas, and the DeuHxrat Hill, of New York, votinl with the Kepublicans, giving 34 nays. In accordan<e with an understanding previously had, the House immediately sent the amended Bill to a Conference Conunit- tee, which after a fortnight's time reported a disagreement. Then occurred a remarkable sc(»ne. Mr. Wilson pointed out the great dif- ference between rates of duty as originally fixed by tlie House, and those passed by the Senate and added: **If it be true, as stated (of which I have seen myself some confirmation) in the i)ress, if it be true that the great American Sugar Trust has grown so strong and powerful that it says that no Tariff Bill can pass the American Con- gress in which its interests are not adequately guarded; if, I say, that be true, I hope this House will not consent to an adjournment until it has passed a single bill putting refined sugar on the free list." Then referring to President Cleveland's long continued labors for tarilT reform, he produced a letter from the President, addressed to himself and dated July 2d, the day before the Bill passed the Senate. This letter he read. The principal portions of it are as follows:

Every true Democrat and every sincere tarilT reformer knows that this Bill in its present form and as it will be submitted to the Confer- en<e Committee falls short of the <'onsummation for which we have hmg labored, for which we have sufl'ered defeat without discourage- ment; which in its anticipation gave us a rallying cry in our day of triumph, and whi<h, in its ])r<mnse of accomplishment, is so inter- woven with Democrati<- ])ledges and Democratic success, that our abandonment of the cause or of the prin<*ij)les upon which it rests means jiarty i)erfidy and party dishonor. One tojiic will be sub- mitted to the <onfen»nce which embodies Democratic principle so dire<tly that it cannot be compromised. We have in our platforms and in every way i)ossible declannl in favor of the free importation of law nuiterials. We have again and again promised that this should be accorded to our jieople and our manufacturers as soon as the

454 H18TORV OF THE KEIMBLICAX PARTY.

Deinoeratii- party was invested with power to determine the tariflf policy of the country. The party now has the power. We are as certain to-day as we ever have been of the great benefit that would accrue to the country from the inauguration of this policy, and noth- ing has occurred to release us from our obligation to secure this advantage to our people. It must be admitted that no tariflf measure can ac<-ord with Democratic jirinciples and promises, or bear a genu- ine Democratic badge, that does not provide for free raw material. In these circumstan(;es it may well excite our wonder that Democrats are willing to depart from this, the most Democratic of all tariflf principles, and that the most inconsistent absurdity of such a pro- posed departure should be emphasized by the suggestion that the wool of the farmer be put on the free list, and the protection of tariflf taxation be i>iaced around the iron ore and <oal for corjK)rations and capitalists. How can we face the ])eople after indulging in such out- rageous discrimination and violation of princi])les? It is quite ai^ parent that the question of free raw materials does not admit of adjustment on middle ground, since their subjection to any rate of tariflf taxation, great or small, is alike violative of Democratic prin- ciple and Democratic good faith. . . I'nder our party plat- form and in accordance with our de<lared party purposes, sugar is a legitimate and logical article for revenue taxation. Tufortunately, however, incidents have accompanied certain stages of the legislation which will be sumbitted to the conference, that have aroused in con- nection with this subje<t a Naticmal Demo<ratic animosity to the methods and manipulations of trusts and combinations. I confess to sharing in this feeling and yet, it seems to me, we ought, if possible, to sulticiently free ourselves from prejudice to enable us coolly to weigh the considerations, which, in formulating tariff legislation, ought to guide our treatment of sugar as a taxable article. While no tenderness should be entertained for trusts, and while 1 am decid- edly opposed to granting them, und(M' the guise of taxation, any opportunity to further their particular methods, I suggest that we ouglit not to be driven away from the Democratic principle and policy wliich lead to tlie taxation of sugar by tlie fear, quite likely exaggerated, tliat in carrying out this principle and policy we may indirectly and inordinately encourage a combination of sugar-refining interests. I know tliat in present conditions this is a de]i(*ate sub- ject, and 1 appreciate the deptli and strength of the feeling which its treatment luis aroused. I do not believe we should do evil tliat gootl may come; but it seems to me that we should not forget that our aim is the completion of a tarilT bill, and that in taxing sugar for projH»r purposes and witliin reasonable bounds, whatever else may be said of our action, we are in no danger of running <-ounter to Democrati<» principles. With all there is At stake, there must be in the treat- ment of this article some ground upon which we are all willing to stand, where toleration and conciliation may be allowe<l to solve tlie l>roblem without demanding the (»ntire surrender of fixini and con-

CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 455

seientious convictions. I c»xpect very few of us can say, when our measure is perfected, that all its features are entirely as we would prefer. You know how much I deprecated the incorporation into the proposed bill of the income feature. In matters of this kind, how- ever, which do not violate a lixed and recognized Democratic doctrine, w^e are willing to defer to the judgment of a majority of our Demo- cratic brethren.

The President's letter was the occasion of a sharp debate in the Senate. The Republicans pointed out that the logic of the plea which he made for a duty on sugar, which was a concession to tlu^ Sugar Trust, was virtually carried out in concessions to trusts of all kinds; to the Nova Scotia Coal Syndicate in his plea for free coal, and to the Cuban Ir<m Syndicate, in his plea for free iron ore. The Democrats were less concerned about the logic of the President's position, or the inconsistencies of the Rill, than they were about what they considered the impertinence of his attempt to interfere with legislation. Senator Vest said: "Mr. Cleveland is a big man, but the Democratic party is greater than any one man. It has sur- vived Jefferson, Madison, Jackson; it will survive Grover Cleveland. Under what clause of the Constitution did Mr. Cleveland get the right, after a Rill had been sent to full and free conference between the two Houses, to make any appeal to his party friends to stand by his individual views?'' Senator Gorman, whose activity in revising the bill had been such that he might justly consider the President's letter a personal attack, was much more severe. He said: **ln patriotism the Democratic Senate had gone to work to save the country, and kee]) their party in power, when suddenly, in the midst of their work, came the President's letter. It was the most uncalled for, the most extraordinary, the most unwise* communication that ever came from a I*resident of the United States. It placed the Senate in a position where its members must see to it that the dignity and honor of the chamber must be preserved. It places me in a posi- tion where I must tell the story as it occurred. The limit of endurance has been r(*ached." He then said that, during the progress of the work <m the Rill, Senators Jones and Vest had frequent con- ferences with the President and with Seretary Carlisle; thiit Secretary Carlisle had endorsed the completed bill; and that no one who had been consulted had ever suggested that the Rill was in violation of Democratic principles. Senators Vest, Jones and Harris con- firmed the truth of the statements made bv Senator Gorman. The

456 HISTORY OF THE REPCBLICAN PARTY.

latter then deiioimced the President in the bitterest terms, and declared that if there had been deceit it had been with that official and not with the Senate.

The feelinjr aronsed wa« so strong that no attempts at further consideration of the measure were nmde for three weeks. At last, on the 13th of August, a caucus of the Democratic members of the House decided to surrender to the Senate, and the Bill of the latter, with its 634 amendments to the House Measure, was concurred in bv a vote of 182 to 106. Of the yeas 174 were Democrats and 8 wei*e Populists. The nays were Ho Republicans and 13 Democrats.

The House then passed four separate Bills, called the "Popgun" Bills, placing sugar, coal, iron ore and barbed wire on the free list, but they deceived nobody, because it was not expected that the Senate would pay any attention to them. The Oeneral Tariff Bill was now up to the President, and all eyes were turned on him. He kept the country in suspense for ten days longer, and then at midnight, on the 27th of August, the conglomerate Bill became a law without his sig- nature. It had taken the Democrats eighteen months fnmi the time they came into the possession of full power to pass a measure wliich brought disaster lo the manufacturing and commercial interests of the country. Three years later it took the Republicans less than five months to pass a tariff act which brought universal prosi>erity.

Even with the long delay in passing the Bill, it was not, in the end, carefully examincnl, and was full of errors, some of which recpiired to be eliminated by joint resolution or special enactment. In 21 ccmsecutive pages of the Bill no less than thirty -one errors were discovered.

The President sent no message to Congress in explanation of his course, but he wrote another letter, this one dated August 27, and iiddressed to Congressmen Catchings, of Mississippi, and Clarke, of Alabama, in which he said that he felt the utmost disappointment at being denied the privilege of signing such a Bill as he had hoped to sei* pass, one which embodied Democratic ideas of tariff reform. He did not claim to be better than his party, nor intend to shirk any of his resi)onsibilities, but the bill contained provisions not in the line of honest tariff reform, and had "inconsistencies and crudities which ought not to appear in tariff laws." He would not separate himself from the Democratic party by a veto of tariff legislation, which. though disappointing, was chargeable still to Democratic effort. But there were incidents attending the passage of the Bill in its hUer

CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 457

stages which made every sincere tariff reformer unhappy, and which ought not to be tolerated in Democratic councils. He said he took his ^'place with the rank and file of the Democratic party who believe in tariff reform and who know what it is; who refused to accept the results embodied in this Bill as the close of the war; who are not blinded by the fact that the livery of Democratic tariff reform has been stolen, and worn in the service of Republican i)rotection, and who have marked the places where the deadly blight of treason has blasted the counsels of the brave in the hour of their might. The trusts and combinations, whose marhinations have prevented us from reaching the success we deserved, should not be forgotten nor forgiven. We shall recover from our astonishment at their exhibi- tion of power, and then, if the question is forced upon us whether they shall submit to the free legislative will of the people's represen- tatives or shall dictate the laws which the people must obey, we will accept that issue as one involving the integrity and safet}' of Ameri- can institutions.-'

The President's method of communicating his views, by private letter to individuals, instead of by message to Congress, did not take much better in this case than it did in the Wilson letter. But the tariff matt€»r was disposed of for this session, and the excitement over the Catchings missive soon died out.

One other act of the President's during the first half of his second term intensified the popular feeling against him, and that was his treatment of the Hawaiian question. The Tariff question was to quite a large extent one of partisan poli- tics and economic theorizing. The Hawaiian matter was one that appealed to patriotism and a sense of justice, and Cleve- land seemed to be lacking in both. In the first part of 189^5 the Pnnisional (jovernment of the Hawaiian group of islands nego- tiated a treaty for the annexation of those islands to the United States. President Harris<m transmitted it to the Senate for ratifi- cation, but it was near the end of the session and the Senate failed to take aciion. I'resident (,'leveland not only withdrew the treaty, but sent Jam(»s H. Blount, of Georgia, as Special Commissioner to the islands, with paramount authority to umke investigations as to our relations with the Hawaiian (rovernment. I'nder his direction the American protectorate, which the United States had assumed over the islands, was terminated, the American flag was hauled down, and a small garrison of marines, sent ashore from a United States war

458 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

vessel for the protection of Americau interests, was withdrawn. John L. Stevens, the Anieriean Minister, was recalled, and Albert S. Willis was appointed to sueeeed him, with instructions looking toward the overthrow of the Provisional (lovernment, and the restor- ation of Queen Liliuokalani. He might have succi*eded but for tlu^ stubbornness and cruel dis]>osition of the Queen, who refused to promise a grant of amnesty, demanded the execution of those who had helj)ed to dejiose her, and sIiowihI, throughout, a disposition that was threatening to all foreign interests. Minister ^Villis himself at last conceded that an analysis of the list of the Queen's special advisers was not encouraging to the friends of good government nor American interests. The plan of reinstating the Queen was pursued for some months^ under circumstances of intrigue and deceit that were astounding to the American people when they became known. The President could not use force to carry out his purpose without the consent of i'ongress, and that he could not obtain, for Congress was as bitterly opposed to his plans as wa« the country at large. The Queen found sufficient encouragement from his course to attempt an insurrection, which was speedily repressed by the Provisional (lOvernment, when she, for herself and heirs, forever renounc^ed the throne, gavf* allegiance to the Republic and counselled her former subjects to do the same. She afterwards took journey to Washing- ton, partly for the purpose of ])resenting a claim for damages for the loss of her crown, for which, she argued, the utterances of the President and his agents had given good ground. With the Ameri- can people expressions of indignation now gave place to ridicule, and if the President read the papers at all, he saw his name coupler] with the futile etforts of ^'Paramount Hlount," and the aspirations of "Queen Lil" much oftener than he cared to. Even rhyme and min- strel song were not lacking in this entertainment.

The State and Congressional elections in 1894 came on a little over two months after the passage of the Taritf Bill, and while the Hawaiian intrigue was still in progress. They resulted in a Republi <an victory of unexpectedly large proportions. The Democratic strength in the House as compared with the last Congress was reduced from 2lX to lo:^, and the Republican strength increased from I'M) to 245. Delaware, Idaho, ^fontana. North Dakota, Ctah and Wyoming, having niw Repr(*sentative each, all <-hose Republicans, while fifteen states, having more than one ea<h, had solid Republi- can delegations. Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine Michi-

CLEVELAND'S SE(^ONl) ADMINISTRATION. 459

gan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersev, Oregon, Rhode Ishind, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. Of the old Slave States, Delaware elected one Republican; Kentucky five Repub- licans to six Democrats; Maryland three Republicans to three Democrats; Missouri eleven Republicans to four Democrats; North Carolina three Republicans to four Populists and two Democrats; Tennessee four Republicans to six Democrats; and Virginia two Re- publicans to eiglit Democrats. Republiians were also elected in Alabama, South Carolina and Texas. Only four States of what was formerly the Solid South, now sent full Democratic delegations — Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Mississip])i. The Legislatures chosen at this election gave tlie Republicans a gain of two in the United States Senate, while the Democrats lost five, but the four Populists and one Silver Republican held the balance of power.

Only two events that attracted wide attention occurred during the last half of this Administration. The first was a decision of the Supreme Court declaring the income tax feature of the Brice-Gorman- Wilson Taritt" Act to be unconstituti<mal. This decision widened the gap betw(*en the Treasury receipts and expenditures and for the remainder of the term, the finances of the Government Treasury were in a very embarrasst^d condition.

During Secretary Gresham's incumbency of the State Depart- ment, as well as that of Secretary Bayard under the former Cleveland Administration, complaints were frequent of the un-American policy of the Administration. After Mr. Bayard became Minister to England, his sycophancy at the Court of St. James, and in public addresses, were especially distasteful. In Hawaii the annexationists felt keenly the slight put upon them by President Cleveland's Admin- istration, in that it imparted its views and its purposes to the British and Royalist citizens in preference to the American residents. In May, 18J>5, Secretary Gresham died, and Richard Olney, who had been Attorney (ieneral, succeeded him. P^ither through Olney^s influence, or else because he wanted to efface the Hawaiian memories, the President now inaugurated a jingo policy. New discoveries of gold had given increased importance to a long standing boundary dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela. The President insisted, on the ground of the Monroe Doctrine and our essential sovereignty on the American continent, that Great Britain should submit the dispute to arbitration. When this was refused he sent a message to Congress which startled the country. He proposed the

460 HISTORY OF THE REPl'BLK AN PARTY.

creation of a coiniiiission to determine and report upon "the true divisional line between Venezuela and British Guiana.-' He added: **When such rei)ort is made and accepted, it will, in my opinion, be the duty of the United States to resist, by every means in its power, as a willful ajr«j:ression upon its rijijhts and interest, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands, or the exercise of governmental juris- diction over any territory, which after investigation, we have deter- mined of riuht belongs to Venezuela." Both Houses passed a resolu- tion for the appointment of the Commission. Immediately American securities began to fall, creating almost a panic in the stock market, and tlie gold reserve rapidly diminished. Thrt*e days after he sent the war message he was obliged to send another, asking for legisla- tion to pn^serve the National credit. The fact is, that neither in its Army nor in its finances, was the Nation in condition to go to war with a second-class power, let alone Great Britain. This pyrotechnic display of jingoism and devotion to the Monroe Doctrine was the last decided sensation of an Administration that had been fertile in surprises, but mostly barren of useful results. Some good did, however, ultimately come out of this last agitation. For, though Great Britain would not acknowledge the authority of a Boundary Gommission appointed by the United States, yet growing out of our intervention a treaty was umde between that country and Venezuela, providing for a joint commission. The treaty was signed at Wash- ington, February 2, 1S1>7, by Sir Julian Pauncefote, British Ambas- sador, and General Jose Andrade, Venezuelan Minister to the United States. The Venezuelan Congress ratified the treaty without a dis- senting vote, and diplomatic relations with Great Britain, which had been suspended for ten years, were at once resumed. The ratifica- tions of the treaty were exchangcHi in Washington, June 14. The Uommissioners named in the treaty were Lord Herschell and Justict* Henn Collins, on the part of Great Britain, and Chief Justice Fuller and Justice Brewer, on the part of Venezuela. The fifth member, chosen by these four to act as President and umpire, was Professor Martaens, of the University of St. Petersburg. They met in Paris in the autumn of 1S98 and gave their decision in 1800. confirming, for the most part, the British claims.

XXXV.

ELEVENTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.

McKinley Lon^ Before Recognized as the Coming Man for President — A Highly Successful J^olitical Career — The Convention at St. Louis — The Campaign Pronouncement — Contest Over the Silver Plank — Sensational Withdrawal of the Silver Republicans — Their Statement to the Country — Only one Ballot Each for Pres- ident and Vice-President — Points From the Letters of Accept- ance.

Tjong before the time for the assembling of the eleventh Re- publican National Convention it became apparent that the nomination would go to William McKinley, of Ohio. Major McKinley, during his young manhood, served mpre than four years in the war. From 1877 to 181)1 he was almost continuously in Congress, where he earned the reputation of being the best-informed man on the taritf of any member of either House. He was one of the best of the debaters who took part in discussion of the Tariff Bill of 188;^, was a leader in opposition to the Horizontal Reduction Bill of Congressman Morrison, and to the Mills Bill. He was ou the Ways and Means Committee of the House tor eleven years, was its Chairman in the Fifty-tirst Congress, and was the author of the Tariff Act which bore his name. In 18J)() he was consi€i(*red Ihe best living exponent of the Republican Protective Tariff policy, and was well informed upon all other matters of legis- lation. Besides this he was a **vote-getter.'- His District was three times '^gerrynuuidered" by the Democrats in order to keep him out of Congn»ss. In 1878 he was placed in a district which was Democratic by 1,800; but McKinley carried it by 1,300 majority. In 1884 he was placed in a district consisting of Stark, Summit, Medina and Wayne Counties, then strongly Democratic, and was elected by over 2,000 majority. Tender the Price gerrymander of 1800, his district was made up of Stark, Medina, Wayne and Holmes Counties, which had the year before given Campbell, the Democratic candidate for Governor, 3,000

Ai\'2 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLRAN PARTY.

niajoritv, but on the fullest vote ever polled in the district, Major McKiiiley reduced this majority to 303. He received 2,500 more votes in the district than had been cast for General Harrison for President in 1S88 in the same counties. He was Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions in the National Conventions of 1884 and 1888. On June 7, 18tH, Major McKinley was unanimously nominated by the Republi- cans of Ohio for Governor; and after one of the most hotly contested canipaijcns in the history of the State, he was elected over James E. Canii)belK then Governor, by a plurality of 21,511 votes. At the Re- publican State Convention in 1892, Governor McKinley was elected one of the Delegatesat-larjj:e to the Republican National Convention at Minneapolis. He was made Chairman of the Ohio delegation, and permanent Chairman of the <'onvention. Although not desiring to have his name mentioned for the Presidency, and doing all he could I)ersonally to renominate President Harrison, he nevertheless received 182 votes for that high office. At the election in November, 1893, Governor McKinley was re-elected, defeating Lawrence T. Neal by 80,095 majority, in a total vote of 8:J5,004. He received 433,342 votes, the greatest number ever given any State or Presidential can- didate in the history of Ohio. The unprecedented Republican victories in Ohio in 1894 and 1895 were also attributed to his effective work for the parry. In 1894 the jilurality of Samuel M. Taylor for Secretary of State was 137,080, and in 1895 the plurality of Asa S. Bushnell for (iov(»rnor was 92,062.

The National Convention met in St. Louis, June 10, with Charles \V. Fairbanks, of Indiana, for Temporary Chairman. On the second day permanent organization was effected, with John M. Thurston, of Nebraska, as President, rules were adopted nearly identical with those used in the Convention of 1892, majority and minority reports of the Committee on Credentials were presented, and the cases for < ontesting delegations were settled. On the third day the Committee cm Resolutions reported the following platform:

The Rejmblicans of the I'nited States, assembled by their repre- sentatives in National i'onvention, appealing for the popular and historical justification of their claims to the matchless achievements of thirty years of Republican rule, earnestly and confidently address theinselv(*s to \\w awakened intelligence, experience and conscience of their coniitrynicn in the following declaration of facts and princi- ples:

For the tirst tinn* since the Civil War the American i)eople liaA'e witnessed the cahnnitous «onse<piences of full and unrestricted Dem-

ELEVENTH REPUBLICAN CONV^ENTION. 463

orratic eoiitrol of the government. It has been a record of unpar- alleled ineapacity, dishonor and disaster. In administrative manage- ment it has ruthlessly sacritieed indispensable revenue, entailed an increasing deficit, eked out ordinary current expenses with borrowed money, piled up the public debt by |2()2,()(l(>,(H)t) in time of peace, forced an adverse balance of trade, kept a perpetual menace hanging ov(»r the redemption fund, pawned American credit to alien syndi- cates, and reversed all the measures and results of successful Repub- lican rule. In the broad eflPert of its policy it has precipitated panic, blighted industry and trade witli prolonged d<*pression, closed fac- tories, reduced work and wages, halted enterprises and crippled American production, while stimulating foreign production for the American market. Every consideration of public safety and indi- vidual interest demands that the government shall be rescued from the hands of those who have shown themselves incapable to conduct it without disaster at home and dishonor abroad, and shall be restored to the party which for thirty years administered it with unequaled success and prosperity. In this connection we heartily indorse the wisdom, patriotism and success of the administration of President Harrison.

We renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of protec- tion as the bulwark of American industrial independence and the foundation of American development and prosperity. This true American policy taxes foreign products and encourages home indus- try; it puts tlie burden of revenue on foreign goods; it secures the American market for the American producer; it upholds the Amer- ican standard of wages for the American workingman; it puts the factory by the side of the farm and makes the American farmer less dependent on foreign demand and price; it diffuses general thrift, and founds the strength of all on the strength of each. In its reason- able application it is just, fair and impartial, e(]ually opposed to for- eign control and domestic mono])oly, to sectional discrimination and individual favoritism.

We denounce the present Democratic tariff as sectional, injurious to the public credit and destructive to business enterprise. We demand such an equitable tariff on foreign imports which come into competition with American products as will not only furnish adequate revenue for the necessary expenses of the tiovernment, but will pro- tect American labor from degradation to the wage level of other lands We are not pledged to any particular schedules. The question of rates is a practical question, to be governed by the conditions of the time and of production; the ruling and uncompromising principle is the protection and development of American labor and industry. The country demands a right settlement and then it wants rest.

We believe the repeal of the reciprocity arrangements negotiated by the last Re])ublican administration was a national calamity, and we demand their renewal and extension on such terms as will e(|ualize our trade with other nations, remove the restrictions which now

4G4 UI8TOKY OF THE KEPUBLICAX PARTY.

obstruct the sale of American products in the ports of other coun- tries, and secure enlarged markets for the products of our farms, forests and factories. Protection and re(!iprocity are twin measures of Republican policy and go hand in hand. Democratic rule has reck- lessly struck down both and both must be re-established. Protection for what we produce; free admission for the necessaries of life which we do not ])roduce; reciprocal agreements of mutual interests which gain open nmrkets for us in return for our open market to others. J*rotection builds up domestic industry and trade and secures our own market for ourselves; reciprocity builds up foreign trade and liuds an outlet for our surplus.

We condemn the present administration for not keeping faith with the sugar produc(*rs of this country. The Republican party favors such protection as will lead to the production on American soil of all the sugar whi( h the Anu^rican people use, and for which they pay other countries more than $10(KO(H),000 annually.

To all our ])roducts — to those of the mine and the field, as well as to those of the shop and the factory — to hemp, to wool, the product of the great industry of sheep husbandry, as well as to the finished woolens of the mill — we promise the most ample protection.

We favor restoring the early American policy of discriminating duties for the upbuilding of our merchant marine and the protection of our shi])ping in the foreign carrying trade, so that American ships, the product of American labor employed in American shipyards, sail- ing under the Stars and Stripes, and manned, officered and owned by Americans, ma\ regain the carrying of our foreign commerce.

The Rt-publican party is unreservedly for sound money. It caused the enactment of the law providing f(»r the resumption of specie pay- ments in 1879: sin<*e then every dollar has been as good as gold. We are unalterably opposed to every measure calculated to debase our currency or impair the credit of our country. We are, therefore, opposed to the free coinage of silver except by international agree- ment with the leading commercial nations of the world, which we pledge ourselves to promote, and until such agreement can be obtained, the existing gold standard must be preserved. All our silver and paper currency must be maintained at parity with gold, and we favor all measures designed to maintain inviolably the obliga- tions of the United States and all our money, whether coin or pai)er, at the present standard, the standard of the most enlightened nations of the earth.

The veterans of the Tnion Army deserve and should receiA'e fair treatment and generous recogniticm. Whenever practicable they should be given the prefen*nce in the matter of em]>loyment, and they are entitled to the enactment of such laws as are best calculated to serure the fulfillment of the pledges made to them in the dark days of the country's i»eril. We d(»nounce the practice in the pension bureau, so recklessly and unjustly carried on by the present admiuis-

ELEVENTH KEPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 465

tration of reducing pensions and arbitrarily dropping names from the rolls as deserving the severest condemnation of the American people.

Our foreign policy should be at all times firm, vigorous and dig- nified, and all our interests in the Western Hemisphere carefully watched and guarded. The Hawaiian Islands should be controlled by the United States and no foreign power should be permitted to interfere with them. The Nicaraguan canal should be built, owned and operated by the Ignited States; and by the purchase of the Danish islands we should secure a pro])er and much needed naval station in the West Indies.

The massacres in Armenia have aroused the deep sympathy and just indignation of the American people, and we believe that the United States should exercise all the influence it can properly exert to bring these atrocities to an end. In Turkey, American residents have been exposed to the gravest dangers, and American i)roperty destroyed. There and everywhere American citizens and American property must be absolutely protected at all hazards and at any cost.

A\'e reassert the ^ionroe Doctrine in its full extent, and we reaffirm the right of the United States to give the doctrine effect by responding to the appeals of any American state for friendly inter- vention in case of European encroachment. We have not interfered, and shall uol int(»rfere with the existing possessions of any European power in this Hemisphere, but those possessions must not, on any pre text, be (*xtend(»d. We hopefully look forward to the eventual with- drawal of th(» European powers from this Hemisphere, and to the ultimate union of all Enu:lish-sp(»aking parts of the Uontinent by the free consent of its inhabitants.

From the hour of achieving tlu'ir own independence, the people of the Ignited States have regarded with sympathy the struggles of other American peoples to free themselves from European domina- tion. We watch with d(»ep and abiding interest the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots against cruelty and oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full success of their determined contest for liberty. The Government of Spain, having lost control of Cuba, and being unable to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens, or to comply with its treaty obliirations, we believe th.it the Govern- ment of th<» T'nited States should actively use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the island.

The peace and security of the Republic and the maintenance of its rightful influence amoncr the nations of the earth demand a naval power commensurate with its ])osition and responsibility. We, there- fore, favor the continued enlarcrement of the Navy and a complete system of harbor and seacoast defenses.

For the protection of the (luali ty of our American citizenship and of the wages of our workingmen against the fatal competition of low- priced labor, we demand that the immigration laws be thoroughly enforced, and so extended as to exclude from entrance to the Ignited States those who can neither read nor write.

4()0 hIkSTukv of the republican party.

The Civil Service Law was placed on the statute book by the Republican party, which has always sustained it, and we reuew^ our repeated declaration that it sliall be thoroughly and honestly enforced and extended wherever pi-acticabh».

We demand that every citiz(*n of the United States shall be allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot, and that such ballot shall be counted and returned as cast.

We proclaim our unqualilied condemnation of the uncivilized and barbarous practice, well known as lynching or killing of human beings, suspected or charged with crime, without process of law.

We favor the creation of a National Hoard of Arbitration to settle and adjust differenc<»s which may arise between employer and employe engaged in interstate commerce.

We believe in an immediate return to tlu* free homestead policy of the Republican party; and urge the passage by Congress of the satisfactory fvoe homestead measure which has already passed the House and is now pending in the Senate.

We favor the admission of the remaining territories at the earliest ])racticable date, having due regard to the interests of the people of the territories and of the United States. All the Federal officers appointed for the territories should be selected from bona fide residents thereof, and the right of self-government should be accorded as far as practicable.

W> believe the citizens of Alaska should have representation in the Congress of the Ignited States to the end that needful legislation may be intelligently enacted.

We sympathize with all wise and legitimate etforts to lessen and prevent tlie evils of intemperance and promote morality.

The Republican liarty is mindful of the rights and interests of women. Protection of American industries includes e(|ual oppor- tunities, equal i)ay for e(|ual work, and protection to the home. We favor the admission of women to wider spheres of us(*fulne8s, and wndcome their co-operation in rescuing the country from Democratic and Populist mismanagement and misrule.

Such are the princtiples and policies of the Republican party. By these i)rinciples we will abide and these policies we will put into ex(»- cution. We ask for them the considerate judgment of the American people. Confident alike in the history of our great party and in the justice of our cause, we present our platform and our candidates in the full assurance that the election will bring victory to the Republi- can party and prosperity to the peoi)le of the United States.

Senator Teller, in behalf of himself, «and the otlier Silver members of the Conimittee on Resolutions, otTere<l the following as a substi- tute for the tinancial plank of the ])latform: **We, the undersigned, Members of the* Committee on Resolutions, being unable to agree with a portion of the majority re[»ort which treats of the subject of

ELEVENTH KEPUBLKWN CONVENTION. 467

coinage and finances, respectfully submit the following paragraph as a substitute therefor: 'The Republican party authorizes the use of both gold and silver as equal standard money and pledges its power to secure the free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver at our mints at the ratio of sixtet*n parts of silver to one of gold/ " Senator Teller made a long speech in support of the substitute, the address being also his farewell to the Republican party, with which he had acted for forty years. On motion of Governor Foraker, of Ohio, the substitute was laid on the table by a vote of SlSy^ to 105V1>. The financial plank as given in the majority report was then adopted by a vote of 812^2 to 110Vi!j the nay votes in both cases coming chiefly from the South and the silver producing States. Following this the platform as a whole was adopted by a viva voce vote.

Then came the climax of the ( 'Onvention. Senators Teller, of Colorado, and Cannon, of Utah, ascended the })latform, and the latter read a statement prepared by the silver men. It referred to the financial plank in the platform of 1892, and to the different construc- tions that had been put upon it, quoted the financial declaration that had just been adopted, continued with an enumeration of the evils which they declared would result from the adoption of the gold standard, asserted that the Convention had **seceded from the truth" and closed as follows: *^\ccepting the fiat of this Convention as the present purpose of the party, we withdraw from this Convention to return our constituents the authority with which they invested us, believing that we have better discharged their trust by this action which restores to them authority unsullied, than by giving cowardly and insincere indorsement to the greatest wrong ever wilfully attempted within the Republican party, once redeemer of the people, but now about to become their oppressor, unless providentially restrained by the votes of free men." This document was signed by Senators Teller, of Colorado; Dubois, of Idaho, and Cannon, of Utah; Congressman Ilartman, of Montana, and A. C. (Cleveland, of Nevada, as the representatives of their respective States on the Committee on Resolutions. Senators Teller and Cannon then shook hands with Chainnan Thurston and Governor Foraker, descended from the plat- form, went down the aisle, and passed out of the hall, followed by about twenty other Silver delegates, amid the yells, hoots, cheers and hisses of the audience, the waving of hats, handkerchiefs, unbrellas and flags, the playing of the band, and a general tumult. The bolt, however, was not as formidable in numbers as had been threatened,

4()8 UlSTOKY OF THE KEPI'BLICAN PARTY.

and its effect upon the Convention was but temporary. Senators Mantle, of Montana, and Brown, of I'tah, and A. F. Burleigh, of Wash- ington, all Silver delegates, explained why they did not leave the Con- vention, and the order of the presentation of Presidential aspirants was taken up. John \V. l^aldwin, of Jowa, presented the name of Senator William B. Allison; Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, that of Thonms B. Reed; Chauneey M. Dejiew, of New York, that of Levi J\ Morton; (rovernor J. B. Foraker and Senator John M. Thurs- ton that of William McKinley, and Governor Hastings, of Pennsyl- vania, that of Mathew Stanley Quay. The only ballot taken resulted as follows:

William McKinley, of Ohio OGl U

Thomas B. Reed, "of Maine 84 lo

Mathew Stanley Quay, of Pennsylvania (U^o

Levi P. Morton, of New York 58

William B. Allison, of Iowa 35VL»

Total Number of Votes 901

Necessary to a Choice 451

For Vice-President William (L Buckley, of Connecticut; Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey; Charles Warren Lipjutt, of Rhode Island; Henry Clay Evans, of Tennessee, and General James A. Walker, of Virginia, w(*re proixised. The ballot gave Hobart, 5331 i>; Evans, 277i/>; Bu<kley, :5J); Walker, 24, and Lippitt, 8.

The Michigan delegates to the Ccmvention were: At I^rge — Russell A. Alger, Thomas J. O'Brien, John Duncan, Mark S. Brewer. By Districts — (D David Meginnity, Freeman B. Dickerson; (2) James T. Hurst, Edward P. Allen; (3 )Hamilton King. E. O. Grosvenor; (4) Frank W. Wait, Ri< hard B. Messer; (5) Gerritt J. Diekema, William H. Anderson; (Oi William McPherson, George W. Buckingham; (7> John L. Starkweather, William II. Aitken; (8) Oliver L. Spaulding, Theron W. At.wood; (0) Charles H. Hackley, Edgar G. Maxwell; (10> Temple Emery. J. Frank Eddy; (11) Edgar P. Babcock, Charles L. (^randall; (12) James McNaughton, Charles E. Miller. They gaAO McKinley their entire 28 votes. For Vice-President they gave Hobart 21 and Evans 7.

The speeches in the Convention turned largely upon the deplora- ble results of four years of Democratic rule, which were fairly summed up by Senator Wolcott. upon taking the chair. The follow- ing paragraphs were a portion of his remarks:

The appalling result of the President's ])olicy is still fresh in the memory of millions, who suffered from it. In four years the country

ELEVENTH KEPLBLICAN CONVENTION. 469

witnessod 00,000 coiumereial failures, with liabilities aggregating more than nine liiiuiired millions of dollars. One hundred and seven- ty-seven railroads, with a mileage of 45,000 miles, or twice the circle of the globe, and with securities amounting to nearly three billion of dollars, were unable to meet their interest charges and passed into the hands of receivers. More than 170 National banks closed their doors, with liabilities reacliing seventy millions; wool and all farm products which tarill's could attect. lost tens of millions in value; farm mortgages were foreclosed by thousands throughout the great West; our agricultural exports shrunk in value; the balance of trade which had been in our favor, turned ruinously against us; the National Treas- ury was depleted of its gold reserve; our government bonds were sold to syndicates at far below their market value before or since, and our steadily declining revenues were insullicient to meet the neces- sary expense of conducting the Government.

If capital alone had sulfered, the loss would have been great, but not irremediable. Tufortunately those who rely upon their daily labor for their sustenance, and their families dependent upon them, constituting the great mass of the American j)eople, were nmde to feel heaviest this burden of disaster. Nearly one-third of the laboring population of the I'nited States were thrown out of emj)loyment, and men by thousands, able and willing to labor, walked the highways of the land clamoring for work or food.

Mr. McKiuley's reply to the committee appointed to notify him of his nomination laid particular stress upon the taritf and currency questions, his chief utterances upon these points being as follows:

Protection and reciprocity, twin measures of a true American policy, should again <ommand the earnest encouragement of the Gov- ernment at \\'ashington. The (rovernment must raise enough money to meet both its current expenses and increasing needs. Its revenues should be so raised as to protect the material interests of our people, with the lightest possible drain upon their resources. A failure to pursue this i)olicy has compelled the government to borrow money in a time of peace to sustain its credit and pay its daily expenses. This policy should be reversed, and that, too, as speedily as possible. It must be apparent to all, regardless of past party ties or affiliations, that it is our paramount duty to provide adequate revenue for the expenditures of the Government, economically and prudently administered. The National credit, which has tlius far tortunat(*ly resisted every assault upon it, must and will be upheld and strengthened. If sutlici(»nt revenues are provided for the support of the (jovernment there will be no necessity for borrowing money and in<'reasing the public debt. The complaint of the people is not against the Administration for borrowing money and issuing bonds to preserve th(» <redit of the <ountry, but against the ruinous policy

470 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

which has made this uecessarv. It is hut an incident, and a necessary one, to the poli<v which has been inaugurated. The inevitable effect of such a policy is seen in the deficiency of the L'nited States Treas- ury, except as it is replenished by loans, and in the distress of the people who are suffering because of the scant demand for either their labor or the products of their labor. Here is the fundamental trouble, the remedy for which is Republican opportunity and duty. During the years of Republican control following resumption there was a steady reduction of the public debt, while the gold reserve was sacredly maintained and our currency and credit preserved without depreciation, taint, or suspicion. H we would restore this policy that brought us unexampled prosperity for more than thirty years under the most trying conditions ever known in this country, the policy by which we made and bought goods at home and sold more abroad, the trade balance would be quickly turned in our favor and gold would come to us and not go from us in the settlement of all such balances in the future. The money of the United States, and every kind or form of it, whether of paper, silver, or gold, must be as good as the best in the world. It must not only be current at its full value at home, but it must be counted at par in any and every com- mercial center of the globe. The dollar paid to the farmer, the wage- earner, and the pensioner must <ontlnue forever in equal purchasing and debt-paying power to the dollar paid to any Oovernment creditor. The platform adopted by the Republican National Convention has received my careful consideration and has my unqualified approval. It is a matter of gratitication to me, as, I am sure, it must be to you, and Republicans everywhere, and to all our people that the expression of its declaration of principles is so direct, clear and emphatic.

His letter of acceptance was devoted mainly to the currency question, but that was preceded and followed by the enunciation of his views on nearly all pending questions in short speeches addressed to various visiting delegations at his home in Canton, Ohio, where he remained throughout the campaign. The candidate for Vice-Presi- dent, Mr. Hobart, confined his participation in the campaign mainly to his letter of acceptance, which accepted the platform and briefly discussed pending issues.

XXXVl.

THE SIXTEEN TO ONE CAMPAIGN.

The Deiiiocratic Convention — The Free Silver Coinage Men Aggres sive and Contident — A Free Silver Triumph in Choice of Tem- porary President and in the Platform — Tliat Announcement of Principles Afterwards Modified by the Committee — Bryan's Taking Speech and His Nomination — Accepted by the Populists and the Free Silver Republicans — Interest of the Business Men in the Campaign — McKinley and Hobart Elected With a Repub- lican Congress.

The sentiment in favor of the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 was quite strong in the Democratic party, and at this time it was reinforced by the belief that by a combination with the Popu- lists and th(» Silver Republicans, that party might again carry the election and share in the spoils of ofifice. Many of tlie Silver Republi- cans and some of the l^opulists were Protectionists. For this reason the Democrats chose to keep that issue as far as possible in the back- ground, and make the campaign on the Silver question. They miscal- culated in two directions — by overestimating the number of Silver Republicans that would come to the combination, and by underesti- mating the extent of the revolt of Sound Money Democrats from the new and un-Democratic doctrine.

Their Convention commenced at Chicago, July 7, and found the Silver men conlident, aggressive and ready to push the tight from the start. Tlie National Committee had re<()mmended David Bennett Hill, of New York, for temporary Chairman of the Convention. The Free Silver men antagcmized him with John W. Daniel, of Virginia and won by a vote of 556 to o4J). Twenty-six States voted solidly for Daniels as follows: Alabanui, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentu<*ky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyom- ing, all, it will be noticed. Southern or Western States.

472 HISTORY OF THE KEPIBLICAN PARTY.

Senator Daniel, on takinj»: the ebair, mingled profound grati- tude for the honor conferred upon him, with regret that his name should have been brought in even the most courteous competition with his distinguished friend, Senator Hill, who, however, would lecognize the fact that there was no personality in the matter. It was solely due to the princii)le which the great majority of the Demo- crats stood for, Mr. Daniel standing with them. As the majority of the (Convention was not personal in its aims, neither was it sectional. It began with the sunrise in Maine and spread into a sunburst in lx)uisiana and Texas. It stretched, in unbroken lines across the con- tinent from Virginia and Oeorgia to California. It swept like a prairie fire over Iowa and Kansas, and it lighted up the horizon in Nebraska. After this flight of oratory Mr. Daniel continued with an argument in favor of free silver and against a gold standard.

On the second day Stephen M. White, of California, another Silver man, was named as permanent l^resident, and contested delegate seats from Michigan and Nebraska were settled in favor of Silver delegates. Meantime the Committee on Resolutions were having hot work over the platform. The Silver men were determined uinm a declaration so unecjuivocal as to ensure the co-operation of the Popu- lists and Free Silver Republicans, while the men who favored a gold standard desired such modification, in phraseology at least, as would prevent a break in the party. The outcome was a majority and a minority report, the former read by Senator Jones, of Arkansas, and the latter by J. H. Wade, of Ohio.

It was the Democrats now, and not the Republicans, who had <*ome to the parting of the ways. The fiery Southerner, Senator Till- man, of South Carolina, made a strong speech favoring the majority report, and denouncing the Administration in the bitterest terms. He brought out the sectional feature of the question with such empha- sis that Senator Jones, of Arkansas, thought it advisable to declart* that free silver coinage was not sectional, but National, and. as a cause, had adherents in every State in the Cnion. Senator Hill, of New York, vigorously ojiposed the majority report, but in aci-ordanit* with his declaration made under trying circumstances, ''I am a Dt*iii- ocrat/' indicated that he should abide by the action of the Convention. Senator Vilas, of Wisconsin, a member of Cleveland's first Cabinet, followed in an <»loquent and pathetic address deploring the step which the j.arty was about to take. P^x-Oovernor William E. Russell, of Massachusetts, followed in a speech which reminded his hearers of

THE SIXTEEN TO ONE CAMPAIGN. 473

that ill which Beiiator Teller made his farewell to the Republican party. Mr. Russell, in the course of liis remarks, said: '*! am con- scious, painfully conscious that the mind of this Convention is not and has not been open to argument. I know the will of this great majority, which has seen lit to override precedents and attacks the sovereignity of states, is to rigidly enforce its views. I know full well that an appeal also will fall on deaf ears. There is but one thing left, to enter my protest. 1 do so, not in anger nor in bitterness, but with a feeling of intinite sorrow. Our country, if not this Conven- tion, will listen to our protest.'*

William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska, who was to be the central figure in tlie coming campaign, then credited the sensation of the day. Mr. Bryan had become noted as an eloquent and convincing speaker. He was one of the ablest advocates of the Wilson Tariff Bill, was among the strongest of the Free Silver men, and had omitted no cpportunity that offered to support that cause on the floor of the House. He now came forward, and in an impassioned speech, made a plea tor free silver coinage and against the gold standard, in defense of the income tax and in arraignment of the Supreme Court. A majority of the Convention were with him from, the beginning, but he fairly carried the members oft* their feet, when, referring to the sound money men in the Convention he said: **If they dare to come out, and in the open, defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall light them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of this Nation and the w^orld. Having behind us the commer- cial interests and the laboring interests, and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them: *You shall not press down upon the brow of l.abor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify man ujjon a cross of gold.'" At the conclusion of Bryan's speech the ('on vent ion went wild. Cheer upon cheer was given, while the whole immense crowd rose to its feet amid waving of handkerchiefs, Hags, unbrellas and hats. Then, as if by a sudden imj)ulse, a member of the Texas delegation took the banner of that State from its fastenings, carried it a<ross the hall, and planted it by the side of the Nebraska banner. The example was followed by others, until the banners of thirty States were grouped together with the purple standard from Bryan's home State in the center. Delaware was not among the states that had carried its banner to the Nebraska rallying ground, but when the excitement had subsided Delegate Saulsbury, of that State, stood upon his chair,

474 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PA RTY.

while he and his three Silver colleagues gave three cheers for Bryan, and a shout came from the gallery: ''What's the matter with Bryan for President?"

There was no question, from the time the discussion opened till its close, about the adoption of the platform reported by the majority of the Committee. That action was taken without further delay, the financial and tarill planks being as follows:

Recognizing that the money question is paramount to all others at this time, we invite attention to the tact that the Federal Constitu- tion names silver and gold together as the money metals of the United States, and that the tirst coinage law passed by Congress under the Constitution made the silver dollar the monetary unit and admitted gold to free coinage at a ratio based upon the silver dollar unit.

We declare that the Act of 1873, demonetizing silver without the knowledge or approval of the American people has resulted in the appreciation of gold and a corresponding fall in prices of commodities produced by the people; a heavy increase in the burden of taxation and of all debts, public and private; the enrichment of the money- lending class at home and abroad; a prostration of industry and impoverishment of the people.

We are unalterably opposed to gold monometallism, which has locked fast the prosperity of an industrious people in the paralysis of hard times, (rold monometallism is a British policy, and its adoption has brought other nations into financial servitude to London. It is not only un-American, but anti-American, and it can be fastened upon the United States only by the stilling of that spirit and love of lib- erty which proclaimed our political independence in 177(> and won it m the war of the revolution.

We demand the free and iniliiuited coinage of both gold and silver at the present legal ratio of 1G to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation. We demand that the standard silver dollar shall be a full legal tender, equally with gold, for all debts, public and private, and we favor such legislation as will prevent for the future demonetization of any kind of legal tender money by private contract.

We are opposed to the policy and practice of surrendering to the holder of the obligations of the United States the option reserved by law to the Government of redeeming such obligations in either silver coin or gold coin.

We are opposed to the issuing of interest-bearing bonds of the United States in times of peace, and condemn the trafficking with banking syndicates, which, in exchange for bonds and at an enormous profit to themselves, supply the Federal Treasury with gold to main- tain the policy of gold monometallism.

THE SIXTEEN TO ONE CAMPAIGN. 475

Congress alone has the power to coin and issue money, and l^resi- dent Jaekson declared that this power could not be delegated to corporations or individuals. We therefore demand that the power to issue notes to circulate as money be taken from the National banks, and that all paper money shall be issued by the Treasury Department, redeemable in coin and receivable for all debts, public and private.

We hold that tariff duties should be levied soU*ly for the purposes of revenue, such duties to be so adjusted as to operate equally throughout the country, and not discriminate between class or sec- tion, and that taxation should be limited by the needs of the Government, honestly and economically administered. We denounce as disturbing to business the Republican threat to restore the McKin- ley Law, which has been twice condemned by the people in National elections, and which, enacted under the false plea of j)rotection to home industry, proved a prolific breeder of trusts and monopolies, enriched the few at the expense of many, restricted trade and deprived the producers of the great American staples of a<cess to their natural markets. Until the money question is settled we are opposed to any agitation for further changes in our tariff laws, except such as are necessary to make up the deficit in revenue caused by the adverse decision of the Supreme Court on the income tax.

It is illustrative of the entire absorption of the Convention in one subject that the planks relating to other features of Democratic poli<y did not receive the careful attention that the* leaders thought desira- ble for campaign use, and additions were mad(» after the (^)nvention adjourned. The copy of the platform, generally circulated in Michi- gan and some other states contained four clauses, which were not in that instrument as reported by the press at the time, nor as it is given in the standard books of reference. These were clauses relating to civil and religious liberty, favoring arbitration in cases of dispute between emi)ioy<»rs and employees, diM-laring the Monroe Doctrine a permanent i)art of the foreign policy of the United States, and insert- ing the words *'excej)t as provided in the Constitution,'' after a declaration against a life tenure in the public service. However, these matters rec(»ived comparatively little attention, for Mr. Bryan sounded the key note of the campaign when he said in his letter of acceptance, September 1): '*Tt is not necessary to discuss the tariff question at this time. Whatever may be the individual views of citi- zens as to the relative merits of protection and tariff reform, all must recognize that until the money question is fully and finally settled the American people will not consent to the consideration of any other important question. Taxation presents a problem which in some form is continually present, and a postponement of definite

476 HISTOKY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

artioii upon it involves no sacrifice of personal opinion or political principles; but the crisis presented by financial conditions cannot be postponed. Tremendous results will follow the action taken by the United States on the money question, and delay is impossible. The people of this Nation, sitting;: as a high court, must render judgment in the cause which greed is prosecuting against humanity. The decision will either give hope and inspiration to those who toil, or *shut the doors of mercy on mankind.* In the presence of this over- shadowing issue, differences upon minor questions must be laid aside in order that there may be united action among those who are deter- mined that progress toward an universal gold standard shall l>e stayed, and the gold and silver coinage of the Constitution restored." It was not until the fourth day of the Convention that balloting for the Presidential candidates commenced. Whenever Bryan's name was mentioned in the proceedings that occurred after his plat- form si)eecli it was greeted with great demonstrations of applause, and he was looked upon as the coming man, but on the first ballot he developed only about half the strength shown by Richard P. Bland, the father of silver coinage legislation. That ballot scattered the vote as follows:

Richard P. Bland, of Missouri 235

William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska Ill)

Robert E. Pattison, of Pennsylvania 1)5

Horace M. Boies, of Iowa 85

J. C. S. lilackburn, of Kentucky 83

John R. McLean, of Ohio 54

Claude Matthews, of Indiana 37

Benjamin R. Tillman, of South Carolina 17

Sylvester Pennoyer, of Oregon 8

Henry M. Teller, of Colorado 8

Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois 7

William E. Russell, of Massachusetts 2

David B. Hill, of New York 1

Not voting 178

The abst(*ntion from voting of so large a number of deleg:ates was ominous, but was in keeping with the attitude of the minority who were disgusted with the platform, and incensed with the treat- ment ihey had received from the majority. It included the New Y^ork and New Jersey delegations, and parts of Connecticut, Delfiware, Rhole Island, Michigan and Wisconsin. Througli four more ballots the candidates were gradually sifted out, until on the fifth the vote

THE SIXTEEN TO ONE CAMPAIGN. 477

as cast stood: Bryan, 500; TMand, 100; Pattison, 95; Matthews, 31; lloits, 20; Stevenson, 8; not voting?, 102. Changes followed enough to give Bryan the necessary 512, and he was declared the nominee.

Five ballots were taken for a n<»niinee for the Vice-Presidency resulting in the nomination of Arthur Sewall, of Maine, a man known more for his wealth than for any previous political a(!tivity. Of his characteristics the Chicago Chronicle, a Democratic paper, said: "He is the richest man in Maine. He is president of the American Ship- ping League, an ironclad and copper-fastened trust of ship builders and owners. He is President and owner of the National bank of Bath, Me. He is a large owner of stock in National banks at Portland and Boston. He is ex-president and is now (me of the directors of the Maine Central Railway Company, described as the most grasping and powerful railway corporation in New TCngland. He is a stock- holder and director in nearly every (orporate monopoly in the State of Maine and in many other New England corporations. He is a lumber baron and saw log king. He is proprietor of the biggest ship- yard in New England. He is a typical caiutalist, monopolist, lobbyist and plutocrat."

The action of the Convention immediately occasioned a wide- spread revolt among Democrats who had been trained in Jacksonian hard money ideas, and especially among business men in the Eastern and Middle Western States. Nor was the revolt confined entirely to these sections, for a number of the oldest l>emocratic papers in the South joined in it. \N itliin ten days after the Conventicm adjourned 100 Democrati<- dailies in ditTerent parts of the country had repudiated its a<tion. The number was soon increased to 150. and many of them expressed their dissent in the strongest terms. Four members of Cleveland's Cabinet were outspoken in their denun- ciation of the platform, and while the President himself gave no immediate expression of opinion, the platform was known to be • utterly repugnant to his views, for he was as strongly in favor of a sound currency as he was in favor of tariff revision. T^ater in the campaign, after the bolting Democrats had called another Conven- tion and nominated a separate ticket, he expr(»ssed himself heartily in favor of the latter. In every comm(»rcial center the revolt included many of the most capable and clear headed business nwn and the most responsible business firms. Many of these men announced their purpose to vote the Bepublican ticker. Others met in Conven- tion at Indianapolis, Sej)tember l\; declared that in view of the grave

478 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

departures made by the Chieaj^o Ton vent ion from Deniocratir prin- ciples tli(\v could not support its candidates nor be bound by its acts, and nominated John M. Palmer, of Illinois, for President, and Simon B. Buckner, of Kentu<ky, for Yice-President.

Meantime the Bryan people received some encouragement from two other organizations. The Poi)ulist party, which had cast ovrr eleven hundred thousand votes at the last Presidential election, and which was stronger now than it was then, met in St. I^uis, July 24. endorsed the nomination of Bryan and named Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, for \'i<e-IMesident. The same day an organization of Silver Republicans, calling itself the National Silver i»arty, met in the same (Mty and endorsed the nominations of Bryan and Sewall. The financial plank adopted by the latter gathering declared: "The para- mount issue at this time in the Tnited States is indisputably the money question. It is between the gold standard, gold bonds and bank currency on the one side, and the bimetallic standard, no bonds and government <urren(y on the other. On this issue we declare ourselves to be in favor of a distinctively American tinanrial system. We are unalterably opj:osed to the* single gold standard and demand Ihe imnuHliate return to the Constitutional standard of gold and silver by the restoration by this (Jovernment, independent of any foreign power, of the unrc^stricted coinage of both gold and silver into standard numey at the ratio of 1<5 to I and upon terms of exact equal- ity as they (»xisted prior to 1S7:{: the silver coin to be a full legal tender, equally with gold for ail debts and dues, private and public, and we favor such legislation as will prevent for the future the demonetization of any kind of legal tender money by private contract. We hold that the j)ower to rontrol and regulate a paper currency is inseparable from the power to roin money; and hence that all currency intended to circulate as money should be issued, and its volume controlled by the (Seneral (iovernment only and should be legal tender."

The I^opulist t'onvention demand(»d a graduattnl income tax and declared that the Supreme Court decision relative to that subjeei was a misinterpretation of the Constitution; demanded that the (lovernment should usv its option as to the kind of lawful money in which its obiigati(Uis should be paid, and had the following addi- tional hnanrial clauses:

We demand a National money, safe and sound, issued by the General Government onlv, without the intervention of banks of issue.

THE SIXTEEN TO ONE CAMPAIGN. 479

to be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, and a just, eijuitable and efficient means of distribution direct to the i)eople and through the lawful disbursements of the government.

We demand the free and unrestricted coinage of silver and gold at the [present legal ratio of IG to 1, without waiting for tlie consent of foreign nations.

We demand the volume of circulating medium be speedily increased to an amount sufficient to meet the demands of the busi- ness and population of this country and to restore the just level of prices of labor and production.

We denounce the sah* of bonds and the increase of the public interest-bearing bond debt made by the present administration as unnecessary and without authority of law, and demand that no more bonds be issued except by specific Act of ("ongress.

We demand such legislation as will prevent the demonetization of the lawful money of the Ignited States by private contract.

Even thf» customary quiet of the Prohibitionists was disturbed by the paramount issue, for iheir Convention held at Pittsburg, May 27, had split on this subject. The original body nominated Joshua Levering, of Maryland, for President, and Hale Johnson, of Illinois, for Yifo on a straight Prohibition platform. The bolters added 16 to 1, and various other declarations to their j)latform, and nominated C. E. Bentley, of Nebraska, for President, and J. H. Southgate for Vice. The bolters called themselves the National party. To complete Ihe assortment of tickets a Socialist Labor Convention met in New- York, July 4, demanded changes which would practically revolution- ize our (rovernment, and named Charles H. Matchett, of New York, as the head of its ticket, with Matthew McGuire, of N(*w Jersey, as his associate.

The campaign which followed was one of the most exciting in the history of the country. Bryan, who has rare talents as a cam- jmign orator, was constantly on the stump, was everywhere gre<^ted by large crowds, and made a profound impression. Silver orators held meetings in almost every school district, in the yards of manu- factories, and on (he corners of city streets. The manufacturing and commercial interests soon became alarmed, and men who had taken no part in politics for years now came out with liberal <ontributions and active personal work for the sound money ticket. Detroit may be taken as a type of other cities of its size among the manufacturing and trade centers. Every noon sound money meetings were held on the vacant first floor of the new Majestic building, and frequent meet-

4J<0

HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

ings in otlier vjuiuit stores. The best^fclkers in the city from among lawyers inid business men w<»re enlisted for these meetings, and ociasionall.\ noird spcakiMs from abroad attended. Speeches were ma<le lU ili<* larj:(» mnniifa^tories during the noon hour, the Presi- dents iMid Sn|KMiiit(MH]<Mits of the* companies frequently addressing (heir own men. Finally nearly every large factory in the city was closed for a day. lo ^-ive opporiunity for the largest parade of Indus- Trial iiitcrists vwv s(M*n in the city.

\or was (here any lack of oratory on the other side; for after

the sound money men had vacated the Majes- tic building for the day, the silver men oc- < upied it. Their ora- tors talked also from tlic City Hall steps, the rampus Martins, often I Jiroughout the day and far into the evening. S i m i 1 a r experiences were d u p 1 i ca t e d in <-rand Rapids, Saginaw and other manufactur- ing <ities in the State, while the villages and the rural districts were thoroughly canvassed. A large part of the work was done by local committees who paid MAKci s A. HANNA. their own expenses.

At th<* same tim<* the State tVntral and County Committees were doing the usual work of providing speakers for general meetings and distributing do< iiments. What was true of Detroit and Miehigan was (rue of every other City and State north of the Ohio river, and of a few manufacturing <enfers in the Southern Stat<*s. Till* ciri Illation of dotuments was enormous. There were hundnMls of diilVrent s])e(»ches and rom]nlations issued, and the aggregan* eirrulalion was estimated at r)().(MM),tMM) copies. Vnder all these iutluenics an immense vote was polled, the aggi-egate being

THE SIXTEEN TO ONE CAMPAIGN. 481

18,923,643, against 12,154,542 in 1892. All parties recognized, at the outset, that the fighting ground for the campaign was in the North- west, and for the direction of affairs in that territory they established headquarters in Chicago. There was a good understanding among the free silver allies, and in all the uncertain states they named joint Ele<*toral tickets, dividing the Electors between the Democrats, Popu- lists and Free Silver Republicans, in proportion, as nearly as they could estimate, to the vote which each section would cast for the combination. Six weeks before election the result was considered doubtful, but the activity of the business interests had such an effect that as election day approached but little doubt remained of the success of the Kepublican ticket.

On the Republican side the campaign brought a new figure into National politics. Marcus A. Hanna, a wealthy manufacturer and capitalist of Cleveland, and a personal friend of (rovernor McKin- ley's, was the principal manager of the campaign made by the friends of the latter for the nomination, and was afterwards made Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He proved to be a good organizer, an energetic worker and resourceful in i>lanning. Neither on his part nor on that of Chairman Jones of the Democratic National Committee was there any lack of vigorous conduct or skillful man- agement of the campaign. When the returns were in the electoral vote for the several candidates figured up as follows:

McKinley and Hobart, Republican 271

l>ryan and Sewall, Democrat, Populist and Silver

Republican 149

Bryan and Watson, Democrat and Populist 27

From the old Southern and Border States McKinley had the fol- lowing electoral votes: Delaware, 3; Maryland, 8; Kentucky, 12; West Virginia, 0. Of the Northern States w^hi(;h Cleveland carried in 1892, McKinley carried the following in 1896: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Bryan carried all of the new Northwestern States except North Dakota, their vote on V'ice-President being divided between Sewall and Watson. The popular vote for President was as follow^s:

McKinley and Hobart 7,106,199

Bryan and Sewall and Bryan and Watson 6,502,685

Palmer and Buckner .' 132,871

Levering and Johnson 131,757

Bentley and Southgate 13,873

Matchett and Maguire 36,258

482 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Congress, during President MeKinley's term, was constituted as follows:

Fifty-fifth Congress. Senate — Repiil)li<ans, 47; Democrats, 31; Populists, 5; Silver.

5; Independent, 1. n<mse — Republicans, 203; Democrats, 119; Populists, 15: Silver, 3; Fusion 14.

F'ifty-sixtli Congress. Senate— Republicans, 55; Democrats, 24; Populists, 4;

Silver, 7. Housi* — Republicans, 185; Democrats, 103; Populists, 4; Silver, 1 ; Fusion, 4.

The popular vote in Michigan was, for McKinlev, 293,072; Brvan. 236,994; Palmer, 0,905; Levering, 4,938; J^entley, 1,815; Socialist Labor, 293; scattering, 585.

The Presidential Electors fr<mi Michigan were: At Large — Josiah C. Gray, Frank NY. Oilchrist. By Districts, in their numerical order — -John Atkinson, Oscar J. R. Hanna, Sumner O. Bush, Harsen D. Smith, William O. Webster, G. Willis Bement, Thomas B. Wood- worth, Henry C. Potter, Digbv B. Butler, Rasmus Hanson, Lorenzo A. Barker, Albert C. Hubbell.'

The official vote for Governor at the same election was as follows:

Hazen S. Pingree, Republican 304,431

Charles R. Sligh, Fusion 221,022

Robert C. Stafford, Prohibition 5,499

Ruf us V. Sprague, Xational Democrat 9,738

John Gilberson, National 1,944

A fusion of the Democrats and Populists elected Albert M. Todd to Congress from the Third District, and PVrdinand D. Brucker in the Eighth. The rest were Republicans, as follows: (li John B. Corliss: (2) George Spalding; (4) Edward L. Hamilton; (.")) Wm- Alden Smith: (6) Samuel W. Smith; (7) Horace G. Snover; (9) Roswell P. Bishop; (10) Rousseau O. Crump; (11) William R. Mesick; (12) Carlos D. Shelden. At the State election held about the middle of President McKin- ley's term in 1898, the vote for Governor in Michigan was as follows:

Hazen S. Pingree. Republican 243,239

Justin R. Whiting, Fusion 168,142

Noah W. Cheever, Prohibition 7,000

Sullivan Cook, People's Party 1,656

George Hasseler, Socialist Labor 1,101

The Congressional delegation fnmi Michigan was again solidly Republican: (1) John B. Corliss; (2) Henry C Smith: (3) Washington Gardner: (4) Edward L. Hamilton; (5) William Alden Smith: (6) Samuel W. Smith; (7) Edgar Weeks; (8) Joseph Fordnev; (9) Roswell P. Bishop; (Kh Ronsscan O. Crump: (ID William S. Mesick: (12) Carlos D. Shelden.

> /

^:g/^;^V^^

•|!«'» . i

fiif >l,^n.. >^i. v#r-

'^trh.-ii in;-

-•■'■ V.

■ . . :. 'i {■■•■■

i t

0 /

XXXVII.

PRESIDENT MrKINLEY^S ADMINISTKATION.

Fornmtion of the New Cabinet — Two Matters of Cirave Domestic Iinportance — T\w Curreney and the Tariff (iueations — Prompt Action on Poth — Passaj^e of the Dingley Tariff Act — The Hawaiian Ishmds Annexed — Strained Relations With Spain — The Destrnction of tlie Maine — War Breaks Ont and Is Very Speedily Terminated — Brilliant Operations in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philii)pines — Subsequent Desultory Warfare in the Latter Islands.

President McKinley named the following members as his first Cabinet :

Secretary of State — John Sherman, of Ohio. Secretary of the Treasury — Lyman J. Gage, of Illinois. Secret.ary of War — Russell A. Alger, of Michigan. Secretary of the Navy — John I). Long, of Massachusetts. Attorney General — John W. Griggs, of New Jersey. Postmaster General — John A. Gary, of Maryland. Secretary of the Interior — Cornelius N. Bliss, of New York. Secretary of Agriculture — James Wilson, of Iowa.

This Cabinet, however, was not lasting, for before the Fifty-sixth Congress met in December, 18JM), a number of changes had occurred: John Hay, of the District of Columbia, had succeeded John Sherman as Secretary of State; Elihu Root, of New York, was Secretary of War; Charles Emory Smith, of Pennsylvania, was Postmaster Gen- eral, and P^than Allen Hitrhcock, of Missouri, was Secretary of the Interior.

Vice-President Hobart, who had proved an able and impartial presiding ofllcer and who stood high in public esteem, died November 21, 1899, and was succeeded as President of the Senate by William P. Frye, of Maine.

Two matters of grave domestic importance confronted the new Administration when it first came into i)Ower, and our relations

484 HISTORY OF THE KEPrHLK AN PARTY.

with two foreign countries demanded immediate attention. The most important of the domestic matters was such an adjustment of tariff rates as would produce an inccmie sufticient for the needs of the OovernnH»nt, and at the same time revive our depressed manufac- turing industries. The \Vays and Means Committee of the last Hous(», of which ( \)nji;ressman E. N. Dingley, of Maine, was a member, had already sjKMit several months in the ])reparation of a Tariff Bill. Their method was in marked contrast to that ado]>ted with the Mills and \Vilson Bills, (ireat complaint was made that in the preparation of these two, ])articularly the latter, the needs of very important interests were entirely ip:nored, and that the most eminent business men of the country could not even secure a hearing. The Bill was prepared behind closed doors and was constructed upcm theory, with little reference to the facts of experience. The Oingley Committee, on the other hand, set ajiart many days for hearings from manufac- turers, im])orters and other businessmen. The report of the evidence taken at these meetings makes !i,:^tK) printed pages of matter bearing cm almost every ]>hase of the tariff as it relates to the investment of capital, the employment and wages of labor and the effect on import and export trade. It is one of the most inqiortant and valuable eco- nomic re]iorts ever printed by the Oovernmeni.

President ^IcKinley called Congress together in special session ^larch 15, only eleven days after he took the oath of office. His message on the occasion was, in part, as follows:

\Vith unlimited means at our command, we ari^ presenting the remarkable spectach* of increasing our public debt by borrowing money to me(*t the ordinary outlays incident upon even an eco- nomical and prudent administration of the Government. An examination of the subject discloses this fact in every detail, and leads inevitably to the conclusion that the ccmdition of the revenue which allows it is unjustifiable and should be corrected. \Ve find by the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury that the revenues for the fiscal years ending June :^0, 1892, from all sources, were f425,868,- 200.22, and the expenditures for all purposes were f4 15,953,800.50, leaving an excess of recei])ts over expenditures of f 0,9 14,45:^.00. The receipts of the Government from all sources during the fiscal year ending June ;>0, 180:>, amounted to ?401, 710,501.94 and its expendi- tures to f45!),:iT4, 887.05, showing an excess of receipts over expenditures of $2,341,074.29.

Sinct* that tinu* the receipts of no fiscal year, and with but few excej)tions of no month of any fiscal year have exceeded the exi>endi- tures. The re(cij>ts of the Government, from all sources, during the

PKESIDENT McKIXLKY S ADMINISTRATION. 485

fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, were 1372,802,41)8.29, and its expendi- tures J442,005,7r)8.S7, leaving a delicit, the first sinre the resumption of 8i»e<ie payments, of $69,803,2(i0.58. Notwithstanding there was a decrease of |16;70tK 128.78 in tlie ordinary expenses of the Govern- ment, as compared with the i)revious fiscal year, its income was still not sufficient to provide for its daily necessities, and the gold reserve in the Treasury for Ihe redemption of greenbacrks was drawn upon to meet them. Hut this did not suffice, and the government tlien resorted to loans to replenish the reserve.

The receipts of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1805, were $300,373,203.30, and the expenditures $433,178,420.4^, showing a deficit of |42,805,223.i8. A further loan of $100,000,000 was negotiated by the (Jovernment in February, 1896, the sale netting $111,10(),240, and swelling the aggregate of bonds issued within three years to $202,315,400. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896, the revenues of tlie government from all sources amounti^d to $409,475,- 408.78, whih^ its expenditures were $434,078,654.48, or an excess of expenditures over receipts of $25,203,245.70. In other words, the total receipts for the three fiscal years ending June 30, 1896, were insufficient by $137,811,729.46 to meet the total expenditures.

Nor has this condition since improved. For the first half of the present fiscal year the rec(*ipt8 of the government, exclusive of postal revenues, were $157,507,603.76, and its expenditures, exclusive of postal servic4N $195,410,000.22, or an excess of expenditures over receipts, of $37,902,396.46.

Congress should lu'omptly correct the existing condition. Ample revenues must be supplied not only for the ordinary (expenses of the Government, but for the prompt payment of liberal pensions and the liquidation of the principal and interest of the public debt. In rais- ing revenue, duties should be so levied upon foreign i)roducts as to preserve the home market, so far as possible, to our own producers; to revive and increase manufactories; to relieve and encourage agri- culture; to increase our domestic and foreign commerce; to aid and develop mining and building, and to render to labor in every field of useful oecuiation the liberal wages and adequate rewards to which skill and industry are justly entitled.

Mr. Dingley was appointed Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the new Housin and on the 19th of March reported the Hill with a long statement of the changes which it made from the existing tarilf, together with a statement somewhat similar to that which the Tresident had made, of (he need of incretised revenues, and an estimate* of the extent to whi<h the tariff changes would meet this need. The most imi)ortant <hang(»s were in the wool and sugar schedules. The tariff on wool and woolen goods was restored to a protective rat(». That on sugars was changed from an ad-valorem

4S0 HISTORY OF THE REPUHLICAN PARTY.

duty to a spenfii- rate of 1.63 cents per pound, with a countervailing duty equivalent to the export bounty paid by any country sending sugars to us. A large number of other increases were made, and the reciprocity policy was restored and its scope enlarged. The House passed the Bill April 2. The Senate Finance Committee spent about a month upon it, reporting it May 7. The Senate had the Bill under consideration for two months, and passed it, with numerous amendments, July 7. It then went to a Conference Committee, where the different points of disagreement were adjusted, and it finally ])assed the House July 10, and the Senate five days later. It went into operation immediately, and its beneficent effects in reviv- ing manufacturing industries and increasing the revenue were speedily felt.

The question of our relations with the Hawaiian Islands came up again early in McKinley's term. This was not, by any means a new question. As early at 1842 President Tyl(»r sent a message to the Senate in relation to these islands. Fillmore, in 1850, reiterated the statements made by Tyler in favor of the annexation or protection of the islands by our Government. Franklin Pierce, in 1854, desired the annexation of Hawaii and authorized the negotiatioi^ of the treaty of annexation of that year, but the treaty was not confirmed by the Senate. President Buchanan, in 1849, as Secretary of State, stated that English or French control of Hawaii would be highly injurious to the United States. The annexation of Hawaii was favored by President Grant. President Arthur was in full sympathy with the Americanizing of Hawaii, and I'resident Harrison caused an annexa- tion treaty to be negotiated in Hawaii.

President McKinley, early in his Administration, negotiated another annexation treaty which he sent to the Senate, June 17, 1897. Commissioners were namtMi on the part of both countries with full power to carry out the terms of the treaty. These provided for the cession by the Hawaiian Government to the United States of all the territory of the islands, with their rights of sovereignty, all public buildings and other property, the United States to assume the public debt of the islands to the extent of |4,()00,()(M). Provision was also made for the (exclusion of Chinese immigration, for the adjustment of treaties with other ])Owers, and for the Government of the islands during the transition period. This treaty was not acted upon during the siKM'ial session of Congress, and during the regular session it became evident that it could n(»t secure, in the Senate, the two-thirds

PRESIDENT M(KINLEY\S ADMINISTRATION. 487

vote necessary to its ratification. But the same purpose was accom- plished by another method. A tender of the islands to the United States, on very mucli tlie same terms as those named in the treaty was formally made by President Dole, and this was accepted by Congress by joint resolution, which required only a majority vote of each House. Some objection was made to this method when it was first proposed, as being an evasion of the Constitutional provision requiring a two-thirds vote of the Senate for the ratification of a treaty. The claim was made that even if the proposed transfer was not, in termi?, a treaty, yet it amounted to the same thing. But between the time when annexation was proposed in 18J)7, and the lime when the joint resolution came up in 1898, the Spanish war had intervened, showing the great importance to the United States of a convenient coaling and naval station in the Pacific, and the danger that might come to our interests, in case the islands should fall into the hands of a hostile naval power. Whatever anti-annexation feeling had before existed was nearly obliterated, and the joint resolution now met with favor, it passed the House June 15, by the decisive vote of 2{)\) to 91. The Senate debate on the matter con- tinued from June 20 to July (>, and covertnl every phase of the question. The resolution finally ])assed that body by 42 to 21, just two-thirds of those voting. The President signed the resolution the next day, and about a month later President Dole, on presentation of a certified copy of the resolution, formally delivered over to Rear Admiral Miller, representing the United States, the sovereignty and public property of the islands. On the 1 2th of August the American flag, which President Cleveland had ordered down, was again raised over the Government buildings, this time to remain. In accordance with the terms of the joint resolution, the President directed that the civil, judicial and military systems of Hawaiian officials should con- tinue until Congress could jjrovide a form of Government suited to the new conditions. This was accomplished, upon recommendations of Commissioners appointed to make the necessary investigations, and early in 1S99 a T(*rritorial (lovernment for the islands was fully established.

Tlu* <onditi(m of Cuba had for many years before this time been a matter of great concern to the people of the United States. To go no further back, the ten years' struggle which the Cubans made for freedom in the period from 1808 to 1878, excited the liveliest sympathy in this country, which was several times on the point of intervention.

48K HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

That war closed with promises of reform in the Cuban Government, which Spain made only to break. The next revolt occurred in 1895 when (Jeneral (iomez landed with 5(10 men near Santiago de Cuba, and soon raised an army which marched across the island and even threatened Havana. Spain increased her armies on the Island to 100,0(M) men, a force sufficient to wipe out the insurgents if they could nave been brought into an o])en fight. The insurgents, however, carried on a desultory warfare, harassing the Spaniards at every point, but avoiding conflicts with superior numbers. On the part of the Spaniards the war was conducted with the greatest cruelty in all its details. The Spanish General Weyler was shown to have been privy to the assassination of General Maceo, the ablest of the Cuban generals, and his policy of concentration had resulted in the death of scores of thousands of non-combatants through exposure and star- vation. The "reconcentrados," as they were called, were obliged to leave their farms and plantations, and were huddled together in certain designated towns, without sufficient protection from the ele- ments, and with but a scant supply of food. The wholesale destruc- tion of lile thus occasioned looked very much as if a policy of extermination had been determined upon.

The Fifty-fourth Congress adopted a resolution, expressing detestation of the Spanish methods in Cuba, and sympathy for the Cubans. There was a disposition to make this a joint resolution granting belligerent rights to the patriots, but the influence of Presi- dent Cleveland went against this. Many bitter criticisms were made upon the Administration in this connection. The President, espec- ially, was chargiHl with going much beyond his duty in enforcing neutrality. He undertook to police the seas beyond the three-mile limit, and to seize vessels carrying munitions of war, for violating neutrality. He went so far beyond the requirements of international law that in only one case did the courts sustain him. The case of a vessel called the Competitor presented such an outrageous infringe- ment of neutral rights that the Government was at last aroused to a mild form of intervention. The Competitor was seized while trying to land munitions of war for the insurgents. Her crew were sum- marily tried by court martial. \Vith()ut being allowed time for the preparation of their case, or counsel of their own choosing, they were found guilty and sentenced to be shot. Fortunately, the sentence could not be carried out until it had been approved from Madrid, and this gave opportunity for an American protest which

PRESIDENT McKINLEY'S ADMINISTRATION. 489

was heeded. The crew of the Competitor were convicted by the court martial of piracy and treason. But their act had none of the elements of piracy, and it could not be treason, because none of thosp accused were Spanish subjects. One of them was an American.

The feeling on the subject of the Cuban war was so strong that in the fall campaign of 1896 it found its way into many State Conven- Tions, and into the National Conventions. The Republicans in their St. Louis platform declared that *'the Government of the United States should actively use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the Island,'- while the Democratic platform simply extended ^'sympathy to the people of Cuba in their heroic struggle for liberty and independence."

At a special session of the Fifty-tifth Congress, called by Presi- dent McKinley in March, 1897, the Senate passed a resolution recog- nizing the belligerency of the insurgents, but the House failed to take action upon it. President McKinley brought sufficient pressure to bear upon the Spanish Government to secure the recall of General Weyler, and a decree of autonomy for the Island. The insurgents, however, distrusted the sincerity of the latter and kept up the w^ar.

In his annual message to Congress, December 0, 1897, President McKinley explained at length the new duties and responsibilities that a recognition of Cuban belligerency would impose upon this country, declared that for the present such recognition was unwise and inad- missible, and added:

It is honestly due to Spain and to our friendly relations with Spain that she should be given a reasonable chance to realize her expectations and to prove the asserted efficiency of the new order of things, to which she stands irrevocably committed. She has recalled the connnander whose brutal orders inflamed the American mind and shocked the civilized world. She has moditted the horrible order of concentration and has undertaken to care for the helpless and permit those who de^iire to resume the cultivation of their fields to do so, and assures them of the protection of the Spanish Government in their lawfuj. occupations. She has just released the Competitor pris- oners, heretofore sentenced to death, and who have been the subject of repeated diplomatic correspondence during both this and the pre- ceding Administration.

Not a single American citizen is now in arrest or confinement in Cuba of whom this Government has any knowledge. The near future will demonstrate whether the indis])ensab]e condition of a righteous peace, just alike to the Cubans and to Spain, as w^ell as equitable to all our interests so intimately involved in the welfare of Cuba, is

4110 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

likely to be altuiued. If not, the exij^eiu-} of further and other action by the Tnited States will remain to be taken. \Vhen that time comes, that action will be determined in the line of indisputable right and duty. It will be faced, without misgiving or hesitancy, in the light ol the obligation this Government owes to itself, to the people who have contided to it the protection of their interests and honor, and to humanity.

The attitude of the K])anish residents of Havana became mon^ and more threateninu, and in January the battleship Maine was sent to that port. She was anchored at a point in the harbor indicated by the Spanish authorities, and on the 15th of February was blown up by an outside exj)losion with the loss of a large part of her crew. Five days later I'nited States (^)nsul (Jeneral Iah*, wrote from Havana, referring to the arrests of Americans there:

I am under orders from AVashington, and I must obey instruc- tions from head(iuarters. The department authorizes me to act a certain way, and I but <-arry out my orders. I came here unprejudiced and determined to form my oi)inions by what came directly under my observation. From the moment I landed my American blood began to boil, and if 1 stay here much longer and am forced to witness all the indignities heapt^d upon my countrymen without restraint it will literally boil away. They trample on our flag. They hiss us in the streets. Americans are murdered, robbed and imprisoned. Indigni- ties are heaped upon our women, and every atrocity conceivable for a Spaniard to put on Americans is thrust upon us.

About the same tinu* Spanish sympathizers in that City openly declared that if more American war8hii)S were sent they would destroy the American consulate, and thus, by their own acts force a war with the United States.

A >aval Court of Inquiry into the Maine disaster was ordered, and reported that the battleship was destroyed by a submarine mine. Squadrons of United States vessels were concentrated at Key West and Hampton Roads, and on the Uth of April the President sent a message to Congress asking for authority "to take measures to secure a full and final termination of hostilities between the (Sovernment of Spain and the peojile of Cuba, and to secure in the Island the estab- lishment of a stable government, cajmble of maintaining order and observing its international obligations, insuring peace and tranquil- lity and the security of its citizens, as well as our own, and to use the military and naval forces of the United States as may be necessary for this purimse." He also asked for an appropriation for feeding the

PRESIDENT McKINLEY'S ADMINISTRATION. 401

starving Reconceutrados. Congress made the aiipropriation, and on April 9 adopted a joint resolution favoring Cuban independence, and authorizing intervention. The Spanish Oovernment showed its understanding of the resolutions by sending General Stewart L. Woodford, American Minister at Madrid, his passports. The date of this act, April 21, is accepted as the beginning of a state of war between the United States and Spain, though the formal declaration was not made by Congress till the 25th.

The short war that followed was, on the part of the United States, one of the most brilliant in the military and naval annals of the world. Our Navy was, in one sense, untried, for since the War of the Rebellion it had seen no active service. Within that period the old types of vessels had almost entirely disappeared, and new kinds had been put in commission. Rut in able seamanship on the part of officers, in fine discipline on the part of the marines, in expert marks- manship on the part of gunners, a record was made worthy of the splendid cruisers and battleships, to the building of which four dif- ferent Administrations had devoted their energies. By the daring and brilliant achievements of Commodore Dewey in passing the forts near the entrance to Manila Ray and attacking the vessels which had lendezvoused there, one of the best of the Spanish fleets was annihi- lated. In the running fight olT Santiago Ray another was destroyed, and it was only a few weeks after the beginning of the war before the Spanish navy was swept from the seas. The vessels that were not destroyed or captured remained sheltered in her home ports, not venturing into open water outside the Straits of Gibraltar. The direct losses of her Navy were twelve cruisers, representing a dis- placement of 49,1)74 tons; two torpedo boat destroyers and twenty -one gunboats.

The operations on land were eqimlly memorable. In an incredi- bly short space of time, a volunteer force of H,785 officers and 207,244 enlisted men was raised and equipped as an addition to the 2,323 officers and 56,305 enlisted men of the Regular Army. In the few engagements that they had they maintained the old American repu- tation for endurance and bravery. In the engagements of Juragua, San Juan Hill and El Caney the volunteer officers and men won laurel wreaths as green as those which adorned the brows of their comrades in the Navy.

Three months and twenty-two days sufficed to end the war by the protocol to a treaty, though the treaty itself was not signed till

492 HISTORY OF THE REPrBLICAN PARTY.

December 10, 1898. The ]>riuei]ja] articles of the completed treaty provided for the evacuation of Cuba by the Spaniards, the cession of Porto Rico, Guam and the Philippine Islands, and for the acquire- ment by the ['nited States of public property, and the relinquish- ment of archives; determined the status of Spanish subjects remaining in the <*eded territories and of incompleted contracts and law suits; gave guarantees of the same terms to Spanish shipping and mer- chandise as to that of the Tnited States in the Phili])pines for ten years, and guaranteed religious freedom in the ceded territories on the same terms as the treaty for the cession of Florida.

For Porto Rico, which thus became a possession of the I'nited States a complete form of civil government, with provision for raising the needed revenue was adopted at the first session of the Fifty- sixth Congress.

I'nder the treaty Spain abandoned all pretensions to rule in Cuba, but the Cnited States ( Government had previously announced its pur])ose to give that Island an independent government as soon as circumstances would permit. In October, 1900, Major General Leonard \Vood, Governor (Jeneral, was able to report a most remark- able improvement in the condition of the Island. Every town of consequence had been provided with a hospital well equipped and with all necessary supj)lies; the prisons had been overhauled and their sanitary conditions greatly imj)roved; many hundreds of accused persons, held long in detention without trial, had been released; courts had been stimulated and urged to a ]u-oni]>t perform- ance of their duties, and many judges, found derelict in their duty, had been dismissed; inspectors of prisons had been appointed whose instructions required them to visit every prison at least onc*e in three nnrnths; correctional courts had been establislu^ for the trial of minor offenses, with the privilege of jury trial; over 3,000 schools had been established with 3,000 teacliers and 150,000 pupils; public build- ings had been repaired and the streets in all the large cities had undergone extensive paving and sewer improvements; a thoroughly eflBcient mail service had been established; nearly 700 miles of jmst roads had been built, and many hundred miles of old roads had bei^ii put in rej)air and made passable; bridges had been rebuilt, and public works, involving millions of dollars had been taken up and com- pleted; a complete overland telegraj^h had been establisluni. The Island had been restored to such order that a traveler might journey from one end of it to the other, without fear of being assailed by a

PRESIDENT MeKINLEY'S ADMINISTRATION. 493

robber, aud without beiii^ solicited by a bej;i^ar. Meantime financial and industrial conditions had been steadily improving. The Govern- ment was self-support ng and had an unincumbered balance of $1,500,- 000 in the Treasury. A most etticient customs service had been established of which many of the ofticers were Cubans, and the quar- antine service had been thoroughly equipped and was rigidly enforced. The tobacco crop for the year was an enormous one; the sugar i)roduced, which had fallen to almost nothing during the devas- tating war between Spain and Cuba, was, in the season of 1900, more than half as large as during the palmiest and most pea<-eful days before the war, and all other indus tries had been stimulated. Under the influence of this won derful progress the people were content, and received with faith the promises of the Ignited States to establish a stable government in which they should have their share. Two general elections had been held, one on June 15, 1900, for municipal officers throughout the Island, and one Septemberl5, for delegates to the Constitutional Con- vention. Both elections were conducted without American officials, either military or civil, being at a single polling place in Cuba, and without any interference whatever on the part of the American mili- tary or civil authorities. There was not a single disturbance in either election.

The whole story was one of marvelous reconstruction, rapid progress, and high regard for the welfare of the peojile such as had never before been approached in the colonial history of any country

In the Philii)pine Islands matters were more difficult of adjust- ment. Armed bands of insurgents, under the lead of Aguinaldo, maintained a d(»sultory warfare throughout the Island of Luzon through the year 1899 and nearly all of 1900. It is a well established fact that they derived great encouragement from the **Anti-Imper- ialisC- talk of a few prominent Republicans and many Democrats, including the head of the Democratic ticket.

The diphmiacy of the I'nited States won great praise from other Nations during the troubles that occurred in China in 1900. A strong force of insurgents, or revolutionists, under the name of the '•Boxers'' opened what they intended to be a war of extermination against all foreigners, destroyed many of the missicm stations and besieged the legations of all the great Powers at Pekin. The United States, Great Britain, Russia, (iermany, Austria, France and Japan, united in sending troo])S for the rescue of their ambassadors and

494 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

consuls and the protection of their interests. It was through the influence of the United States that communication was first opened with the besieged legations, and it was largely through the same influence that a disposition shown by other Powers to obtain indem- nity by the acquisition of Chinese territory received its first check, and the dismemberment of the Chinese Empire was for the time at least prevented.

In financial and industrial results the achievements of the first McKiniey Administration were most marked. The Currency Bill, passed at the first regular session of the Fifty-fifth Congress, settles a number of questions which have been agitating the public for some years. It establishes, by definite statute, the gold standard in finan- cial transactions. By forbidding the reissue of greenbacks once redeemed, it stops the *Vndle88 chain" method of drawing gold from the Treasury. By authorizing National banks to issue currency np to the face value of bonds deposited, and by reducing from f 50,000 to 125,000, the capital necessary for establishing such banks, it opens the way for an increase of curren<»y when needed, and for furnishing banking facilities to the smaller towns. By fixing the denominations of silver certificates at flO and below, and of United States notes at $10 and above, it gives a larger circulation to the former, at the same time that it provides for the gradual retirement of the Treasury notes. It provides for the refunding of the National debt in bonds drawing only two per cent, interest. This is a lower rate of interest than that paid by any other Crovernment, and when it was proposed predictions were abundant that the bonds could not be floated. Yet Avithin three months of the time the Currency Bill passed, f300,000,- 000 of the two j)er cents had been taken. They were then quoted at 1.06 while British 2} jier cent, bonds were selling at .98.

When President McKiniey called the extra session of Congress in March, 1897, he urged that ample revenues be provided; that "duties should be so levied as to preserve the home market so far as possible to our own producers; to revive and increase manufactures; to relieve and encourage agriculture; to increase our domestic and foreign commerce; to aid and develop mining and building; and to n^ider to labor in every field of useful occupation the liberal wages and adequate rewards to which skill and industry are justly entitled."

-V great mass of figures might be given to show that all these results luave been achieved. But a few will suftice. During the

PRESIDENT McKINLEY'S ADMINISTRATION. 495

thirty -five months tiie Wilson Tariff was in operation there was a total deficit of more than |;i08,()()0,(MM) in the public revenues. In the first thirty-two months of the operation of the Dingley tariff the surplus revenues, eliminating? war receipts and expenditures, and the amounts derived from the Pacific Kailroad seltlements, exceeded ?45,000,000.

The story of improved trade and industry is succinctly told by Ihe following table of exports and imports for the fiscal year ending June 30, 181)6, under the Wilson taritT and a Democratic Administra- tion, as compared with those of the year ending June 30, 1900, under ihe Dingley tariff and a Reimblican Administration:

IMPORTS.

189G. 1900.

Articles of food and animals. . . . f 237,025,045 |218,479,098

Articles in crude condition for

use in manufactures 209,368,717 302,264,106

Articles wholly or partly manu- factured for use as materials in manufacture and the mechanics arts 94,733,719 88,433,549

Articles manufactured readv for

consumption ! . . . . 145,274,039 128,885,697

Articles of voluntarv use, luxu- ries, etc ' 93,323,154 111,652,220

Total 1779,724,674 |849,714,670

EXPORTS.

Products of Agriculture |t569,879,297 | 8.35,912,952

Manufactures 228,571,178 432,284,366

Mining 20,045,654 38,997,557

Forest 33,718,204 52.309,484

Fisheries 6,850,392 6,289,664

Miscellaneous 4,135,762 4,682,142

Total 1863,200,487 »1,394,1 86,371

The benefit of the change to manufacturers is shown in the fact that in sj)ite of enormously increased <-onsumption th(» imi)orts of manufactured goods ready for final use diminish(Ml, while the imports of crude materials to be used in manufa<tures increased about |93,- 000,000. American labor received the lH»nefit of wages paid for working u]) these crude materials. The (^xjmrts of manufactured articles in four years increased ^203,713,188, or almost 90 per cent.

XXXVIII.

TWELFTH KEPI BLICAN CONVENTION.

A Large and Harmonious Gathering at Philadelphia — Members Present Who Were 1 delegates to the First Republican Conven- tion in the Same City — Admirable Presentation of Campaign Issues by the Chairman — A Strong Platform Adopted — President McKinley Unanimously Renominated — Large Number of Per- sons Mentioned for the Vice-Presidency — ^The Nomination Final- ly Thrust Lpon an rnwilling Candidate.

The preliminaries to the Twelfth Re])ublican National (.Conven- tion lacked the interest that attends a contest between a number of aspirants for the chief honors of the Nation. From the time the call was issued till the last Territory had named its delegates no other naipe was mentioned for the Presidency except that of William McKinley. There was a mild preliminary skirmish over the nomina- tion for the Vice-l^residency, but even that was settled before th»* time came for making the nomination. The number of contesting delegations was unusually small and those were settled by the Com- mittee on Credentials. There was only one thing during the whole proceedings that threatened any acrimonious debate. That was the Old, old proi>osition to change the representation in future National Conventicms, so as to i)ut it on the basis of Republican votes cast instead of on i)oi)ulation. The Southern delegates were prepared to oppose this, but it was withdrawn without giving opportunity for discussion. So it turned out that in this Convention of more than IMM) deh*gates there was not a division nor a roll call on any disjuited (juestion, nor an occasion for any parlia- mentary tangle. No one objected to the temporary organization nor to the jjermanent organization, nor to the report of the Commit- tee on Rules, nor to that of the Committee on Platform, nor to the nominal ion for President, nor to that of Vice-President. It was the first time in the history of parties that candidates for both these high

TWELFTH KEPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 497

offices iiave been uoDiiuated bv unanimoiiH vote on the first ballot There were none of the frenzied demonstrations of ai)plause, lasting ten or fifteen minutes thajt have sometimes occurred when a close contest between candidates has wrought a Convention u]) to a high l)itch of excitement; but there was still abundant enthusiasm and suj)reme confidence in the result of the coming contest.

The business sessions were held at Convention Hall, Philadel- phia, commencing Tuesday, June 19. They were preceded, the evening before, by a i)arade that has never been ecjualed by any affair of the kind in any gathering of any party. About 80,000 men marched in line, making five miles of j)arty enthusiasm, and it was viewed by 300,000 spectators, who yelled themselves hoarse in the glare of red light and to the accompaniment of i)atriotic airs. The marching army re])resented the supjmrters of McKinley Republicanism, from the bluffs of Maine to the shores of California. Prominent in the ranks were the Young Men's Blaine Club of Cincinnati, the Cook County Marching Club of Chicago, the First Regiment Band of Cin- cinnati, the Pioneer Corps of Westchester, Pa., and the Cook Fife and Drum Band of Denver. Senators Hanna, Piatt and Quay, Gov- ernor Roosevelt, Lieutenant-Governor Woodruff and other prominent party leaders reviewed the trudging thousands and waved their handkerchiefs until they were tired.

As the assemblage gathered on Tuesday, there were o(»cupying prominent seats upon the platform four men who were delegates to the first Convention of the party held in Philadeljihia, June 17, 1850. All were members of the regular Ohio delegation. Three of them were prominent in the Anti-Slavery fight that led to the Convention held in Pittsburg, February 22, 1856, which was the precursor of the Philadelphia gathering and these men therefore claim to be among those who were chiefly instrumental in forming the Republican party. The three men who were first at Pittsburg and later at Philadelphia were Judge Rush R. Sloane, Sandusky, ().; General R. Brinkerhoff, Mansfield, ().; and Hon. George R. Trey, Springfield, O. Judge W\ H. rpson, of Akrcm, O., was at the Philadelphia Convention, but not at that in IMttsburg.

Among th(* distinguished members of the party whose entran<e was greeted with demonstrations of applause, were Cornelius N Bliss, of New York, who had been urged to go on the ticket as Vice President, but who had absolutely refused the use of his name; Governor Theodore* Roosevelt, of New York, who had, up to that

498 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLICAX PAKTV.

time, put the same honor from him; Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, who had free silver leaninjijs in 1S94 and 1896, but who stayed with the party, in which he was a^ain in full fellowship; Senator J. B. For- aker, of Ohio; Henry Cabot Lod^e, of Massachusetts; Cushman K. Davis, of Minnesota; Chauncey M. Deix^w, of \ew York; Senator Fair- banks, of Indiana, who was also a Vice Presidential possibility, and not by any means the least observed. Senator Mark Hauna of Ohio Mr. Hanna, as chairman of the National CommittiH^, called the Convention to order, j>aid a j^racefnl tribute to the City of Philadel- phia in which it was held, ])redicted su<Mess in the coming campaign and expressed his ji:ratihide for the loyal and efficient service which the National Committee rendered durinj^ the campaign four years previous. He then introduced Senator \Volcott, of Colorado, as Tem- porary Chairman. ^Mr. WolcotCs address was an admirable pre- sentation of the issues of th(* coming: cam]>ai^n. He referred to the destructive effects of four years of Democratic misrule upon the industries and credit of the country, and continued:

Facing? these difficulti(»s, the President iumiediately ujion his inauj^uration convened Conjjress in (»xTra s(»ssion, and in a message of force and lucidity summarized the legislation essential to our National prosi)eri(y. The industrial history of the I'nited Stales for the past four years is the tribute to the wisdom of his judpnent. It is quickly ei)itomized. The tariff measure under which we are now conductinji: business was prered^nl by an unusual volume of impor- tations based u])on common knowledjre that certain duties were to be raised; the bill met the jiopular demand that duties on many of the nt^-essaries of life shcmld be lowered and not raised; advances in invention and new trade conditions made it unnecessary and unwise to n^vert to the hijjher tariff provisions of the law of 1890; the increases in the r(»venue provisions were slij!:ht. Yet, notwitli- standinj; all these facts, tendinjr to reduce income, the revenues from the Dinj^ley bill marched steadily upwards, until soon our normal income exceeded our normal expenditure, and we i>assed from a con dition of threatened insolv(»ncy to one of national solvency.

This ti»lls but a small fraction of the story. Under the wise provisions of our tariff laws and the en<-ouraji:ement affordtnl to cap- ital by a rcMiewal of public <ontiden<e, trade commenced to revive. The looms wer<* no lonji^er silent and the mills deserted; railway earn- inj^s incn*as(»d, mer<hants and banks resumed business, labor found employment at fair waj^es, (uir exports increased, and the sunshine of hope apiin illumined the land. The fijrures that illustrate the j^rowin^ j»rosperity of the four years of Rejmblican administration well mijrht staj^fj^er beli(*f. There isn't an idle mill in the country

TWELFTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 41)9

today. The mortgages on western farms have been paid by the tens of thousands, and our farmers are contented and jirosperous. Our exports have reached enormous figures; for the last twelve months our exports of merchandise will exceed our imports by $550,000,000. Our manufactured articles are finding a market all over the world and in constantly increasing volume. We are rapidly taking our place as one of the great creditor nations of the world. Above and beyond all, there is no man who labors with his hands, in all our broad domain, who cannot find work, and thp scale of wages was never in our history as high as now.

Passing over, for the moment, the events associated with the war, let me refer briefly to other legislation of the past four years. We passed a National Bankrupt Act, a measure rendert^d essential by four years of Democratic rule, and under its beneficent provisions thousands of honest men who were engulfed in disaster because of the blight of the Democratic policy, are again enabled to transact business and share the blessings of Republican prosperity.

Senator Wolcotl then recounted the achievements of the past four years in the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, the settlement of the Pacific Railroad obligations, the passage of the Currency Act and the successful conduct of the 8])anish War; spoke about the respon- sibilities of the Nation in connection with its new possessions, and nuide a strong declaration in favor of the retention of the Philippines. His remarks on each one of these topics were met with approving cheers; but the most enthusiastic applause greeted his declaration in favor of retaining the Philipjunes, and the statement that on the money question the East and the West were no longer divided.

The Michigan delegation was composed as follows: At large — Frank J. Hecker, of Detroit; Delos A. Blodgett, of Grand Rapids; William McPherson, Jr., of Howell; William E. Parnall, of Calumet. By Districts- (1) William Livingstone and August Marxhjiusen, of Detroit; (2) Charles L. Edwards of Carleton, and Leslie B. Robertson, of Adrian; (*ij Edward N. Dingley, of Kalamazoo, and George E. Howes, of Battle Creek; (4) George E. Bardeen, of Otsego, and George M. Valentine, of Benton Harbor; (5) Henry Spring of Grand Rapids, and Brinton F. Hall, of Belding; (6) Frederick W. Higgins, of Wood- mere, and Russell C. Ostrander, of Lansing; (7) John E. Wallace, of Port Austin, and Charles F. Moore, of St. Clair; (8) Ralph Loveland, of Saginaw, and HarA'ey B. McLaughlin, of Vernon; (9) A. Oren Wheeler, of Manistee, and Earl Fairbanks, of Luther; (10) Edward F. Land, of Au Sable, and Victor D. Sprague, of Cheboygan; (11) Ren J^arker, of Reed City, and William H. C. Mitchell, of Traverse City;

5(M) HISTORY OF THE REPriU.KWX PARTY.

(12) Murray M. Duncan, of Ishpeniing, and Thoinsi^ F. Cole, of Iron- wood.

William Livinp:8tono was Chairman and l^iinton F. Hall Sem- tary of the delepition, and Convention ofticers and members of rom mittees were as follows: IVrmanent Orpmization, I^slie B. Robert son; Rules and Order of Business, William MiPherson, jr.; Treden- tials, Russell C. Ostrander; Resolutions, Edward N. Din^ley; to notify Presidential n(uuine<\ Col. F. J. Ileeker; to notify Vice-Presidential nominee, William E. Parnall; member of National (\unmittee, William H. Elliott.

An interesting incident of the second day's proceedings was the marshaling, ujion the platform, of fifteen surviving members of th.» Republican Convention at IMttsburg, February 22, 185G, one of their number bearing a tattered American Hag which had been presenttnl as a relic of that occasion. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massa- chusetts, designated as Permanent Chairman of the Convention, was escorted to the platform by (lovernor Shaw, of Iowa, and Governor Roosevelt, of New York, amid great applause. Senator Lodge gave the Convention another good instalment of sound Republican doc trine and encouragement. He mentioned the chief incidents of Presi- dent McKinley's Administration, referred to other achievements of the party, but added that we did not exi)ect to live upon the past. The Rei)ublican party was ]>re-eminently a party of action, and its march was ever forward. He then considered our duties with refer- ence to our new possessions and to other new i)roblems that are before us. His reference to Hawaii and the presence of representa tives of that new acquisition brought the delegates to their feet in a lusty greeting to the Hawaiians. Mr. I^odge's reference to tbf policy of the Governm(»nt toward Cuba and the Philippines, brought out frequent manifestations of approval. His brilliant tribute to tho American soldiers fighting in the Tropics closed with the sentenet'i ^'They are our soldiers and we will sustain them." In the reception of the si>eeches of both Senators Wolcott and Lodge, and throughout the proceedings the Convention showed that the opjiosition war cry of **Anti-lmperialisnr' had no terrors for a Republican body. The day's proceedings closed with the reading of the report of the Com- mittee on Resolutions, which was adopted without dissent, as f<il- lows :

The Rciniblicans of the United States through their chosen rci»resentatives m(*t in National Conv<*ntion, looking back upon an

TWELFTH KP:rrHLl(\VN CONVENTION. 501

unsurpassed record of acliievenient and lookinjr forward into a great lield of duty and oi)portunity, and appealing to the judgment of their countrymen, make these declarations:

The expectation in which the American i)eople, turning from the Democratic party, entrusted jmwer four years ago to a Repub- lican Chief Magistrate and a Republican Congress, has been met and satisfied. When the people then assembled at the i)olls, after a term of Democratic legislation and administration, business was dead Industry paralyzed and the national crt*dit disastrously impaired.

The country's capital was hidden away and its labor distressed and unemployed. The Democrats had no other plan with which to improve the ruinous conditions, which they had themselves produced, than to coin silver at the ratio of 10 to I. The Rei)ublican party, denouncing this plan as sure to produce conditions even worse than those from which relief was sought, promised to restore i)rosperity by means of two legislative measures — a protective tariff and a law making gold the stai^dard of value. The people by great majorities issued to the Republican party a commission to enact these laws.

This commission has been executed, and the Rejuiblican promise is redeemed. Prosperity more general and more abundant than we have ever known has followed tliese enactments. There is no hmger controversy as to the status of any (jovernment obligations. Every American dollar is a gold dollar or its assured eipiivalent, and Ameri- can credit stands higher than that of any other Nation.

Capital is fully employed and labor everywhere is profitably occu l>ied. No single factor more strikingly tells the story of what Republican government means to the country than this — that during the whole period of 107 years from 1700 to 1S07 there was an excess of exports over im])orts of only ?»Ii88,0li8,407. There has been in the short three years of the present Republican Administration an excess <»f exports over imports in the enormous sum of |1,4S.%537,094.

And while the American i)eople sustained by this Republican leg islation have been achieving these splendid triumphs in their business and commerce, they have conducted and in victory concluded a war for liberty and iiuman rights. No thought of National aggrandizement tarnished the high pur])ose with which American standards w^en* unfurled.

It was a war unsought and patiently resisted, but when it came tjie American (lovcn-nment was ready. Its fleets w'ere cleared for action. Its armies were in tlie field, and the quick and signal triumph of its forces on land and sea bore equal tribute to the courage of American soldiers and sailors and to the skill and foresight of Rei)ublican states manship. To ten millions of the human race there was given '*a new birth of fn^edom," and to the American people a new and noble respon sibility.

We indorse the Administration of William McKinley. Its acls have been established in wisdom and in patriotism, and at home and

502 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

abroad it has distinctly elevated and extended the influence of the American Nation. Walkinji: untried paths and facing unforeseiMi responsibilities, President McKinley has been in every situation the true American patriot and the upright statesman, clear in vision, strong in judgment, tirm in action, always inspiring and deserving the confidence of his countrymen.

In asking the American people to indorse this Republican record and party, we remind them of the fact that the menace to their pros perity has always resided in Democratic principles and no less in the general incapacity of the Democratic party to conduct public aflfairs.

The prime essential of business prosjierity is public confidence in the good sense of the Government and in its ability to deal intelli- gently with each new problem of administration and legislation. That confidence the Democratic party has never earned. It is hope- lessly inade(iua(e, and the country's i)rosperity when Democratic success at the polls is announced, halts and ceases in mere anticipa- tion of Democratic blunders and failures.

We renew our allegiance to the principle of the gold standard and declare our confidence in the wisdom of the legislation of the Fifty- sixth Congress by which the parity of all our money and the stability of our currency upon a gold basis has been secured. We recognize that interest rates are a potent factor in production and business activity, and for the purpose of further equalizing and of further low- ering the rate of interest, we favor such monetary legislation as will enable the varying ne<*ds of the season and of all sections to be promptly met in order that trade may be evenly sustained, labor steadily employed, and commerce enlarged. The volume of money in circulation was never so great per capita as it is to-day.

We declare our steadfast opposition to the free and unlimited coinage of silver. No measure to. that end could be considered which was without the support of the leading commercial countries of the world.

However firmly Republican legislation may seem to have securcHl the country against the peril of base and discredited currency, the election of a Democratic President could not fail to impair the country's credit and to bring once more into question the intention of the American people to maintain upon the gold standard the parity of their n?one\ circulation. The Democratic party must be convinced that the American people will never tolerate the Chicago platform.

We recognize the necessity and propriety of the honest operation of ca])ital to meet new business conditions, and especially to extend our rapidly increasing foreign trade, but we condemn all conspiracies and combinations intended to restrict business, to create mouopolien. to limit production, or to control prices, and favor such legislation as will effectively restrain and prevent all such abuses, protect and pro- mote competition, and secure the rights of producers, laborers, and all who are engaged in industry and commerce.

TWELFTH REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 503

We renew our faith iu tlie i)()li<v of protection to American labor. In that policy our industries have been established, diversified and maintained. By protecting the home market competition has been stimulated and production clieapened.

Opportunity to the inventive genius of our people has been secured and wages in every department of labor maintained at high rates, higher now than ever before, and always distinguishing our working people in their better condition of life from those of any competing country.

Enjoying the blessings of the American common school, secure in the right of seif-government, and j)rotected in the occupancy of their own markets, their constantly in<reasing knowledge and skill have enabled them linally to enter the markets of the world.

We favor the associated policy of recij>rocity, so directed as to open our markets on favorable terms for what we do not ourselves produce in return for free foreign markets.

In the further interest of Anierican workmen we favor a more effective restricticm of the immigration of cheap labor from foreign lands, the extension of opportunities of education for working chil dren, the raising of the age limit for child labor, the protection of free labor as against contract convict labor, and an effective system of labor insurance.

Our present dej)endence on foreign shipping for nine-tenths of our foreign carrying is a great loss to tUt» industry of this country. It is also a serious danger to our tr.ide, for its sudden withdrawal in the event of European war would seriously cripple our expanding foreign commerce. The natioiuil defense and naval efficiency of this country, moreover, supply a compelling reas<m for legislaticm which will enable us to recover our former ]>la( e among the Trade carrying fleets of the world.

The nation owes a dc^bt of profound gratitude to the soldiers and sailors who have fought its battles, and it is the government's duty to provide for the survivors and for the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in the country's wars.

The i)ensi(m laws, founded on this just sentiment, should be lib- eral, and should be liberally administered, and preference should be given wherever practicable with respeet to (Muployment in the public service to soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans.

We commend the policy of the Republican party in maintaining the eflHciency of the civil service. The Administration has acted wisely in its efforts to secure for public service in Cuba, l*orto Rico, Hawaii and th(» IMiilippine Islands only those whose fitness has been determined by training and (experience. We believe that employment in the public service in these territories should be confined as far as practicable to their inhabitants.

It was the i)lain puri)ose of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Con stitution to prevent discrimination on account of race or color in

504 HISTORY OF THE REPFBLICAN PARTY.

regard to the elective franchise. Devices of State (rovernments, whether by statutory or Constitutional enactment, to avoid the purpose of this amendment are revolutionary and should be con- demned.

Public movements looking to a i>ernianent improvement of the roads and highways of the <-ountry meet with our cordial approval, and we recommend this subject to the earnest consideration of the people and of the l^egislatures of the several states.

We favor the extension of the rural free delivery service wherever its extension may be justified.

In further pursuance of the constant policy of the Republican party to provide free homes on the public domain, we recommend adequate National legislation to reclaim the arid lands of the Unitt*d States, reserving control of the distribution of water for irrigation tn the respective states and territories.

We favor home rule for and the early admission to Statehood of the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma.

The Dingley Act, amended to provide sufticient revenue for the conduct of the war, has so well j)erfornied its work that it has been possible to reduce the war debt in the sum of |4(>,(M)t),000. So ample are the Government's revenues and so great is the ))ublic confidence in the integrity of its obligations that its newly funded 2 per cent, bonds sell at a premium. The country is now justititMl in ex])e<*ting that it will be the policy of the Republican jiarty to bring about a reduction of the war taxes.

We favor the construction, ownership, control and proteetion of an Isthmian canal by the (lovernment of the I'nited States.

New markets are necessary for the increasing surplus of our farm products. Every effort should be made to open and obtain new markets, esj)ecially in the Orient, and the Administration is warmly to be commended for its successful etl'ort to commit all trading and colonizing nations to the jiolicy of the open door in China, In the interest of our expanding comjuerce we recommend that Congress create a Department of Commerce and Industries in the charge of a Secretary with a seat in the Cabinet. The rnite<l States Consular system should be reorganized under the supervision of this new department upon such a basis of ajipointment and tenure as will render it still more serviceable to the Nation's increasing trade.

The American Government must ]>rotect the person and proi>erty of every citizen whenever they are wrongfully placed in peril.

We congratulate the women of America upon their splendid record of jmblic service in the Volunteer Aid Association, and as nurses in camp and hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies in the Eastern and Western Indies, and we appreciate their faithful co-operation in all works of education and industry.

President McKinley has conducted the foreign affairs of the Cnited States with distinguished credit to American people. In

TWELFTH REPUBLirAN ( OXVENTION. 505

releasing us from the vexatious conditions of a European alliance for the Government of Samoa his course is especially to be commended. Hy securing to our undivided control the most important island of the Samoan group and the best harbor in the Southern Pacific, every American interest has been safeguarded. We approve the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.

We commend the part taken by our government in the Peace Conference at The Hague.

We assert our steadfast adherence to the policy announced in the Monroe Doctrine. The provisions of The Hague Convention were wisely regarded when President McKinley tendered his friendly offices in the interest of peace between (Ireat Britain and the South African Republics.

While the American Government must continue the i)olicy pre- scribed by Washington, affirmed by every succeeding President, and imposed upon us by The Hague treaty, of non-intervention in Euro- pean controversies, the American people earnestly hoi)e that a way may soon be found, honorable alike to both contending parties, to terminate the strife between them.

In accejiting, by the treaty of Paris, the just responsibility of our victories in the Spanish war, the President and the Senate won the undoubted approval of the American i)eople. No other course was possible than to destroy Spain's sovereignty throughout the Western Indies and in the Philippine Islands. The course created our respon- sibility before Ihe world, and with the unorganized po])ulation whom (mr intervention had freed from Sj)ain, to i)rovide for the mainte- nance of law and order, and for the establishment of good gOAernmenl and for the performance of internati(mal obligations. Our authority could not be less than our responsibility, and wherever sovereign rights were extended it became the high duty of the government to maintain its authority, to put down arm(»d insurrection, and to confer the blessings of liberty and civilization upon all the rescued people. The largest measure of self-government consistent w ith their w^elfare and our duties shall be secm-ed to them by law.

To Cuba, independence and self-government were assured in the same voice by whi<h war was declared, and to the letter this pledge shall be performed.

The Republican party, upon its history and upon this declaration of its principles and policies, confidently invokes the considerate and approving judgment of the American people.

Although the renomination of President McKinley was predeter- mined, and its effect on the Convention to some extent discounted. yet the event added much of interest and enthusiasm to the third day's proceeuings. The nominating speech by Senator Foraker, of Ohio, was given with a vigor, elocjuence and magnetism characteristic

50G HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

of the man. His review of the aehievenients of the McKinley Admin- istration was brilliant and epigrammatic. When he referred to the passage of the financial legislation during the last session of (^ongress, upon the recommendation of the President, the (Convention ch€*ered the sentiment enthusiastically. His reference to the great leader of the party, the successes already achieved by him and the grave responsibilities now being carried forward by him, caused frequent and long-continued applause. But it remained for his closing sen- tence, for the lirst time mentioning William McKinley by name as the nominee, to electrify the great multitude. Everyone stood and waved and yelled. State standards were wrenched from their places and borne aloft with umbrellas, great plumes of red, white and blue, a perfect tempestuous sea of color. Senator Hanna sprang to the front of the stage, a tiag in one hand and a jjlume in the other, and led in the tremendous demonstration. Not content with their frenzied hur- rahs on the lloor, the delegates now marched in solid ranks upon the platform, with standards, plumes, banners and flags. After the demonstration had continutnl seven minutes, the Ohio delegation, where centered the waves of sound, moved up the aisle, while all the other State delegations, bearing aloft their standards, formed in a grand procession about the hall.

When Governor Roosevelt, of New York, rose to second the nom- ination of McKinley there was another tremendous demonstration, as much perhaps for the sj^eaker, as for the man whom he supported. The Governt)r made a very taking s]>eech, using nmny short, terse sentences, especially in describing the Democratic attitude toward public events. He made an esjiecially strong appeal to the Gold Democrats, and one of his best appreciated hits was that at the New- York Ice Trust, as follows: ''Until our opponents have explicitly and absolutely rejuidiated the prin(!iples which in MM; they jirofesseil, and the leaders who embody these principles, their success mean^ the undoing of the country. Nor have they any longer even the excuse of being honest in their folly. They have raved, they havt* foamed at the mouth in denunciation of trusts, and now, in my own State, their foiemost j)arty leaders, including the* man before whom the others l)ow with bared heads and trembling knee, have been dis- covered in a trust which really is of infamous, and, perhai)s, of <Tiin- inal character; a trust in which these ajiostles of Democracy, these prophets of Hie new disjiensation, have sought to wring fortunes from the dire need of their [loorer brethren." In conclusion. Governor,

TWELFTH REPrHT.KWN (X)NVENTION, 507

Roosevelt declared the Kepiiblican party and the Aiuerican i)eople challenged the futnre and they were eager for the labor laid out for them as if by Providence. The closing words of the (lovernor brought another demonstration, and for a minute it seemed that the Con- vention would at once make two nominations instead of one. Plumes went up and standards again left their sockets to be waved on high. As the Governor left the platform he waved a salutation to the moving throngs and one in particular toward the radiant face of his wife, sitting just outside the area of delegates.

The nomination of McKinley was further supported by Senator John M. Thurston, of Nebraska; John W. Yerkes, of Kentucky; (leorge Knight, of Illinois, and Governor James A. Mount, of Indiana The roll of states was then called, the result being 980, a unanimous vote for McKinley. On the announcement there was another burst of applause, with a display of plumes and standards. The huge form of an elephant was brought into the hall. Around its neck were entwined garlands of flowers. Laughter and applause were mingled as the great emblem was borne about. The demonstration in honor of the President's nomination lasted five minutes, and then the Chair- man called for the resumjition of business.

The manner in which the nomination for Vice-President came about was something unique in the history of Conventions. Early in the year public sentiment turned toward Governor Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, as the strongest man for the place, but he positively forbade the use of his name, and a large number of others were mentioned as suitable candidates, the following among them: Secretary of the Navy John D. Long, of Massachusetts; Ex-Secretary of the Navy Cornelius N. Bliss, Lieutenant Governor Timothy L. Woodruff, and State Chairman B. B. Odell, of New York; Senator i\ W. Fairbanks, of Indiana; Senator W. B. Allison, Representative Dolliver and Governor Shaw, of Iowa; Governor Schofield, of Wis- consin; Representative Jeter C. Pritchard, of North Carolina; Ex- Senator Washburn, of Minnesota; Senator E. O. Wolcott, of Colorado, and Irving M. Scott, of California. Of these Ex-Secretary Bliss who was supposed to be the favorite of the Administration, and Senator Allison absolutely refused to be considered candidates. Lieutenant Governor Woodruff and B. B. Odell were, it was understood only tentative candidates, put forward by the New York leaders to keep their delegation together. Some of the other candidates were not taken very seriously and when the Convention oi)ened the contest

508

HI8T0KY OF THE REIM'BLICAN PARTY.

had apparently uarrowod dowu to Secretary Lonjj and (Congressman Dolliver, with The Administration influence in favor of Long. A caucus of the ^lichipui delegation on the morning of the 20th showed VA votes for Dolliver, 9 for Long, 1 for Koosevelt and 1 for Scott, with four not voting. But early in the Convention T. i\ Piatt, of New York, and Ex-Senator Quay, of IVnnsylvania, commenced an agitation which they kei)t up continually in favor of Roosevelt. The motive assigned to IMatt was to get Roosevelt out of New York politics, while Quay was credited with the purpose to annoy President Mc-

Kinley and rhairman Hanna by sidetracking the candidate whom they favored. What- ever the motive, the Roosevelt seed which they sowed fell upon congenial soil, and soon began to bear fruit. Roosevelt, who unques tionably preferred to run for another term as (rovernor of New York, remonstrated and pnv tested, but the current <• o n t i n u e d to set strongly in his favor. Whenever he appeared in the Convention he was greeted with ap- plause, and influential THEODORK ROOSEVELT. men of the party urged

him to forego his individual preference. When the day for making nominations came it was evident that the Convention would not take no for an answer, and the (lovernor reluctantly consented.

When the order of nominations for \'ice-President was reachi^ Colonel Lafe Young, of Iowa, in behalf of the delegation from that State, withdrew the name of Jonathan }\ Dolliver, and in an eloquent speech nominated (iovernor Roosevelt. The demonstration which followed the announcement by Colonel Voung of (iovernor Roosevelt as the candidate of the young men of the country, who represented

TWELFTH KKl^nUJrAX (CONVENTION. 509

their desireB and their anibitiuiis and embodied tlieir jiatriotism and Americanism, was not second to tlial accorded the President's nam(». The vast assemblage sprang to its feet and State emblems, pampas pinnies, handkerchieis and hats fairly tilled the air. The band in the main gallery began to play "There'll He a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," and to the inspiring strains the deh»gates began marching around the hall, filing jmst Governor Koosevelt as he sai in the New York delegation and extending to him their <'ongratula- tions. In the procession of standards after the nomination of Roosevelt was one of the women delegates from Ttah, who presented him with a big bunch of roses, for which (Governor Roosevelt returned a profound bow. Several of the Kansas delegates removed their beautiful silk sunflower badges and threw them upon Governor Roosevelt during the march of the delegat(*s. The demonstration lasted nearly seven minutes, when the Chairman with difficulty restored order and recognized Butler Murray of Massachusetts for a speech seconding the nomination of Roosevelt. He spoke in behalf of **old New England," and elicited another demonstration for the rough rider candidate. An additional second was made l)y General James M. Ashton, of Washington, when loud calls arose for '^Depew!" Response was made by Senator Chauncey M. Depew, of New York, who rounded out the speech-making of the Convention by an eloquent and witty address. In the course of his remarks he gave the follow- ing incidents of Colonel Roosevelt's career:

We call him Teddy. He was Jhe child of New York City, the place that you, gentlemen fnmi the West, think means ^'couiions, rlubs, and eternal damnation for every one." Teddy — this child of Fifth avenue, he was the child of the clubs; he was the child of the exclusiveness of Harvard College; and he went West and became a cowboy and then he went into the Navy I)ej)artment jind became an Assistant Se<retary. He gave* an order, and the old chiefs of bureaus came to him and said: **Why, Colonel, there is no authority and no requisition to burn this jmiw der." "Well," said the Colonel, **we have got to g(*t ready when war <omes, and powder was nmnufa<*tured to be burned." And the burn ing of that powder sunk Cervera's fleet outside of Santiago's harbor, and the fleet in Manila bay.

At Santiago a modest voi<*e was heard, exceedingly polite, addressing a militia regiment, lying u]»on the ground, while Spanish bullets were flying over them. This voice said: *'Get one side, gen- tlemen, please; one side, gentU»men, j»lease, that my m<»n can get out." And when this jiolitc man got his men out in the ojxmi where they

510 HISTORY OF THE REPl' BLICAN PARTY.

could face the bayonet, and face the bullet, there was a transforma- tion, and the transformation was that the dude had become a cowboy, the cowboy had become a soldier, the soldier had become a hero, and, rushing up the hill, pistol in hand, the polite man shouted to the militiamen, lying down: "Give them hell, boys! Give them hell!"

Senator Depew also told, amidst great laughter and applause, a couple of stories, of which this is one:

There was a lady with her husband in Florida last winter, he was a consumptive, and she a strenuous and tumultuous woman. Her one remark was, as they sat on the piazza: '*Stop coughing, John." John had a hemorrhage. The doctor said he must stay in bed six weeks. His tumultuous wife said: "Doctor, it is impossible. We are traveling on a time-limited ticket and we have got several more places to go to." So she carried him off. The next station they got to the poor man died, and the sympathetic hotel proprietor said: *Poor madam! What shall we do?" She said: **Box him up. I have got a time-limited ticket and several more places to go to."

Now, we buried 16 to 1 in 1896. We put a monument over it weighing as many tons a« the Sierra Nevadas when gold was put into the statutes by a Republican (^ongress and the signature of William McKinley. Colonel Bryan has been a body snatcher. He has got the corpse from under the monument, but it is dead. He has got it in its coffin, carrying it along, as did the bereaved widow, because he says: '*! must. 1 must. 1 am weddinl to this body of sin and death. 1 must. 1 must. Because 1 have a time-limited ticket which expires in November.'-

Senator Depew's remarks were followed by tumultuous applause and calls for *'Roosevelt!" ''Teddy!'- "Roosevelt!" the roll of states was called, announcement was made that the vote was unanimous, 925 for Roosevelt, and with another burst of applause the serious work of the Convention ended.

XXXIX.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1900.

Bryan's Hupreniaey in the Democratic Convention — He Is Absolute Dictator in Respect to the Platform — He Is the Candidate, Also, of the Populists and Silver Republicans — Adlai E. Stevenson and Charles A. Towne Nominated for Vice President — The Lat- ter Reluctantly Withdraws — The Letters of Acceptance — Ani- mated but One-Sided Campaign — The Imperialist Cry — Division of the Gold Democrats — A Decisive Victory for the Republican Ticket.

The Deniocratic National Convention which met in Kansas City, July 4, 1900, ju'esented the remarkable spectacle of a great party with only one candidate considered available for the Presidency, and absolutely dominated, as to its platform, by that candidate. William Jennings Bryan, of Lincoln, Nebraska, had already been nominated for President at a National Convention of Populists, held at Sioux Falls, Iowa. It was understood that he was entirely acceptable to the Silver Republicans who were to meet in Kansas City at the same time that the Democratic Convention was held, and a large number of the State Conventions of the latter party had given him their indorsement. His nomination by acclamation was assured before the Convention met.

About the platform, however, there were two antagonistic opin- ions. The Democratic leaders and a large majority of the delegates favored, when they left home, the singing of the silver song in minor key. It was argued that Bryan, himself, stood sufficiently for the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and that it was not necesssary to make that prominent in the platform; that a reasser- tion of that doctrine would further alienate the Gold Democrats who bolted the ticket four years earlier and that a much stronger light could be made on an anti-imperialist, anti-trust platform. The believers in this theory advocated a simple reaffirmation of the Chi

512 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

cago pl.itforiii of 1896, without sjiecific* mention of free roinage, or the 16 to 1 ratio. On the other liand it was argued that the Populisi and Free Silver Republican alliance turned more upon this question than upon any other, and that if the platform was not explicit upon this subject, there would be a loss of votes from those allies; that the Gold Democrats were traitors anyway, having bolted four years ago and that the parry ought not to sacritice its convictions, beliefb nor policies in the hoi>e of coaxing them back again.

This dilTerence of opinion was a matter of serious discussion for some days before the Convention met, and there was much speculation as to what Bryan's wishes in the premises were. At last it was given out by men very close to him that he would have been content in the first place, with a simple reaffirmation of the Chicago platform, but that the Eastern Democrats, some of whom had just crawled back into the party, had already given the Silver question such prominence in their discussions, that nothing sliort of a definite declaration on the subject would answer. This was not accepted as final, and the ultimate belief was that Bryan could have his own way in the matter, but that he must say jiositively what he wanted. If he did this the Convention, however reluctantly, would accede to his wishes, and he must take the resjionsibility for the results.

Of the wishes of the Free Silver Republicans Senator Teller, of Colorado, left no doubt, and he was better entitled to si>eak for them than auA other person. He said the demand for a simple reaffirma- tion of the Chicago platform without other reference to the financial question came from the Gold Democrats who did not support Bryan In 1896, and it was doubtful whether some who insist upon the pursu- ance of this course would support him in 1900. In many of the states west of the Alleghenies there were thousands of voters who would support Bryan and the Democratic party on account of their position on the financml question. These people believed in the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and they would regard a simple reaf- firmation of the Chicago declaration as an attempt to minimize the Silver question. They would not believe that such an omission was insisted upon by the Gold Standard Democrats for any other pur)M>se than to make it ajijK^ar that the contention for free silver coinage at 16 to 1 had been abandinied by the Democratic party.

It ^as with the whole matter, to a certain extent, in the air, that the Convention met at noon on the 4th of July. The piir[>o8e had been expressed by many of the leaders to push business along so

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1900. 513

that they couid celebrate iDdepeudence Day by nominating Bryan and adopting the platform. But no such blue fire and sky rocket method proved feasible, for the Committee on Resolutions were in session the whole afternoon and evening without coming to an agreement. In their absence the (Convention did little except listen to the reading of the Declaration of Independence and to a long and tedious speech from its temporary Chairman, Governor Thomas, of Colorado, and a shorter but more spirited one from the permanent (^hairman, James D. Kichardson, of Tennessee. The Committee on Resolutions was very evenly divided on the 16 to 1 question, and it was given out at night that there would probably be two reports. Meantime Bryan came a little nearer giving his ultimatum. At least his most intimate friends conveyed the impression that unless there was a s[)ecific 16 to 1 declaration he would not accept the Democratic nomination, but would run on a separate Populist and Free Silver ticket. One signifi- cant event of the day w^as the refusal of the New York delegation to put David Bennett Hill on the Committee on Resolutions, a position which he much desired. The delegation was virtually controlled by Richard Croker, the Tammany Hall Sachem, whose course was di(!- tated partly by the desire to humiliate Hill and i)artly to prevent Hill's making the strong fight which he purposed on the Silver question.

On the second day of the Convention the Committee on Resolu- tions, by a vote of 26 to 24, agreed upon a i>latform and a member of the Committee afterwards told how that and various other events came about:

Mr. Bryan knew that the so-called ^'Conservative*' Democrats were after him. He feared that a <'onvention held in Chicago or Mil waukee or Si. I.ouis or any City so far east could be packed with people opposed to a redeclaration for 16 to 1. Also with i)eople opposed to William J. Bryan. He knew that a majority of the dele- gates were apt to be against silver, and that with congenial surroundings they might easily upset Mr. Bryan's ambitions. He would have preferred Omaha or Denver as the Convention City, but feared that the selection of either would be too palpable a Bryan move and therefore he chose Kansas City and its dis(!omforts. Here he knew his (Convention could be packed only with jieople friendly to himself. But his far-reaching designs did not end with the selection of a Western Convention City. Even here he knew the Convention was in danger of capture and a great many carefully planned details were arranged to keep the Bryan feeling at fever pitch.

It was by liryan's instructions that July 4 was selected for the opening of the Convention, and he wanted very much to be nominated

514 HISTORY DF THE KEri'BLKWN TAKTY.

on that day. It was by Bryan's instructions that the immense Con- vention Hall was stuffed and packed with j>eoi)le until even the seats and aisles of the delegates were invaded, and the press section so jammed and conji^ested with the jireneral public that no newspaper man could be sure of his seat unless he hired some one to hold it for him, and after he had it, could not work because of the crowd stand inji: in his way in every direction.

It was by Bryan's directions that a jifreat Bryan demonstration was sprunj>: in the Convention the precedinji: nij^ht by this great mob in order that the imnu^nse j»opularity of Bryan mip:ht be realized by those delep:ates who were considerinjj a determined fight in the Con- vention against a radical free silver plank.

It was by Bryan's directions that Bryan buttons were to be had for nothing on every corner, while the silver plank of the platform was in doubt. It was Bryan, Bryan on every hand, and it was all arranged in order to effect the result which the night before hung in the balance.

It was Bryan's idea to have a private wire from Kansas City to his home in Lincoln, and McKinley never watched the Spanish war with more anxiety, or followed its movements in his war room more closely than Bryan followed the <'onvention. He was instantly apprised of everything, and his lieutenants were constantly carrying out his direct orders.

When the Committee* on I^esolutions showed by its first test vote that an exj»licit declaration for 10 to 1 was going to be defeated a recess was taken and Mr. Bryan notifii^d. When the session was resumed and the time for another vote approached Senator Jones stood uj), and, with Bryan's telegraphic orders in his pocket, informed the Committer* of the exact situation: **Oentlemen,'' he said, "you can defeat this out-and-out exj^ression for silver if you want to, but before doing so it is my duty to warn you of the consequences. Unless you reiterate the distinct declaration for 10 to 1 Mr. Bryan cannot accept your nomination for President, but neither can he decline the Populist nomination already received, nor the Silver Republican nom- ination he is about to receive. Those Conventions stand true blue for silver. He must run on their ticket. What the effect will be upon our ticket yon gentlemen, who are to be responsible for the action of this committee, must decide."

Among those who were strongly opposed to the IG to 1 declara- tion was Senator Hill, of New York, who was willing even to let Bryan go, rather than to adopt that declaration. It was understowl that he and two or three others would make a fight in the Convention against the [Hatform, but they did not, and the declaration, as agrt^ed upon by the ('ommitt(»e. went through without a murmur. It opent*d with a reaffirmation of the Declaration of Indej»endence; denounced

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1900. 515

the Porto Rico Law passed by Congress at its last session; condemned the Philippine policy of the Administration and favored ^*an immedi- ate declaration of the Nation's purpose to give the Filipinos, first, a stable form of government; second, independence, and third, protection from outside interference, such as has been given for nearly a century to the Republics of Central and South America." After these declarations came the following plank on imperialism: **The importance of other questions now pending before the American people is in no wise diminished, and the Democratic party takes no backward step from its position on them, but the burning issue of imperialism growing out of the Si)anish w^ar involves the very exist- ence of the Republic and the destruction of our free institutions. We regard it as the i)aramount issue of the campaign.'-

Then came a declaration that the Republican party was insincere in its reference to the Monroe Doctrine, a plank on militarism and one on trusts. After all these came the silver plank, as follows: ^*We reaffirm and indorse the principles of the National Democratic plat- form adopted at <'hicago in 181)(>, and we reiterate the demand of that platform for an American financial system made by the American people for themselves, which shall restore and maintain a bimetallic price level, and as part of such system the immediate restoration of the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of IG to 1 without waiting for the aid or consent of any other Nation.'' Denunciation of the Currency Bill passed at the last session of Congress, and utterances on half a dozen other current questions of the da^' completed the document. Three days after the Convention adjourned it occurred to some of the leaders that there should have been an income tax plank, and so they added one, making the con- venient plea that the omission in the first place was the fault of a typewriter. They had run the campaign of 1890 on a platform, four chiuses of which were not read in the Chicago Convention, and there was no reason why they should not smuggle into the campaign of 1900 one declaration which the Kansas City delegates never heard.

Following the adoption of the platform came the presentation of Bryan's name for the I'residential nomination. Up to this time the j)roceeding8 in open Convention had been tame, except as Chairmjin Richardson's spirited address evolved some enthusiasm. But the demonstrations upon the first juesentation of l^ryan's name, and upon its subsequent repetition, were a fiattering (»vidence of the hold which his strong personality has uj)on the party. His name was pre-

516 H18TOKY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

seuted by W. I). Oldham, of Nebraska, who closed with a personal eulogy of the candidate, delivered with impassioned fervor. This was the signal for prolonged cheers, the waving of flags and handker chiefs, music by the band, and a ])rocession of delegates carrying their State banners around the hall. Nebraska's nomination was sup- ported by a dozen other States, and a roll call gave him a unanimous vote.

The nomination for Vice-1'resident was a matter of more discus- sion. Charles A. Towne, who had already received the Populist nomination for the same jiosition, was an active and anxious candi- date. He was as eager to get the Democratic nomination as Roosevelt had been to get away from the Republican. The Silver Rejmblicans and the American Monetary League, in session at Kansas City, both expressed a preference for Towne. Bv\t there was a feeling in the Democratic Convention that with a 16 to 1 plank in the jilatform and Rryan at the head of the ticket, there was about all the free silver that the party could carry. A candidate was sought who was not specially identified with that movement, and Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, Vice-President during Cleveland's second term, was put forward. The most popular delegate in the Convention was undoubt edly Senator Hill, of New York, although he was opposed to the 16 to 1 delegation, and was not at all enamored of Bryan. Tammany Hall tried to take advantage of his [)opularity by pushing him into this nomination, but when his name was presented Hill took the plat- form, and in a vehement speech, mingled with personal appeal, stayed the tide that threatened to sweep him into the unsought {>osition. Next to Hill, Stevenson was the favorite and after his name was presented it received seconds from a number of states. The roll call showed 551)i/o votes for Stevenson, 200 for Hill and 89V4 for Towne. Tennessee then changed her 24 votes from Hill to Stevenson, and enough other changes were si)eedily made to give him the 624 neees aary to a choice.

Meantime the Silver Republican Convention had adjourned, having first given to its oflficers and the Executive Committee of the party, power to decide upon a Vicc^-Presidential nominee. After a conference with the Democratic National Committee and a sub-coni mittee of the Populists, and with the consent and advice of Mr. Towne, they endorsed the nomination of Stevenson. Mr. Towne, after some weeks of delay, withdrew from the I'opulist ticket, in favor of Mr. Stevenson, and made a few speeches for the combination caudi

THE CAMPAIGN OF 11)00. 517

dates. Not more tliau one set of Electors was nominated in any State to represent this eoni hi nation.

The llrst week in September, 1898, the Middie-of-the-Road Popu lists, as they called themselves, that is, those who were opposed to fusion with any other party, met in Cincinnati and nominated Wharton Barker for I'resident and Ignatius Donnelly for Vice-Presi dent.

The first Nationnl assembly of the Christian Political Union, con vened in Kock Island, 111., May 1. As a preliminary to deciding whether to organize a political party, the Convention discussed the theme, '*The Principles of Christ; Shall We Apply Them in Concrete P'orm to State and National <iovernment Through a Christian Politi- cal Union or Party?'' The Convention answered the question in the aflSrmative by unanimous vote. The name United Christian party was adopted m place of (Miristian Political Union. Dr. Silas C. Swal- low, of Harrisburg. Pa., and elohn G. liooley, of Chicago, were nominated as candidates for I'resident and Vice-President of the United Stat(*s. The platform adopted declares for: **The abolition of laws which require a desecration of the Sabbath, authorize unscrip tural marriage and divorce, and encourage the sale of liquors as a beverage; equal rights for men and women; arbitration as against war; governnu^nt ownership of i)ublic utilities; election of President and Vice-President and United States Senators by direct vote of the I>eople."

The Prohibition National Convention, in session in Chicago, June 28, nominated John G. Woolle}', of Illinois, for I'resident, and Henry H. Metcalf, of Rhode Island, for Vice-President.

The so-called National party held a Convention in New York, September 5, with less than 100 delegates present, half of whom were from that City, and placed in nomination for President, Senator Don- aldson Caffery, of Louisiana, and for Vice-President, A. M. Howe, of Cambridge, Mass.

The ["nion Reform party, by a referendum vote, the result of which was announccMl in New York, September 5, nominated Seth H. Ellis, of Ohio, for President, and Samuel T. Nicholson, of Pennsyl- vania, for Vice-1'resident.

The Social Democrats nominated for President Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, and for \' ice-President Job Ilarriman, of California.

In this year of conventions there was still another, making the eleventh, held by the so-called Deleon Socialists who nominated for

518 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

President, Joseph ¥. Maloney, of Massachusetts, and for Vice-Presi- dent, Valentine Rennvil), of Pennsylvania.

Some of these scattered organizations, however, ceased their labors, after going through the form of making nominations and were not heard of again during the campaign.

I'residejnt McKinley, in his letter accepting the renomination, reviewed at length the affairs of his Administration, paying particu- lar attention to the course of events in the Philippines, which he recognized as of grave importance in tlie campaign. Upon this subject he said, in part :

There has been no time since the destruction of the enemy's fleet when wt: could or should have left the Philippine archipelago. After the treaty of peace was ratified no power but Congress could surrender our sovereignty or alienate a foot of territory thus acquired.

We are in agreement with all of those who supported the war with Spain, and also with those who counseled the ratification of the treaty of peace. Upon these two great essential steps there can be no issue, and out of these came all our responsibilities. If others would shirk the obligations imposed by the war and the treaty, we must decline lo act further with them, and here the issue was made. It is our purpose to establish in the Philippines a Government suita- ble to the wants and conditions of the inhabitants, and to prepare them for self-government, and to give them self-government when they are ready for it and as rapidly as they are ready for it. That 1 am aiming to do under my Constitutional authority, and will con- tinue to do until Congress shall determine the political status of the inhabitants of the archipelago.

AN'ould our opponents surrender to the insurgents, abandon our sovereignty or cede it to them? If that be not their purpose, then it should be promptly disclaimed, for only evil can result from the hopes raised by our opponents in the minds of the Filipinos, that with their success at the polls in November there will be a withdrawal of our Army over the archii>elago; the complete independence of the Tagalog peo[)le recognized and the powers of government over all the other peoples of the archijielago conferred u[)on the Tagalog leaders.

We are asked to transfer our sovereignty to a small minority in the islands without consulting the majority, and to abandon the largest portion of the population to the cruelties of the guerrilla insurgent band. More than this, we are asked to protect the minor- ity in establishing a government, and to this end repress all opposition to the majority. We are required to set up a stable government in the interest of those who have assailed our sovereignty and fired upon our soldiers, and then maintain it at any cost against its enemies within and against those having ambitions and designs from without.

THE CAMPAiaX OF 1900. 519

This would require an Army and Navy far larger tlian is now maintained in the Thilippines, and still more in excess of what will be necessary with the full recognition of our sovereignty. A military support of authority not our own, as thus i>roposed, is the very essence of militarism, which our opponents in their platform oppose, but which, by their policv, would of necessity be established in its most otTensive form.

The President took no farther part in the campaign, remaining most of the time quietly at home, nmking no speeches and writing no political letters.

Mr. Bryan, in his letter of acceptance, again declared his loyalty to the lf> to J policy and to frt»e trade; denounced the Dingley tariff, the Republican Currency Act, and the trusts; discussed various phases of the labor question, and sjmke very brietiy upon the questions at issue in respect to the rhilijipine Islands. Mr. Stevenson's letter of acceptance was very short, and was devoted largely to a protest against 'war of conquest" and against Imperialism.

Mr. Roosevelt, in his letter of acceptance, discussed the questions at issue at considerable length, and followed this by a series of campaign tours, surpassing in amount of travel and number of speeches made anything in the history of politics in this country except the Bryan tours of J89G. One of the lirst states which he visited was Michigan where he opened the campaign early in Septem- ber by addressing a meeting of over 4,000 people in Light Guard Armory, Detroit. He went thence to Bay City, where he was greeted by an immense crowd, made up in j)art by excursionists from the shore towns along Lake Huron. A demonstration of equal magnitude awaited him at Saginaw, and in his tour across the State he addressed crowds at Owosso, Lansing, Jackson, Eaton Rapids, Charlotte, Hast- ings, (frand Rapids, Holland, Allegan, Kalamazoo, Grand Junction, Benton Harbor, Xiles and some of the interlying towns. He con- tinued his tour to the far West, and then through part of the South and East, ending up with a ten days' campaign in New York State. In all he visit(*d twenty-four States, traveled 21,200 miles and made (573 speeches.

Candidate Bryan also made many sj^eeches and was received with nearly as great favor as he was in 189(). Having secured a complete recognition of his money views in the various Conventions that nom- inated him he was content to let that matter take secondary place in the general m(M»tings. In his speeches he dwelt more upon the dangers to the industries of this country from trusts, and the dangers

520 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

of centralized power and an ini[)eriali8tic policy. The latter was the keviiote to much of Ihe Ueiuoeratic oratory throughout the country. In this they received some aid and encouragement from the National Anti-imperialistic League, which met in Indianapolis, August 15, and which included some prominent Republicans, as well as Democrats. It denounced the policy of the Administration and practically endorsed Bryan.

The eftorts of these men were very largely counteracted by the views expressed by candid men who were familiar with the situation in those islands. The lamented General Lawton, who made it a practice to examine thoroughly every subject in which he became interested, went to the Philippines strongly prejudiced against our occupation of those islands, calling the struggle an '*unholy" war. His observations there effected a complete change in his views and he wrote to Hon. John Barrett, United States Minister to Siam:

I would ro God that the truth of this whole Philippine situation could be known to €»very one in America as 1 know it. If the real history, inspiration, and conditions of this insurrection, and the influ- ences, local and external, as well as the actual possibilities of these islands and jieoples and their relations to this great East, could be understood at home, we should hear no more talk of unjust "shooting of government" into the Filipinos or hauling down the flag in the Philippines. If the so-called Anti-Imperialists could honestly ascer- tain the truth on the ground, and not in distant America, they, whom I believt* to be honest men misinformed, would be convinced of the error of their statements and conclusions, and of the unfortunate effect of their publications here. If I am shot by a Filipino bullet, it nmy as well come from one of my own men, because I know from observation, conllrnied by captured prisoners, that the continuance of fighting is chiefly due to reports that are sent out from America.

Dean U. Worcester, of Michigan University, one of the Philip- pine Uommission, is another witness to the same purport. In a letter received from him, October 25, by Regent Dean, of the University, he said:

Conditions were improving here very rapidly up to the time Bryan was nominated and began to talk in public. The result of the announcement of his i)olicy in r(»gard to the Philippines was to put a stop to the imj^ortant surrenders, which were steadily being made under the terms of the amnesty, and to bring about renewed hostili- ties through the worst districts here in Luzon.

AVe know absolutely, from captured correspondence, that this desperate elTort to keep up a show of resistance is being made only

THE CAMPAIGN OF IJIOO. 521

in the hope of infliienciug the election at home, and important insurg- ent leaders like 8indieo sjiv that, unless Bryan is elected or the war in (?hina draws troops from these islands, they will give up their useless efforts in November. 1 therefore do not look for any general improve- ment in the situation until after the Presidential election; but, with that out of the way, I expect to see a speedy change for the better. At present the insurgents are resorting to that last resort of a failing cause, wholesale assassination. They are putting prices on the heads of men known to be friendly to the Americans, and are resorting to the most fiendish tortures and mutilations in order to influence the common people by fear.

The Gold Democrats did not make separate nominations in this campaign, and did not cut as conspicuous a figure as in the contest four years earlier. Their votes were divided, some supporting Bryan on other issues, and some voting for McKinley. Among those, who openly advocated McKinley's election were two members of Presi- dent Cleveland's Cabinet: Postmaster General Don M. Dictkinson, of Michigan, and J. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska, Secretary of Agri- culture. James II. Eckles, Comptroller of the (currency under President Cleveland, was also quite active in the campaign for McKin- ley. On the 29th of October, Ex-President Cleveland wrote a letter to Don M. Dickinson, in which he referred to a speech nmde by him in April, 1897, saying that he could not suppress or abate from it, and would not if he could, and saying also that he should not object to any use which Mr. Dickinson might see fit to make of it. This was a speech in which Cleveland condemned the course of those who were sowing the seeds of discontent and cultivating a growth of sectional and class suspicion and distrust. He also regretted to see the remedy for supposed financial ills proposed in the free coinage of silver with a depreciated currency and cheap money. The reference to this speech showed plainly enough that Mr. Cleveland's sympathies in the pending cam])aign were against Mr. Bryan and his followers.

There were no October elections this year to furnish an indica- tion of the drift of public sentiment. Oregon, in June, gave an unusually large Republican majority. Vermont and Maine, in September, gave majorities considerably smaller than those in 189f>. But the careful canvass made by the Republican committees in various states indicated a triumph of very large proportions, and their most hopeful indications and prophecies w^ere surpassed by the results. McKinley and Roosevelt carried every Northern State except Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nevada, and in those the Bryan

522 HISTORY OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

majorities were mneh less than they were in 1896. Republican Elec- tors were also chosen in Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia. The total Electoral vote was: For McKinley and Roosevelt, 295; Bryan and Stevenson, 152. The Republican plurality on the popular vote was nearly 900,000, being the largest ever given to any candidate. In Michigan Bryan carried only one County, and the highest Republican Elector had 105,108 plurality. The Republicaos also elected a solid Congressional delegation as follows: (1) John B. Cor- liss; (2) Henry C. Smith; (3i Washington Gardner: (4) Edward L. Hamilton; (5) William Alden Smith; (6) Samuel W. Smith; (7) Edgar Weeks; (8) Joseph W. Fordney; (9) Roswell P. Bishop: (10) Rousseau O. Crump; (11) Archibald B. Darragh; (12) Carlos D. Shelden.

XL.

kepi:bli(\\n state conventions.

The Executive Nominating (Tatlierings From JS56 to the Present Time — The Gubernatorial Candidates from Bingliam to Bliss — A Long Koll of Public Spirited and Distinguished Men — A Number of Close and Interesting Contests — Ballots for the Head of the Ticket in Detail — Names of the Candidates for other Offices — A Series of Splendid Successes Broken by Only Two Defeats — Treatment of Public Questions by the Various Conventions — How the Magnificent Gathering of 1878 Met the Greenback Onslaught — The Party's Treatment of the Temperance, Silver and Taxation Questions — Its Attitude in 1900.

In the second and third chapters of this publication an extended account is given of the various State gatherings out of which was evolved the Republican party of Michigan. The foundations were so well laid and the work of organization was so well done that, so far as its State Executive and Judicial tickets were concerned the party moved along the path of victory with no setbacks and with but little friction for more than a quarter of a century. The names of the candidates for Governor with details of the votes cast for that official and for Presidential Electors in the various contests, with the names of delegates to Republican National Conventions, and the names of all Electors chosen, are given under the approjiriate chapters in the first volume of this work; but brief additional details of the different Conventions may be interesting.

The Convention of 1856 was held at Marshall, July 9, and was large, earnest and enthusiastic. The newly organized party had been triumphant in 1854, and was confident now. Fremont had been nominated for President, and the general campaign had opened with spirit. Among those present at this gathering were many who took part in the proceedings at Jackson two years earlier, and others who afterwards became prominent in State and National affairs.

524 HIKTOKY OF THE REPUBLK'AX PARTY.

Josiah Turnf^r, of Livingston, was i)ernianent Chairman of the Con- vention. The old State tiiket was renominated, the National platform was endorsed, and an Electoral ticket, headed by Fernando C. Bea- man, was ])hieed in the tield. Bin|>:hanfs majority for (lovernor two years earlier, was 4,1>77. It was now more than trebled, being 17,317.

The Convention of 1858 met in Detroit, August 1, and was called to order by James M. Edmunds, Chairman of the State Central Com- mittee. Austin Blair was both Temporary and Permanent Chair- man. On the first ballot for Governor, Hezekiah G. Wells, of Kala- nuixoo, had (Jl) votes, to 50 for Moses Wisner, the rest scattering among a nun»ber of candidates. On the third ballot Mr. Wisner had a majority and was declared the nominee. As the old incumbents had all served two terms, there was a new list of candidates, and a contest for Uiost of the offices. Jacob M. Howard was the only one of the old officers r<»nominated, the full list being as follows: Lieu- tenant (Sovernor. E. B. Fairtield; Secretary of State, N. B. Isbell; Treasurer, John McKinney; Auditor General, Daniel L. Case; Com- missioner of the State Land Office, James W. Sanborn; Attorney (leneral, Jac(»b M. Howard; Superintendent of Public Instruction, John M. Gregory; Member of the Board of Education, Witter J. Baxter. The j^latform, rejjorted by H. H. Emmons, was brief and ccmttned chielly to National affairs. In the election that follow<Ml Wisner's majority was 1),135.

The Conv»»ntion of 1860 was called to order in Merrill Hall. Detroit, June 8, by E. C. Walker, Chairman of the State Central Committee. Alexander Campbell, of Manjuette, was Temporary, and Robert R. Beecher, of l^enawee, was Pernuinent Chairman. On the tirst ballot for (lOvernor. Austin Blair, of Jackson, had 108V^ votes, and Jam<*s M. Edmunds, of Detroit, 6:^lo. Mr. Edmunds* name was then withdrawn and Mr. Blair was nominated by acclamation. The rest of the ticket was as follows: Lieutenant Governor, James Birney; Secretary of State, James B. I'orter; State Treasurer, John Owen; Auditor General, L. G. Berry; Commissioner of the State Land Oflice, S. S. Lacey; Attorney General, Charles Upson; Superin- tendent of Public Instruction, John M. Gregory; Member of the State Board of Education, Edwin Willits. The Naticmal Convention had made a platform for the whole country, and Michigan Republicans jiccejited it as tluMr creed. In the evening an immense ratitication meeting, attended, it was said, by 8,000 people, was held. The Repub- licans of the Stnte shared m the enthusiasm with which the campaign

REPUBLirAN STATE CONVENTIONS. 525

throughout the country was eoudueted, and gave their candidate for Governor 20.585 majority. It gave the Republican Presidential Electors a plurality of 23,423, and a clear majority of 22,213.

The Convention of 1862 followed the example of 1856 in giving the (lovernor a second term, a practice which has sinre become almost invariable with the party. E. C. Walker was Temporary and William A. Howard Permanent Chairman of the Convention. Mr. Blair's renomination for Governor was effected by a vote of 180 out of a t<»tal of 207. Chavles S. ^lay was nominated for Lieutenant Governor and Henry T. Backus for Secretary of State. The State Treasurer, Commissioner of the State Land Office, and the educational officers were renominated. Emil Anneke w^as designated for Auditor General, and Albert Williams for Attorney General. The platform was long and patriotic. The cami)aign came during a period of depression caused by the slow pr(»gress of the Cnion armies. Yel it was vigorously conducted and resulted in a majority of 6,614 for Blair. J. W. Tillman was Chairman of the State Central Committc^e.

The Conventi<m of 1864 was held after the Democratic National Convention had declared the war a failure, and the Rt*publicans had renominated Lincoln. It was one of the most exciting periods of Mie war, and the issue of the election was uncertain. The Union victories, which afterwards gave assurance of political success, had not yet come. The Convention was held in Merrill Hall, Detroit, with John M. Lamb, of I^apeer, as Temporary and Robert R. Beecher, of Lenawee, Pennanent Chairman. There was a close contest for the nomination for Governor between Henry P. Baldwin, of Detroit, and Henry H. Crapo, of Flint, the latter w inning on the fourth ballot by a vote of 106 to 103. Charles S. May was a candidate for renom- ination for Lieutenant Governor. He led at the start, but his own county deserted him, and on the fourth ballot K, O. Grosvenor, of Hillsdale, received the nomination. The old candidates for Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor General, Attorney General and Member of th(» Board of Education were reiumiinated. The rest of the ticket was as follows: Commissi(mer of the State Land Offire, Cyrus Hewitt; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Oramel Hosford. William A. Howard was made Chairman of the State Central Committee, a posi- tion which he held through two campaigns. The vote as officially counted gave Crapo 10,443 majority, but the votes of Alpena and Manjuette Counties were* not returned in time to be included in this count. Under a decision of the Supreme Court the soldiers' vote,

526 H18TORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

taken in the Held, was also exeluded. The vote as aetually rast was: Crapo, l)l,o5(>; P'enton, 74,2?)3; majority for Crapo, 17,063; for Presi- dent, Lincoln, 91,521 ; MKMellan, 74,604. The soldiers' vote was 9,608 for Oapo and 2,992 for Fen ton.

Before the Convention of 1866 met Johnsonism had eommentt^ its work by sowing discord in the ranks of the Republican party, yet the Conventicm was a strong, if not very harmonious body. It met in Merrill Hall, Detroit, August 30, with Charles S. May as both Temporary and Permanent Chairman. On an informal ballot for (lovernor, Henry H. Crapo had 105 votes, Henry P. Baldwin 52, Wm. L. Stoughton, of St. Joseph, 46, and scattering 3. On the first formal ballot Governor Crapo was renominated. Dwight May was nomin- ated for Lieutenant (lovernor, and the rest of the ticket was as follows: Secretary of State, Oliver L. Spaulding; Treasurer, E. O. Grosvenor; Auditor General, William Humphrey; Commissioner of the State Land Office, Benjamin I). Pritehard; Attorney General, William L. Stoughton; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Oramel Hosford. Crapo's majority in the election was 29.038.

The (\mvention of 1868 was held in Merrill Hall. Detroit, July 1, and was calif d to order by William A. Howard, Chairman of the State Central Committee, David H. Jerome was Temporary Chair- man and James l^irney Permanent. Henry P. Baldwin was nominated for (lOvernor, receiving 139 votes to 62 for Cyrus G. Luce. Morgan Bates was nominated for Lieutenant Governor, receiving 102 votes to 6(> tor Jonathan J. Woodman and 34 scattering. Dwight May was nominated for Attorney General, and the rest of the old ticket was renominated. John J. Bagley was chosen Chairman of the State Central Committee.

The Convention of 1S70 met in Young Men's Hall, Detroit, Sep tember 1, with Lawrence T. Reiner, of St. Clair, for Temporary Chairman, ard J. K. Boies, of lA*nawee, for Permanent. Governor Baldwin was renominated by acclamation and Morgan Bates was ren<miinated for Lieutenant Governor on the first ballot. Daniel Striker was nominated for Secretary of State; Victory 1*. (^oilier, for Treasurer, and Charles A. Edmunds for Land Commissioner, with the old incumbents for Auditor General, Attorney General, Superiu tendent of Public Instruction and Members of the Board of Education. Some restivcness had developed before this time at the dcmiinant infiiience of Detroit in the party. Thar City now had the Governor, both Cnited States Senators, the Chairman of the State Central

KEPrTBLICAN STATE CONVENTIONS. 527

Coniinittee and the party headquarters, and the last seven State Conventions had been held there. This restiveness found expression in a vote l^hat the next State Convention should be held at Lansing, and in the designation of Stephen I). Bingham, of the same City, as Committee Chairman, a position which he filled with eminent ability and success through four campaigns. The Prohibitionists appeared in the tield with a separate ticket for the first time in this campaign, polling 2,710 votes. Baldwin's plurality was 16,785.

The Convention of lh72 met in Representatives' Hall, July 31 and had Charles E. Holland, of Houghton, as Temporary, and Sylves ter Larned, of Detroit, as Permanent Chairman. John J. Bagley was nominated for Oovernor on the first ballot, having 164 votes to 44 for Francis B. Stockbridge. Henry H. Holt was nominated for Lieu- tenant Governor; Daniel B. Briggs, for Superintendent of Public Instruction; L. H. Clapp, for Land Commissioner and Byron D. Ball for Attorney General. The rest of the old ticket was renominated. The election was ^a walk over, Bagley having 57,088 plurality over Austin Blair, candidate on the Greeley ticket.

The Convention of 1874 was held at Lansing, August 26, under a new apportionment which largely increased the number of delegates. Byron M. Cutcheon was Temporary Chairman and J. Webster Childs Permanent. The old candidates for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Land Commissioner and Superintendent of Publi<* Instruction were renominated by acclamation, and the rest of the ticket was made up as follows: Treasurer, William B. McCreary; Auditor General, Ralph Ely; Attorney tJeneral, A. J. Smith; Member of the State Board of Education, Edgar Rexford. This campaign was as difficult as that of 1872 was easy. At one time defeat seemed to stare the Republicans in the face. But they pulled through with 5,069 plurality for the head of the tick(»t, and with pluralities not varying widely from this for the rest of the candidates.

The Conventicm of 1876 was held at Grand Rapids, August 3d, and was devoid of any striking features. Early in the season public sentiment had centered upon Ex-S])eaker Charles M. Croswell, of Adrian, as the candidate for Governor. There was a movement started during the summer in favor of William A. Howard, the plea being made that after the reverses of 1874 the party needed an excep- tionally strong candidate in the field. But Mr. Croswell had been too long before the [)eople to be sidetracked, and the Howard move- ment was short lived. Nothing was heard of it after the delegates

528 HISTORY OF THE KEPUBLICAN PARTY.

reached (ti-hikI Rapids. The night before the Convention a torch- light procession paraded the streets, which were illuminated with colored lights and fireworks. Witter J. Raxter, of Hillsdale, was Temporary, and David U. Jerome, of Saginaw, was Permanent Chair- man. Charles M. Croswell was nominated for (Tovernor by acclamation. The rest of the ticket was as follows: Lieutenant Gov- ernor, Alonzo Sessions, of Ionia; Secretary of State, ¥1. O. I>. Holden, of Kent; Auditor General, Ralph Ely, of Gratiot; State Treasurer, General W. 13. McCreary, of Genesee; Commissioner of the State Land Office, General B. F. Partridge, of Allegan; Attorney General, Otto Kirchner, of Wayne; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Horace A. Tarbell, of Saginaw; Member of the State Hoard of Education, Witter J. Raxter, of Hillsdale. The platform adopted was short and very general in its character. This campaign was the first in which the Greenback party made any considerable showing, its vote for Governor being 8,21)7. CrosswelTs plurality was 28,434.

In the campaigns up to IJSTS the principles of the party had been well defined by the Naticmal Conventions and the party in the States might reasonably follow in the paths thus outlined. Rut the year 1878, which was not a Presidential year, presented a new problem for consideration. The (Jreenback i)arty, which had first come into the field with a separate ticket in 187G, hardly rose in that year above the dignity of a faction. It was regarded by most Republicans as an aggregation of visionaries, which need not be taken into serious account in the planning of a cam])aign. Rut the morning after the spring elections in 1878 the Republican leaders rubbed their eyes as if awakening from a dream. The little faction of Greenbackers had suddenly sprung a formidable movement. They had carried a large number of City and Village elections. Worse than that, in the farm- ing districts they had cut a wide swath through many of the staunchest Republican <-ounties. Along the two Southern tiers, and up through the center of the State, they had carried township after township, and in Roards of Supervisors which had been Republican ever since the party was organized it now figured only as a small minority. In Rarry County the Republican representation on the Roard was reduced from 10 to 3, in Ray from 1(5 to 7, in Rranch from 18 to 5, in Calhoun from 17 to 7, in Clinton from 11 to 7, in Gratiot from 18 to 8, in Ionia from VA to 8, in Wayne from 28 to 14 and in Kent from 22 to 2. The (Jrec^nbackers had won nearly all that the Republicans had lost, and some from the Democrats besides. They

KEPC'HLK AN STATE CONVENTIONS. 529

were, uioreover, as the time for the sumuier couveutions approached boastful, confident and defiant. Thev even scorned a fusion with the Democrats, professing their ability to carry the State alone; or as Moses \V. Field expressed it in the Wayne County Convention, they would *'sweep Wayne county lik(» a whirlwind, and elect a Governor by the largest majority that Michigan ever gave."

The (JrerMibackers were not only confident but were eager for the contest. They proposed to make it a talking campaign and a long one. Their conventions were called in advance of those of the other parties, that in Wayne County being May 28, and the State conven- tions being held in Grand Rapids, June 5. There were two sets of delegates and two State Conventions, one the "regulars," headed by Moses W. Field, and the other the "Pomeroy" section, headed in this State by R. E. Hoyt, but after a little dallying they came to an agreement, nominated Henry S. Smith for Governor, and adopted a platform, which contained, among others the following demands:

1. The unconditional repeal of the so-called Resumption Act.

2. The issue of all paper money by the General Government; only such pajier money to be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private.

3. That no more interest-bearing bonds of the Government of any kind or < lass be issued, and that all bonds now outstanding be paid as speedily as possible.

5. The coinage of silver to be placed upon the same footing as that of gold.

H. The repeal of the National Banking Law,

In their ?pe<Mhes nuiny of the Greenbackers went much further than this, advocating the full fiat mon(\v idea and proposing an issue of 12,000,000,000 in greenbacks, to be issued "direct to the people."

While the Greenback movement was thus boasting itself, the Republican leaders wen* in a quandary. Owing to President Hayes' "Civil Service Order No. 1," a number of members of the State Cen- tral Committee had resigned. Among these was the Chairman, Stephen 1). Bingham, who had successfully conducted four cam- paigns, but who was tlu»n Postmaster at Lansing. George H. Hop- kins, of Detroit, had been apj)ointed to fill the vacancy. In this emer- gency he sent out letters to leading Rei)ublicans throughout the State, inviting them to a c<mference at the Russell House in Detroit, and in so doing rendered the j)arty the best service that it was his good fortune to perform during the two i»eriods of his chairmanship.

5;i0 HISTORY OF TUE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

About seventy-five responded and it was a gathering of strong men. The crisis called for as much of the heroic quality as did that which led to the organization of the party in the first place; and the heroic quality was there. The main question was whether there should be any concession to the Greenback sentiment in platform or cam- paign, or whether the banner of resumption and of sound money should be held aloft, even though it was <arried to temporary* defeat. Governor Croswell was present, and it might be said that he was the most interested party there, inasmuch as he was a candidate for re-election. He told the conferees that they need not take his pro8pe(*ts into account. He would rather be defeated on a sound money platform than to be elected on one that involved any surren- der of principles. A few were at first in favor of modifying the party utterances in the hope of winning back some of the Greenback Repub- licans, but the general sense of the conference was that there should be no concession made to that sentiment. The ultimate decision was that an early convention should be called and an aggressive cam- paign should be made. It was further agreed that ex-Senator Chan- dler should act as Chairman of the Convention, and should also be Chairman of I he State Central Committee. It was with much of this same spirit that the Convention met in Detroit, June 13. It was a superb gathering, bringing together more of the strong men of the State than any other gathering siu<e that which organized the party in 1854. Jauies H. Stone was Temporary Chairman, and according to the understanding arrived at by the Russell House conference, Mr. Chandler was IVrmanent Chairman. Mr. Chandler, in his opening speech, left no doubt in regard to his attitude on the currency ques- tion, and the platfoim was equally explicit. Two of its paragraphs were as follows:

We denounce rejjudiation in any form and repudiators in every disguise, ^^■e regard the plighted faith of a community as binding upon all its members, and the failure to fulfill a public obligation as a stain upon both public and private honor; and we insist that the debts of the Nation shall be jiaid with the same fairness and integrity with which an honest man seeks to pay his individual liabilities.

We as8(M-r that no jn-osperity <an be real or durable that is founded on a fictitious standard; that the value of paper currency, whether issued by the Government or by banks, is derived from its "promises to pay" and the credit that i>romise is worth; that the full benefits of such a currency cannot be nnilized unless it is convertible on demand into gold and silver; that a circulation of pai^er and coin

>

REPUBLKWN STATE CX)NVENTIONS. 531

interchangeable at par and at the will of the holder, has been proved by experience to be the best known to commerce; that this country is too great to submit to a subordimate place among (commercial nations, and its people are too honest to be content with unredeemed and irredeemable ])romises, and in the name of all the producing (•lasses and of every honest workingman, we demand a currency that is not only worth its fa(^e all over the T'uion, but will command respect, recognition and its full value in every market in the world.

Michigan Republicans were the only ones in the West that were entirely aggressive in their fight a<?ainst every form of financial heresy. The New Yoik Times said editorially, the day after the Convention: ^The Michigan Republicans have done well. Their platform has about it the clear ring of honest conviction, undulled by any half hearted or halting compromise. So lucid and courageous an enun- ciation of the financial creed of the Republican party has certainly not been made this year, nor has the irreconcilable hostility of the party to all forms of tampering with public credit and National honor been so resolutely and judiciously stated as by the Detroit Convention.''

The campaign that followed was in keeping with the platform. Mr. Chandler's Confidential Secretary, George W. Partridge, was appointed Sec? etary of the State Central Conunittee. He was admir- ably e(]|uipped for the detailed work of that organization, leaving Mr. Chandler free to take the stum]), which he did, with good results, in all the leading cities of the State. Many joint debates were arranged, among them a series between Oeneral Samuel F. Cary, the "father of the Greenback party." and William Williams of Indiana, which attracted wide attention. A number of distinguished speakers from outside the St«ate were engaged for single meetings, including James G. Rlaine, James A. Garfield and St(»wart L. Woodford. The result was a magnifi(»eut victory, the Republicans electing their State ticket by over 47,000 plurality, with an entire Congressional delegaticm, and large majorities in both houses of the Legislature. As one result of this victory the Democrats and "Nationals," as the Greenbackers then called ihemselves, fused, or rather, it might be said that the Nationals absorlunl the Democrats, in the next spring camj)aign. But even at that, the splendid organization of the Republicans enabled them to win, electing Su])reme Court Justice and two Regents of the University by majorities ranging from 5,881 to 6,143.

In ISSO the fusion b(»twe(M» the DcMuocrats and Nationals was off again. The two parti(»s nominated s(*j)arate tickets for Governor,

532 HISTORY OF THE REPITBLICAN PARTY.

and that gave the Roi)iibli(aii8 assurance of an easy campaign. At their ConvenUon there was a very ])retty r^ee for the gubernatorial nomination between David H. Jerome, Thomas W. Palmer, Rice A. Beal, John T. Rich and Francis B. Stockbridge. The contest was close and the <aiivassing active, but entirely good natured. The Con vention was held at Jackson, August 5, with Roswell CI. Horr as Temporary Chairman, and Colonel Henry M. Duftield as Permanent Chairman. A long time was taken with the various nominating and seconding speeches, and the first ballot, when, at last it was reached, gave the following very even result:

John T. Rich 115

Rice A. Beal 107

Thomas \\ . Palmer 105

Francis B. Stockbridge 10.3

David H. Jerome. 102

Charles T. Gorham 16

E. G. D. Holden 1

The second ballot was about the same. Stockbridge began to fall ot!' on the third ballot. Palmer on the sixth, and Beal on the eighth, leaving the < ontest virtually between Rich and Jerome. It termin- ated on the tenth, when Jerome had 318, Rich 2:^8 and Beal 4. The candidates w-'ie all on the ground, and as they were called out, one after the other, they gave very good examples of varied convention oratory. Senator Palmer es])ecially captivated the audience with a witty and i)hiloso]»hic sjjeech, c(unmencing with "One by one the martyrs couk* before you.'- It was remarked by many that if he had been alTorded a chance to make such a speech early in the Conven- tion he would have been nominated. The ticket was filled out with Moreau 8. Crosby, for Lieutenant Governor; Secretary of State, William Jenney; Treasurer, Benjamin 1>. Pritchard; Auditor Gen- eral, W. I. Latimer: Land Commissioner, James Neasmith; Attorney General, Jacob J. Van Riper; Superintendent of Public Instruction. Cornelius A. Gower; Member of the State Board of Education, Edgar Rexford. 11. P. Baldwin was Chairumn of the State Central Com- mittee, and W. R. Bates was Secretary. The campaign was well con- ducted, and the opposition was divided. A handsome plurality for the whole ticket was the result, that for Jerome being 41,278.

Before the campaign of 1882 opened the temperance question had become a disturbing factor in Republican politics. There w^as a very strong demand for the submission of a Prohibitory Amend-

REPUBLKVVN STATE CONVENTIONS. 533

oieiit to the CoiiBtitulioii and the Kepublieans iu the hist Legislature were coiinnitted almost unanimously to that. Governor Jerome, although not at all obtrusive in expressing his opinion on the sub jec*t, was known to be oi)posed to the amendment, and even to the submission of it. His administration had been clean and able, but he had nuide souh» enemies b^' his austerity of manner, and there were grave doubts among observing Kepublirans of his ability to carry the State again. When the Convention met in Kalamazoo, August 30, 1JS82, there was a decided inclination to depart from the two-term rule of the party and to nominate some other man. The preference turned toward Thomas W. Talmer, and when he positively refused the use of his name, there was a disposition among some to place him in the field, even against his protest. This movement was finally suppressed, i hough nearly one hundred delegates still insisted upon voting for him. J. W. French was temporary Chairman of the Convention and Thomas W. Palmer Permanent Chairman. The plat- form, \>'hich was long, heartily indorsed (lovernor Jerome's admin- istration, gave attention to a number of State and National affairs, and had the following upon the prohibition (juestion:

It is a fundamental right of the people to alter, from time to time, the organic law of the State, as new circumstances or growing evils may require, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its jjowers in such a form as to them shall seem most likely to elTect their safety and happiness. The evils of intemper ance have bcM-ome so great that, in the name of patriotism, most efficient mc^asures ought to be taken to r<*duce those evils to a mini- mum, and as members of no political jiarty are wholly agreed as to whether this can be best be done* by prohibition or regulation of the traflic in intoxi<ating liquors; and as the i)eo])le are and ought to be the final arbitrators of this questi(m; and as more than a hundred thousand among the moral and intelligent people of the State have asked by ])etition that that question be put to the people by sub- mission to them of a prohibitory Constitutional Amendment; we declare that we believe it would be wise and patriotic for the next Legislature to submit such amendment to the direct vote of the people, and we demand that it be so 8ubmitt<Mi.

\\ hen the time came for nominations, (lovernor Jerome's name was presented by Captain E. I*. Allen, of Washtenaw, and sujqmrted by half a dozen other counties. The vot(» stood as follows:

David H. Jerome 5f>l

Thomas W. Palmer 97

Francis H. Stockbridge 14

Benjamin F. Pritchard 10

Scattering 10

5:U HISTOKY OF THE REPUBLICWN PARTY.

Tilt' ticket was completed as follows: Lieutenant Governor. Moreaii S. Crosby, of Kent; Secretary of State, Harry A. ("onant. of Monroe; Treasurer, Edward H. Butler, of \Yayne; Auditor General, William i\ Stevens, of Iosco; Land Commissioner, Minor S. Newell, of Genesee; Attorney General, Jacob J. Van Kiper, of Berrien; SujH^r intendent of Public Instruction, Varnuni B. (\)chran, of Marquette; Member of the State Board of Education, Bela W. Jenks, of St. Clair.

The Democrats and Nationals nominated a Fusion ticket, headed by Josiah W. Bej^ole, a former Republican Member of (Congress, and afterwards one of the leaders in the Greenback movement. They made the contest a bitterly personal one against <iOvernor Jerome, and were aided by some Republicans. The straight Prohibition vote, which was drawn chiefly from the Republicans, also increased from 1,114 in 1880 to 5,854 in this campaign. Cnder these combined influ- ences Governor Jerome was delealed by 4,572 votes. The rest of the Republican ticket was elected by pluralities ranging from 7,772 to 14,237.

In spite of the defeat of a part of the ticket in the fall of 1882, and of the whole ticket in the sjuing of lS8:i, the Republicans came together at Detroit, August i:i,. 1884, in one of the largest and most enthusiastic gatherings ever held in the State. Early in the season Cyrus G. Luce was counted on generally as the nominee for Governor, but rather late in the canvass General R. A. Alger entered the field (leneral Alger was comparatively new in politics, but put up a cam- paign that had enough of the cavalry dash in it to soon make him an important factor in the contest. \Vhen the Convention met it was, by no means, anybody's tight, but by the time the preliminaries were over, the Presidential Electors were named, the platform adopted and the nominating speeches made, it was clear that General Alger was in the lead. It required only one ballot to settle the matter, Alger having 'Mi votes and Luce 24:j. Mr. Luce was then nominated for Lieutenant (lovernor by acclamation, but declined, and the ticket was comi)leted as follows: Lieutenant Governor, Archibald Buttars. of Charlevoix; Secretary of State, Harry A. Conant, of Monroe; State Treasurer, Edward H. Butler, of Wayne; Auditor General, William C. Stevens, of Washtenaw; Land Commissioner, Minor S. Newell, of Genesee; Sup(»rintendent of Public Instruction, Herschel R. Gass, of Hillsdale; Attorney General, Moses Taggart, of Kent; Member of the State Board of P^ducation, James F. Ballon, of Allegan. Jay A. Hub- bell, of Houghton, was Temporary Chairman of the Convention, and Edward S. Lacev, of Eaton, was IVrmanent Chairman.

REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTIONS. 535

Edward S. La<ey was chosen Cluiirnian of the State Central Committee, and Dr. A. W. Smith, of Adrian, was Secretar}-. The <ampaign that followed was one of the most active ever conducted here. Aside from meetings arranged by local workers, 1,850 meetings were held under the auspices of the State Central Committee, who also sent out 2,500,000 documents. Not only did they arrange for this large number of meetings, but they provided an unusually long list of speakers, including some of the best of the country. Mr. Blaine included Michigan in his Western tour, accompanied by Frank Plumlej', of Vermont; General John C. Fremont, and Walker Blaine. He spoke in Detroit, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Albion, Mar- shall, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Niles, (ieneral Alger and other Michigan Kepublicans going with him either the whole or a part of the way. Later in the camjiaign General Logan spent three days in the State. The Democrats and Nationals again fused on Begole for Governor and the Prohibitionists, with a very popular candidate, polled an unprecedentedly large vote, but the whole Republican ticket was elected.

In 1886 Governor Alger declined a second term, and Cj^rus G. Luce was nominated for Governor by acclamation at a <'onvention wliieh opened at Grand Rapids, August 25. There was an almost entirely new deal on the rest of the tick<'t, which was placed in the field with but very little in the way of contest, and which was as follows: Lieutenant Governor, James H. McDonald, of Delta; Sec retary of State, (iilbert K. Osmun, of Wayne; State Treasurer, George L. Maltz, of Alpena; Auditor (ieneral, Henry 11. Aplin, of Bay; Attor- ney General, Moses Taggart, of Kent; Land Commissioner, Roscoe D. Dix, of Berrien; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Joseph Estabrook, of Eaton; Member of State Board of Education, Samuel S. Bab<()ck, of \\'ayne. Robei t E. Frazer was Temporary Chairman ol the Convention and Austin Blair Permanent.

The platform touched upon the tarilT, labor and currency ques- tions, upon polygamy and upon the Irish struggle for liome rule, and had the following upon the Temix^rance question: **We believe that when any considerable portion of the people of the State desire to express themselves by voting \\\Hn\ a change in the organic; law they ought to be allowed to do so in a Constitutional manner, and recog- nizing the (»vils of intemperance and desiring to overcome these evils, we believe the TemptM-ance question is one upon which that expres- sion should be jiermitted. We further demand the thorough

5;i() HISTORY OF THE REPUBLirAN PARTY.

enfoiceuieiit of the present tax and police laws as they stand on the statute books." Major (Jeorge H. Hopkins was Chairman of the State Central Committee, and Harry C. Tillman was Secretary. The whole Republican ticket was elected, Mr. Luce having 7,4:^2 plurality. The I'rohibition vote reached 25,170, which was about 8,000 lar^^er than that of two years earlier. Notwithstanding the large Temi>er- ance vote, which was drawn nminly from the Republicans, that party had something more than a two-thirds vote in both branches of the Legislature, and was able to carry out its pledge to submit a Prohibi- tory Amendment to the Constitution. This was done in time for the vote to be taken upon it at the spring election. The proposition received astonishingly large majorities in the villages and rural districts of the Lower Peninsula, but was swamped by majorities against it of 22,309 in Wayne County, 5,852 in Saginaw, and 4.855 in Kent. Even with these large adverse majorities, which it was believed were to some extent fraudulent, it lacked only 5,885 of carry- ing, in a total vote of 862,775. After this defeat the legislature passed a stringent law for taxing and regulating the liquor traffic, and providing a Local Option Law under which prohibition by coun- ties could be had. Under this law nearly half the counties of the State voted for prohibition within the next thirtei*n months. The Supreme Court, on the first test case, declared the Ix)cal Option Law unconstitutional, in the form in which it was enacted, but pointed out quite clearly a form of law, having the same purpose, that would stand the test of the courts. The same court sustained the Tax and Regulation Law, which has since become part of the settled policy of the State in respect to this traflic.

At the next State Convention, which was held in Detroit, August 8, 1888, the following brief temperance plank was introduced: **\Ye cordially endorse the progressive temperance legislation enacted by the last Legislature, and regret that its full fruits were not realized, owing to the technical defects in the laws, held by the Supreme Court to be in conflict with the Constituti(m. We record ourselves as in favor of the impartial enfon^ement of the temperance laws of the State, and recommend to the next Legislature the re-enactment of a Local Option Law that shall be free from Constitutional objections. '

This was oi)posed by a number of speakers in the Convention as being too sp(Mitic. They thought it better to make a declaration favoring "n^asonable temjHMance legislation," instead of confining the l)arty to a single line of action. The resolution was, however, adopted

REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTIONS. 5:i7

as introduced, and the next Legislature passed such an Act as is here indicated. But by this time the Prohibition wave had begun to recede, and only a few counties availed themselves of the law. The straight Prohibition vote also began to fall otf, and the Temperance (juestion, except so far as it atfected the vote for (lovernor in 1890, ceased to have very great intluence upon Michigan elections.

The first day and evening of the Convention which met August 8, 1888, constituted more of a ratification meeting for the I^residential nominations than a meeting for the pushing of business, though the District caucuses completed their work. Major Charles W. Watkins, of Kent, was Temporary Chairman and George A. Farr, of Ottawa, was Permanent Chairman. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor General, Land Commissioner and Superintendent of Public Instruction were all renominated. Stephen V. R. Trowbridge, of Ionia, was nominated for Attorney Gen- eral, and Perry F. Powers, of Wexford, for Member of the State Board of Education. In this campaign the Republicans, both in State and Nation, were confident from the start. The Cleveland Adminis- tration had given great dissatisfaction, while the Republican candidates were entirely acceptable to the party. The result was a fair plurality for the whole Republican ticket, both Electoral and State, that for (rovernor Luce being 17,145.

The Convention of 1890 met in Detroit, August 27, and was called to order by Major George H. Hoj)kins, Chairman of the old State Central Committee. Judge P. T. \'an Zile was Temporary Chair- man, and Austin Blair was Permanent Chairman. It had been generally expected that John T. Rich, of Lapeer, would receive the nomination for Governor, but James M. Turner, of Lansing, made a sharp six weeks' canvass, and took the nomination by 499 votes to 455 for Mr. Rich. The rest of the ticket was: Lieutenant Governor, William S. Linton, of Saginaw; Secretary of State, Washington Gardner, of Calhoun; State Treasurer, Joseph B. Moore, of Wayne; Auditor General, Theron F. Giddings, of Kalamazoo; Attorney ( Gen- eral, Benjamin W. Huston, of Tuscola; Commissioner of State Land Office, John C,. Berry; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Orr Schurtz; Member of the State Board of Educaticm, James M. Ballon. James McMillan was appointed Chairman of the State Central Com mittee, of which W. R. Bates was Secretary. The platform was very short, and the temperance plank in it was narrowed down to this: "We reaffirm the position of the Republican party heretofore

538 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

expressed in its State platforms of 1886 and 1888 upon the Temper anee question." Previous to the nomination Mr. Turner had not been conspicuous in politics. The mass of the Kepublicans knew bul little of him, but their opponents took pains that they should speedilv And out a great deal too much. His record did not prove satisfaetory to the temperance people, and in some other re8pe<-ts the campaign became a defensive one. The Prohibition vote went up to 28,681, the* largest ever polled, and most of the third party vote, which at this time went under the names of Patrons of Industry, was cast for the Democratic ticket. On the strength of this vote the Democratic can- didate for Governor was elected by 11,520 plurality, and the other candidates on the ticket by pluralities ranging from 887 on Treasurer to 3,B3G on Member of the Hoard of Education. The Democrats had a clear nmjority in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, at the opening of the session, there were 14 Republicans, 14 Democrats and 4 who were elected as Patrons of Industry. Of the latter one generally vottMi with the Democrats and the other three maintained an independent position. In order to secure control of the Senate the Democrats took advantage of the absence of eight Republicans at the State Convention in February, to unseat two of the Republican Senators, and seat Democrats in their jilaces. A promise had been given by the Democratic leaders that no matters political should be brought up during the absence of the Republicans at Convention, but the majority claimed that this promise was not binding upon them. Aside from this bn^aking of a pledge the proceedings in the unseating movement were in violation of half a dozen rules of parliamentary procedure. In both cases documents were presented to the Senate as reports of committees which the committers had never seen nor 'authorized; in some part of the proceedings in each case the minority were denied recognition by the presiding officer; in the last case Senators were recordf*d as present and voting when they were not in the Senate Chamber, and the Journal was afterward falsified in order to sustain the bogus vote; throughout the whole proceedings an officer of the Democratic State Central Committee, but not a member of the Senate, stood at the elbow of the ])residing officer and prompted his rulings. The next day an attempt was made to deprive the minor- ity of the right of protest guaranteed by the Constitution to every Senator, and the Senate refused the rcipiest made by six of the Sena- tors that their names be stricken otf the Journal where they erroneously a])pean*d as voting in one of the cases. Finally the two

REPrBLlCAN RTATE CONVENTIONS. 539

Senatorfe who had been fraudulently declared entitled to seats were surreptitiously sworn in early in the morning, and the same day they voted on questions relating directly to their own cases.

With the majority thus obtained the Democrats passed an appor- tionment Bill that was declared unconstitutional, and other extreme partisan measures. The record, taken as a whole, was so unsavory that the people wanted no more of the jiarty. The spring election went Kepublican again, and the State kept going Republican by majorities which in six out of the next eight years were larger than ever before. From 1852 to the present time the State has had only one Democratic Legislature, and one branch of that was made so by fraud.

With the (Convention of 1892 commenced Hazen S. Pingree's meteoric career in State politics, though it did not reach its zenith till four years later. The Mayor's political and administrative sue cesses in Detroit had been such as to warrant the expectation of a notable career in a wider field, and with the solid backing of Wayne County he appeared as a candidate for Governor at the (^^onvention whi<h commenced its sessions at Saginaw, July 20. He was too late, however, for that campaign, as John T. Rich was decidedly in the lead. The only ballot taken at the Convention gave Rich 579V2> Pingree 219 Vj, James O'Dounell 5, and Washington Gardner 1. The ticket was completed by the nomination of J. Wight Giddings, of Wexford, for Lieutenant (iovernor; John W. Jochim, of Marquette, for Secretary of State; Joseph F. Hambitzer, of Houghton, for Treas- urer; Stanley W. Turner, of Roscommon, Auditor (general; Gerrit J. Diekema, of Ottawa, Attorney General; H. R. Pattengill, of Ingham, Superintendent of Public Instruction; E. A. \\ ilson, of Van Buren, Member of the Hoard of Education. Mark S. Hrewer was both Tem- porary and Permanent Chairman, and James McMillan was Chairman of the State Central Committee. In the election Rich's plurality was 1(>,09().

In 1894 Mr. Rich was a candidate for renomination, and Mayor Pingree again appeared in the field against him. The Convention was held at (irand Rapids, July ai, with Philip T. Colgrove as Tem- porary and I^ermanent Chairman. Mr. Pingree had the Wayne delegation of lOG votes entirely devoted to him, but did not make as much headway in other counties as he had anticipated, and the night before the Convention it was decided that his name should not be presented, and that tlie Wayne delegation should vote blank. This

540 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

plan, which brought no end of ridicule upon the delegation, was carried out the next day. 15 members from other counties joining in it. The one ballot taken for Governor gave Rich 710, Aaron T. Bliss 98, Blank 121. The ticket was Ulled out with the following: Lieu tenant Governor, Alfred Milnes, of Branch; Secretary of State, Washington (iardner, of Calhoun; State Treasurer, James M. Wilkin- son, of Marcjuette; Auditor General, Stanley W. Turner, of Roscommon; Attorney General, Fred A. Maynard, of Kent; Land Comnussioner, William A. French, of Presque Isle; Superintendent of Public Instruction, H. R. l^attengill, of Ingham; Member of the State Board of Education, P(»rry F. Powers, of Wexford. The Silver question appeared in this Convention in a mild resolution, which was reported as follows: "We pledge the Republican party of Michigan to use every effort in its i)ower to restore silver to its historic posi- tion in the X'nited States hh a money metal." This, after a long debate, was adopted. James McMillan was again Chairman of the State Central Committee. The campaign resulted in a tidal wave plurality of 106,81)2 for Rich, on a total vote of 416,8:^8.

There were those who said that the fiasco of Mayor Pingree's candidacy in 1894 would end his career in that capacity, but he had altogether too much vitality and virility to be kept down by one bad break of his indiscreet supporters. At the Convention which com menced its sessions in Grand Rapids, August 5, 1896, and over which J. Wight Giddings presided, he was the leading candidate from the start, and won the nomination on the fourth ballot, and that in spite of the fact that the party was on a gold platform, and that he had decided leanings toward free silver. The four ballots taken had the following result:

12 8 4

Hazen S. Pingree, of Wayne 839 858 465 449

Aaron T. Bliss, of Saginaw 286 297 308 293

James O'Donnell, of Jackson SS 78 89 79

David D. Aitken, of Genesee 56 48 17 17

A. O. Wheeler, of Manistee 47 84 14

Harry A. Conant, of Monroe 22 17 5 2

Whole number of votes 8:58 827 8:58 840

Necessary to a choice 417 414 420 421

The ticket was completed with the following candidates: Lieu- tenant Governor, Thomas B. Dunstan, of Houghton; Secretary of State, Washington Gardner, of Calhoun; State Treasurer, George A.

REPI BLICAN STATE CONVENTIONS. 541

Steel, of Clinton; Auditor General, Roseoe 1). Dix, of Berrien; Attor- ney General, Fred A. Maynard, of Kent; Land Commissioner, William A. French, of Presciue Isle; Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion, Jason E. Hammond, of Hillsdale*; Member of the State Board of Education, James W. Simmons, of Shiawassee.

Mr. Pingree's nomination was received with an enthusiasm that had not been seen in a Michigan State (Convention before for many years, and his speech, when he came before the Convention, was received with almost equal favor. The campaign that followed had some curious phases. At the spring Convention for choosing dele- gates to the National Convention, Dexter M. Ferry was elected Chairman of the State Central Committee. He was strongly in favor of a currency based on the gold standard and believed in making the campaign fight mainly on that issue. Mr. Pingree did not wish that question to be made prominent. Besides that he classed Mr. Ferry among his political enemies on other grounds. The outcome of it was that the State Central Committee conducted the National and Congressional campaign on the gold currency and protective tariff issues, and Mr. Pingree and his friends carried on the State campaign mainly on his personal record and on State issues. The opposition had a State ticket in the field composed of Democrats, Populists and Silver Republicans. The result was a personal triumph for Mr. Pingree, who had a plurality of S:^,400 on a total vote of r,47,802. McKinley's plurality was 57,078. That of State officers other than Governor ranged from 50, 445 to 62,894.

Governor Pingree, during his first term, may be said to have created a new issue in State politics, that of equal taxation of all property, including that of railroad companies, express companies, telegra])h compani<»s and telephone companies. A bill, known as the Atkinson Bill, intended to secure the taxation of corporations of the classes mentioned, passed the Legislature and w^as signed by him, but the Supreme Court, in a decision on another matter, declared, by implication, that the Act was unconstitutional. That left the sub- mission of a Constitutional Amendment as the only way in which the purpose could be accomplished, and to that end the Governor directed his most strenuous efforts, finally succeeding at a special session of the Legislature, held in October, 1900.

The 1898 Convention met in Detroit, September 21, with Grant Fellows as Temporary, and E. O. Grosvenor as Permanent Chairman. Governor Pingree was renominated by acclamation with a Lieuten-

542 HISTORY OF THE REPl BLK AN PARTY.

ant Governor practicallv of his own selection. Among: the resolutions adopted was one commending (rovernor Pingfree's patriotism and enerfjy in his efforts to equip and send to the front Michigan's volun teers; and especially commending his unselfish and fatherly devotion to the int(»rests of the sick and dying soldiers of Michigan and the bereaved families of the dead. Another was as follows: "We com- mend the present Htate Administration for its earnest efforts in favor of th(» equal and just taxation of the property of railroad, tele- graph, telephone and express companies. We favor the immediate repeal of Ihe tax upon the gross earnings of railroad companies and favor a tax to be levied upon the true value of railroad, telegraph, telephone and express companies' property, this value to be deter- mined by a State board. The taxes collected therefrom shall be paid into the Primary School Fund. We endorse the principles of the Atkinson Bill and pledge the support of the Republican party thereto.'

The ticket was completed with the following candidates: Lieu- tenant Governor, Orrin W. Robinson, of Houghton; Secretary of State, Justus S. Stearns, of Mason; Auditor General, Roscoe 1). Dix, of Berrien; Attorney General, Hora<e M. Oren, of ('hipjjewa; State Treasurer, George A. Steel, of (Minton; Land Gommissioner, William A. French, of Pres<pie Isle; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jason E. Hammond, of Hillsdale; Regents of the Lniversity, EH R. Sutton, of Wayn(\ and J. Byron Judkins, of Kent; Members of the State Board of Education. E. F. Johnson, of Washtenaw, and F. A. Piatt, of (Tcnesee. Gen. A. F. Marsh, of Allegan, was made Gbair- man of the State Gentral Gommittt*e, a majority of which was friendly to the Governor. The <an)paign was fought largely on the taxation issue, and the election gave Pingree a plurality of 75,097, on a total vote of 412,1(;4.

The State Gonventi<m for 1IMK> met at Grand Rapids, June 27, with Daniel P. Markey, of Port Huron, in the chair, both as TemiK)r- ary and Permanent Presiding ()tli<er. There were three active candidates for tlu» nomination for Governor, the friends of each claiming that their favorite had the lead. There were also three others witl; a smaller following, but each hoping that in case of a deadlock among the favorites he might inherit the strength of one of them. The candidates, in the order in which they stood on the first ballot, were: Aaron T. Bliss, of Saginaw; Dexter M. Ferry, of Wayne: Justus S. Stearns, of Mason; Ghase S. Osborn, of Chipi>ewa; James

REIMHLICAN STATE CONVENTIONS. 54;5

O'Donneil, of Jaekson; Milo 1). Campbell, of Branch. It took nine- teen ballots to nominate, the following being the figures:

* a 1 1

BALLOTS. ^ s:- i c o r-

?5 fe «• o c ;.

First 259 251 215 Gl 42 i:\

Second 273 259 209 52 .S5 13

Third 279 271 210 :W 35 13

Fourth 277 272 211 33 34 13

Fifth 278 274 209 33 33 13

Sixth 280 279 210 34 25 13

Seventh 276 28:5 210 34 23 13

Eighth 273 290 200 34 24 13

Ninth 280 294 198 30 26 13

Tenth 280 290 206 27 25 13

Eleventh 279 283 202 35 28 13

Twelfth 281 282 200 29 29 14

Thirteenth 290 275 203 29 30 13

Fourteenth 290 263 206 28 39 13

Fifteenth 28:^ 261 203 28 53 13

Sixteenth 293 251 195 29 60 13

Seventeenth 299 249 191 26 63 13

Eighteenth 326 96 181 31 194 13

Nineteenth 595 95 7 9 135

Total number of votes in the ( 'Onvention 841

Necessary to a ('hoice 421

The remainder of the ticket was as follows: Lieutenant <tov- ernor, O. W. Kobinscm, of Houghton; Auditor General, Perry F. I'owers, of Wexford; Secretary of State, Fred M. Warner, of Oakland; State Treasurer, Daniel McCoy, of Kent; Commissioner of State Land Office, E. A. Wildey, of Van TUiren; Attorney General, Horace M. Oren, of Chippewa; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Delos Fall, of Calhoun; Member of the State Board of Education, James H. Thom])son, of Osceola.

The jilatform, which was short, declared **allegiance to the gold standard, believing that the free and unlimited coinage of silver by this Nation alone would bring about untold disasters.'' It also had the following upon the tax question which (lovernor Pingree had brought so much to the front: *'The Republican Party renews its allegiance to the prin<i])le of ecpml and uniform taxation. All prop- erty owners in the State, whether individuals, co-partners, or

544 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

(•ori)oration8, should coutribute their just share to the public burden and expense; and we demand that every dollar of wealth shall be taxtni equally with every other. \Ve favor the prompt rei>eal of all special railroad charters ^rantin^ to any railroad in the State si>e<-ial privileges. \Ve believe that all the railroads of the State should do business under the same general laws.''

Hon. (lerrit J. Diekema, of Holland, Ottawa County, wa« chosen Chairman of the State Central Committee, and 1>. E. Alward, of Clare, was again chosen Secretary. Rooms for headquarters were secured in Detroit. The distribution of documents commem-ed about August 10th, and the speaking <*ampaign a month later. The Nati<mal and State Central Committees together sent out 105 sj^eakers who held 1,024 political meetings in Michigan, and there was a large distribu- tion of documents. The PenuxTats nominated ^Villiam C. Maybury, an exce])ti(mally strong <andidate, for Ciovernor. He nmde a ]>ei- sonal canvass and kept the Republican plurality on that ottice down to about SO.OOO. On the other State officers the pluralities were in the neighborhood of 9S,000 and on President it was lt>5,lf>8. The defeat of the Dennxrats wjis so sweeping that pnmiinent men of their party began, forthwith, to di8<uss plans for a reorganization, with new leaders and a new declaration of principles, before venturing upon another campaign.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

te 3

This book should be returned to the Library on or before the last date stamped below.

A fine of five cents a day is inoiirred by retaining it beyond the specified time.

Please return promptly.

CfciS.^-;i 1,5

iT 2'iij

V>'

i

iJEt

,y»^

iJ^S 1 4 '64 A