"There are some interesting facts connected with the Louisiana election which it does not seem necessary to keep secret any longer.
"When Mr. Hewitt had his celebrated interview with President Grant on the 3d of December last, just before the beginning of the recent session of Congress and before the Returning Board of Louisiana made its final declaration, the President said that in his opinion there had been no fair election in that State, and that the electoral votes of Louisiana ought not to be counted at all upon either side.
"'But,' asked the President, 'are you going to buy the Returning Board?' Mr. Hewitt assured him that the Democrats had no such purpose; that they would not buy the Presidency.
"Grant knew that the Returning Board and the Presidential election were for sale because Wells' agent had told him so; and it was natural for a man of his cast of mind to suppose that where the office of President was to be sold for money there would be an active competition for the purchase."
"Washington,March 12th, 1877.
"My dear Sir,—I expected to get over to New York and have a chat with you last week, and hence did not write you. Moreover, I was not in a frame of mind to write, and am not yet. We have been wronged out of the fruits of the last Presidential election. You were clearly and fairly elected by the people, and Hayes has been counted in. This is hard to bear patiently, and the mass of our party feel deeplyaggrieved—indeed, they are so disappointed and irritated that a great many of them are disposed to find fault with what was done, and to believe that something more successful could have been devised. Notwithstanding my disappointment at the decisions of the commission, I am of the opinion that from the standpoint we judged and voted when we supported the bill creating the commission, we acted patriotically and wisely—unless the two Houses came to some arrangement as to 'counting' the electoral votes; it looked then as though they would disagree and come to a dead-lock; and the result would have been that the Senate would, under some form of proceeding, have declared Hayes and Wheeler elected; the House would have declared there was no election by electoral votes, and would have elected you President, and opponents were in possession and would have sustained Hayes and Wheeler, and civil war would probably have been the result. This would have entailed great evils on the mass of the people, and might have destroyed the government it was intended to preserve. My judgment was and is that what seemed then a reasonably fair tribunal to decide the question involved, was better than the risk of evil to our people and our system of government. Civil war is the last remedy of a people for political wrongs, and should not be inaugurated till every peaceful remedy has failed. But I will write no more on this subject; when we meet, I shall want to talk the matter over fully.
"I think we shall get away from here the last of this week or early next. The new administration will try to win popular favor and turn attention from the title by which it came to power by good conduct. I believe it means to reform some of the graver abuses which marked the administration under General Grant. I hope it will succeed in doing so. The country needs peace, and to end self-government at the South, and honesty and economy everywhere. I am not very sanguine, but I hope for the best.
"Very truly yours,"Francis Kernan."
"Montgomery Place,May 4th, 1877.
"Dear Mr. Tilden,—I did not go to New Orleans after all, but I have just had a letter from there of which I thinkI must copy a few lines to send you, because they are so full of genuine heart-felt enthusiasm for yourself. They are from my brother—who, I think I told you, first mentioned at our own table here his conviction that you would and ought to be candidate for the Presidency. I had written him recently an account of the three cheers for Louisiana given by Mr. Hewitt's guests in New York on the day of the withdrawal of the troops. Mr. Bayard told me all about it, and I was touched to the heart at the generous feeling that prompted the cheers from the defeated Democrats—and theirgreat leader. I mentioned the circumstance in writing to my brother, and here is his answer. 'I read with much pleasure your account of the entertainment where Mr. Tilden was present. The fact is I have felt so strongly his merit, his services, and his patriotism that I want him to be next President. I was, in the beginning, of the first among his friends, and I remain, after the dread experience of the past, where I commenced. Sometimes I am puzzled to think he did not favor an uprising of the people to seat him.I did!Was it because he was wiser that he did not speak when he might have said,"Vous qui m'aimez suivez moi!"I hope so.' 'Yes,' he goes on to say, 'God be praised—the men who have so long oppressed Louisiana are gone. Once more the State breathes free, and, filled with hope of the future, trusts to be again happy and prosperous.'
"I know that these sentiments will not be read by you with indifference, although from one you know not at all.
"I am, as you see by my date, in this spot, which I have loved so dearly from infancy. The snow-storm in the far West has made it cold, but the air is sweet with the fragrance of early spring. The events of each day is the newspaper, and how dull the papers seem after the excitement of the past year. Can't you stir up the elements again? If I dared I could point the way, but perhaps you think women know nothing of politics and would not heed the Sybil!
"With great regard, believe me,
"Very truly yours,"Louise Livingston Hunt."
"Ochre Point, Newport,May 26, 1877.
"Dear Mr. President,—I write to remind you, before you contract any engagements elsewhere, of your promiseto pass here so much of the summer as may be agreeable to you. I have only my two unmarried sons with me; and I shall be most happy to place my house at the disposition of yourself and friends. If the ladies are willing to encounter the inconvenience of a bachelor's establishment, it would give me great pleasure to receive them. I shall be ready for you at any time that you may name.
"I was glad to learn from a long letter, which I had a few days ago from Judge Field, that the suggestion of which you spoke to Judge Clifford of a submission of the electoral vote to a more impartial tribunal than the Supreme Court, after the recent action of some of its members present, is seriously entertained with a hope of success, and I cannot but flatter myself that Blaine and his adherents, in order to divert the patronage from Hayes to be used against him in 1880, may be willing for such a change in the law ofQuo Warrantoas, through the action of Florida and Louisiana, may enable you to assume the title, with which I have ventured to address you, before the period named by Judge Clifford for the vindication of popular rights.
"I am, yours very truly,"W. B. Lawrence."
"A correspondent of theWorldcalled upon Mr. Bigelow at his residence at Highland Falls yesterday, and in the course of his visit the following conversation took place:
"Reporter.Mr. Bigelow, I understand that you prepared the volume published by the Appletons, in December, 1877, called thePresidential Counts, and particularly the analytical introduction prefixed to it, containing what was deemed to be at the time a semi-official Democratic view of the precedents and practice of the government applicable to the counting of the Presidential vote. Also that you were in frequent communication with Mr. Tilden, and in complete possession of his views and purposes during that crisis.
"Mr. Bigelow.You are correctly informed, so far as that publication is concerned.
"Reporter.You doubtless read the story related recently by Mr. Mines in theWorld, and derived by him from General Woodford.
"Mr. Bigelow.I saw that publication, and glanced over its contents.
"Reporter.TheWorldwould like to know whether at any time under the then existing facts of the case, Mr. Tilden entertained any purpose of taking the oath of office as President of the United States?
"Mr. Bigelow.That question seems to me to have been fully answered by the analytical introduction about which you have inquired, and which in its general scope—though, of course, not in every detail nor in its particular expressions—may be supposed to represent the doctrines entertained by Mr. Tilden in common with the most eminent jurists and statesmen of the country. I do not undertake to speak for Mr. Tilden, or in any peculiar sense as his representative, but the very nature of the views expounded in the analytical introduction necessarily defined the cases in which it would have been lawful and proper for Mr. Tilden to have taken the oath of office as President, and by inevitable implication the cases in which it would have been unlawful and improper for him to have done so.
"There were two contingencies in which it would have been lawful and obligatory on Mr. Tilden to have taken the official oath as President:
"First.If Congress had performed its constitutional duty of counting the electoral votes, and had declared that Mr. Tilden was chosen by the electoral colleges.
"The two Houses of Congress have all the powers of verification of the electoral votes which the Constitution or the laws supply or allow. Nobody else in the Federal government has any such powers. This exclusive jurisdiction of the two Houses has been exercised without interruption from the beginning of the government. It is known to all those who come in contact with Mr. Tilden at this period that he concurred in this view of the powers and duties of the two Houses of Congress themselves to count the electoral vote. He was perfectly free and unreserving in the expression of his opinions on this subject.
"This contingency, however, never presented itself. Congress, before the time fixed by the law for counting the electoral votes, passed the Election bill wherein they substantially abdicated their powers, and enacted that the electoral commission should in the first instance make a count, and that its count should stand, unless overruled by the concurrentaction of the two Houses. The electoral tribunal counted Mr. Tilden out, and counted in a man who was not elected. Congress did not overrule their count; consequently, the false count stood as law under the act of Congress.
"Secondly.The other contingency in which it would have been lawful and obligatory on Mr. Tilden to have taken the oath of office was, that the House of Representatives on the failure of a choice of President by the electoral colleges had itself proceeded to make the election, voting by States in the manner prescribed by the Constitution.
"This contingency, like the first one, never occurred.
"The House of Representatives has by the express language of the Constitution, jurisdiction, if no person has a majority of the electoral votes, to make the election itself.
"The right of the two Houses to count the electoral votes, and to declare that any person has a majority, is a matter of implication, precedent, and practice. But the right of the House of Representatives to supply the failure of a choice is a matter of positive and express constitutional provision. It is not only a right, but a duty. The provision is mandatory. The House is a witness in the opening of the certificates. It is an actor in counting the votes by its own tellers and in its presence.
"Having such means of knowledge as to the facts, enabling it to ascertain whether a choice has been made by the electoral colleges, it is also expressly vested with a power and duty to act exclusively and conclusively in the event that no person be found to have been chosen by a majority of the votes of those colleges. The House acquires jurisdiction by the fact specified in the Constitution. The assent of the Senate to the existence of that fact is nowhere prescribed or required. No judgment, certification, or act of any official body is interposed as a condition to the assuming of its jurisdiction by the House. When the House has once acted in such a case, no review of its action nor any appeal from its decision is provided for in the Constitution. It is difficult to see why the House in such a case, like all tribunals of original jurisdiction and subject to no appeal, is not the exclusive judge of the fact and the law on which its jurisdiction rests. It was the fear that the Senate might lead a resistance to the rightful judgment of the House, and that General Grant would sustain this revolutionary policy with the army and navy and the militia of the great States inwhich the Republicans had possession of the State Governments that deterred the assertion of the rights of the House of Representatives, and induced its vote for and acquiescence in the electoral commission.
"But without speculating upon causes or motives, one thing is certain. The House of Representatives did not elect Mr. Tilden in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. On the other hand, it did concur with the Senate in anticipating and preventing the contingency in which it might have had to act, and in providing beforehand an expedient which was to make its own action in supplying the failure of an election by the colleges impossible. It adopted the electoral law and went through all the forms of the electoral scheme. True, it afterwards passed a declaratory resolution condemning the action of the electoral commission, and asserting that Mr. Tilden had been duly elected. But the Constitution had not provided that a man should or could take office as President on a declaratory resolution of the House of Representatives. If that resolution could have had full effect to abrogate the electoral law which the House had assisted to enact it would have still been a nullity as an exercise of the constitutional power of the House to elect. It created no warrant of authority to Mr. Tilden to take the oath of office.
"I have been somewhat long in answering your question, because the matter is one of importance. I might have disposed of your question more briefly by simply saying that no contingency provided by the Constitution ever existed in which Mr. Tilden could lawfully or properly take the oath of office as President. The idea that Mr. Tilden ever thought of taking the oath of office illegally is, in my judgment, quite as preposterous as is the other idea that he would have omitted to take it if any contingency had arisen in which it was his right or duty to take it, or that any menace would have had the slightest influence in preventing his performing his whole obligations to the people. I will venture to say that if it had been his right and duty to take the oath, he would not have done so at the City Hall in New York surrounded by the forces which, according to Mr. Mines, General Woodford pictured to his imagination, but at the Federal capital, even though he had known that he would be kidnapped or subjected to a drum-head court martial five minutes afterwards. It is doubtless true that revolutionary ideaswere entertained by the hierarchy of office-holders in possession of the government. General Grant did utter menaces in published interviews, and did make a display of military force in Washington to overawe Congress. I presume this was a part of the system of intimidation for which he allowed himself to be used by the office-holders and which was intended to act upon public opinion through the fear of disturbance as well as upon Congress. But it is safe to say that whatever other effects they produced they did not prevent Mr. Tilden from taking the oath of office, which he never had any lawful authority to take, in the absence of such action on the part of the House of Representatives as would have fulfilled the conditions prescribed by the Constitution. The fear that he would do so, inducing the Republicans to swear their candidate into office privately on the Saturday previous to the commencement of the term of office besides repeating the ceremony at the inauguration, was born of a consciousness that causes the wicked to flee when no man pursueth. I was aware that about that time Mr. Tilden's home was besieged by emissaries of the press and the telegraph to know if the rumors to that effect which prevailed in Washington were true. This was a species of curiosity which, I believe, Mr. Tilden did not consider it any part of his duty to relieve."
"Sea Girt, N. J.,July 16.
"Governor Tilden, as some time ago announced in theWorld, will sail in the Cunard steamerScythiaWednesday, and is to be accompanied by Secretary of State Bigelow. The trip is purely for recreation, and the travellers will not return until the middle of October. Mr. Tilden, therefore, will be absent from the country and State during what is expected to be the interesting fall campaign. The fact that Mr. Bigelow is to accompany him will perhaps satisfy the politicians and set at rest the question of his renomination as Secretary of State. I have learned while here, authoritatively, that Mr. Bigelow is not and will not be a candidate before the approaching State convention of New York for a renomination.
"Mr. Tilden is looking remarkably well, and declares himself to be very much improved in health by his sojourn at this pleasant resort. He said to me that his trip has no connection whatever with any business enterprise or railroad scheme, as has been announced without authority in some of the papers. As to the events which have happened since the Presidential election and the numerous wild rumors circulated in reference to his political intentions, Mr. Tilden talked very freely. In regard to the electoral commission, he said that he had never had any real confidence in the arbitration of a question where there was so much at stake by a body of that kind. That settlement, he said, involved not only the Presidency, but all the patronage and power of the Federal administration, together with all the schemes, plans, and jobs connected with it. The Republican party and the men who had managed it in the past were too anxious to retain the administration to yield any point in an arbitration. The result of the electoral commission, therefore, was what might have been expected considering the power and influence brought to bear upon the political majority of that body as finally constituted.
He furthermore never liked the scheme as a matter of principle, believing that the true direction of a Democratic appeal was not away from 369 representatives of the people towards fifteen individuals, and still less from fifteen individuals towards one to be selected necessarily with a large element of chance, not to say of trick and device. He thought there should rather have been an appeal from the 369 representatives to the 8,000,000 of voters through a new election. He was distrustful of the secrecy, celerity, and improvidence with which the arrangement was carried through and ushered into being. But the proposition appealed to the hopes of the business classes, which were anxious above all things for a settlement of almost any kind, at almost any price, and as it was presented by the unanimous report of the joint committee, it become the representative, and the only representative, of the public desire for peace.
"The events which are now attracting so much public attention in New Orleans and the disclosures which, perhaps, may follow, Mr. Tilden seemed to consider only as the logical outcome of the revolutionary acts of last fall and winter. 'In a government like ours,' he said, 'such fraudulent practices as were reported from New Orleans last Novembersooner or later must come to the light, and the guilty parties with their practices must be made known. It was so with the ring frauds in New York; it has been the case to a certain extent in Washington, and a like result will follow in New Orleans. It is against the natural course of events that deeds of this kind should ultimately fail of being brought to light in all their enormities.' All this was said with philosophic calmness and without any heat whatever.
"In regard to his own political future, Mr. Tilden had nothing to say except that he could not see any possible contingency which could induce him to be a candidate for or to seek an election to a seat in the United States Senate. He felt entirely confident of the success of the Democratic party this fall in all the large central States, and especially in New York, by a very large majority, believing that events were all pointing in that direction. To the charge that he has been seeking to control the nominations of the next Democratic State convention of New York, he gave a direct denial, and added that he thought it unwise to interfere in any way as between the numerous friends who are seeking position on the State ticket. His absence abroad during the time for holding the convention and selecting the delegates would, he said, preclude any interference on his part. He thought, however, that the drift of public sentiment was towards a new ticket altogether, with none of the present incumbents upon it. He hoped that the ticket would be so made up as to be recognized as thoroughly able, strong, and upright. He appeared to be specially anxious that the Democracy should secure a majority in the next State Senate, in order that the evils which have been brought about by Republican control of that body might be corrected.
H. C."
Mr. Tilden spent the summer of 1877 in Europe. On his return he was serenaded by the Young Men's Democratic Club, on which occasion he made a brief speech, in the course of which he said, according to the New YorkTribuneof October 26, 1877:
"The increase of power in the Federal government during the last twenty years, the creation of a vast office-holding class, with its numerous dependents, and the growth of the means of corrupt influence, have well nigh destroyed thebalance of our complex system. It was my judgment in 1876 that public opinion, demanding a change of administration, needed to embrace two-thirds of the people at the beginning of the canvass, in order to cast a majority of the votes at the election. If this tendency is not arrested its inevitable result will be the practical destruction of our system. Let the Federal government grasp power over the great corporations of our country and acquire the means of addressing their interests and their fears; let it take jurisdiction of riots which it is the duty of the State to suppress; let it find pretexts for increasing the army, and soon those in possession of the government will have a power with which no opposition can successfully compete. The experience of France under the Third Napoleon shows that, with elective forms and universal suffrage, despotism can be established and maintained. In the canvass of 1876 the Federal government embarked in the contest with unscrupulous activity. A member of the Cabinet was the head of a partisan committee. Agents stood at the doors of the pay offices to exact contributions from official subordinates. The whole office-holding class were made to exhaust their power. Even the army, for the first time, to the disgust of the soldiers and many of the officers, was moved about the country as an electioneering instrument. All this was done under the eye of the beneficiary of it, who was making the air vocal with professions of civil service reform, to be begun after he had himself exhausted all the immoral advantages of civil service abuses. Public opinion in some States was overdone by corrupt influences and by fraud. But so strong was the desire for reform that the Democratic candidates received 4,300,000 suffrages. This was a majority of the popular vote of about 300,000, and of 1,250,000 of the white citizens. It was a vote of 700,000 larger than General Grant received in 1872, and 1,300,000 larger than he received in 1868. For all that, the rightfully elected candidates of the Democratic party were counted out, and a great fraud triumphed, which the American people have not condoned and will never condone. [Prolonged applause and cheers.] Yes, the crime will never be condoned, and it never should be. I do not denounce the fraud as affecting my personal interests, but because it stabbed the very foundations of free government. [Loud cheers.] I swear in the presence of you all, and I call upon you to bear witness to the oath, to watch, duringthe remainder of my life, over the rights of the citizens of our country with a jealous care. Such a usurpation must never occur again, and I call upon you to unite with me in the defence of our sacred and precious inheritance. The government of the people must not be suffered to become only an empty name." [Loud applause.]The remainder of Mr. Tilden's address was as follows:"The step, from an extreme degree of corrupt abuses in the elections to a subversion of the elective system itself, is natural. No sooner was the election over than the whole power of the office-holding class, led by a Cabinet minister, was exhorted to procure, and did procure, from the State canvassers of two States, illegal and fraudulent certificates, which were made a pretext for a false count of the electoral votes. To enable these officers to exercise the immoral courage necessary to the parts assigned to them, and to relieve them from the timidity which God has implanted in the human bosom as a limit to criminal audacity, detachments of the army were sent to afford them shelter. The expedients by which the votes of the electors chosen by the people of these two States were rejected, and the votes of the electors having the illegal and fraudulent certificates were counted, and the menace of usurpation by the President of the Senate of dictatorial power over all the questions in controversy, and the menace of the enforcement of his pretended authority by the army and navy, the terrorism of the business classes and the kindred measures by which the false count was consummated, are known. The result is the establishment of a precedent destructive of our whole elective system. [Applause.] The temptation to those in possession of the government to perpetuate their own power by similar methods will always exist, and if the example shall be sanctioned by success, the succession of government in this country will come to be determined by fraud or force, as it has been in almost every other country; and the experience will be reproduced here which has led to the general adoption of the hereditary system in order to avoid confusion and civil war. The magnitude of a political crime must be measured by its natural and necessary consequences. Our great Republic has been the only example in the world of a regular and orderly transfer of governmental succession by the elective system. To destroy the habit of traditionary respect for the will of the people, as declared through the electoral forms,and to exhibit our institutions as a failure, is the greatest possible wrong to our own country. It is also a heavy blow to the hopes of patriots struggling to establish self-government in other countries. It is a greater crime against mankind than the usurpation of December 2, 1851, depicted by the illustrious pen of Victor Hugo. The American people will not condone it under any pretext or for any purpose. [Cheers.] Young men! in the order of nature, we who have guarded the sacred traditions of our free government will soon leave that work to you. Within the life of most who hear me, the Republic will embrace 100,000,000 of people. Whether its institutions shall be preserved in substance and in spirit, as well as in barren forms, and will continue to be a blessing to the toiling millions here and a good example to mankind, now everywhere seeking a larger share in the management of their own affairs, will depend on you. Will you accomplish that duty and mark these wrong-doers of 1876, with the indignation of a betrayed, wronged, and sacrificed people? [A voice—'You bet we will.' Laughter.] I have no personal feeling, but thinking how surely that example will be followed if condoned, I can do no better than to stand among you, and do battle for the maintenance of free government. I avail myself of the occasion to thank you, and to thank all in our State and country who have accorded to me their support, not personal to myself, but for the cause I have represented, and which has embraced the largest and holiest interests of humanity." [Continued applause.]
"The increase of power in the Federal government during the last twenty years, the creation of a vast office-holding class, with its numerous dependents, and the growth of the means of corrupt influence, have well nigh destroyed thebalance of our complex system. It was my judgment in 1876 that public opinion, demanding a change of administration, needed to embrace two-thirds of the people at the beginning of the canvass, in order to cast a majority of the votes at the election. If this tendency is not arrested its inevitable result will be the practical destruction of our system. Let the Federal government grasp power over the great corporations of our country and acquire the means of addressing their interests and their fears; let it take jurisdiction of riots which it is the duty of the State to suppress; let it find pretexts for increasing the army, and soon those in possession of the government will have a power with which no opposition can successfully compete. The experience of France under the Third Napoleon shows that, with elective forms and universal suffrage, despotism can be established and maintained. In the canvass of 1876 the Federal government embarked in the contest with unscrupulous activity. A member of the Cabinet was the head of a partisan committee. Agents stood at the doors of the pay offices to exact contributions from official subordinates. The whole office-holding class were made to exhaust their power. Even the army, for the first time, to the disgust of the soldiers and many of the officers, was moved about the country as an electioneering instrument. All this was done under the eye of the beneficiary of it, who was making the air vocal with professions of civil service reform, to be begun after he had himself exhausted all the immoral advantages of civil service abuses. Public opinion in some States was overdone by corrupt influences and by fraud. But so strong was the desire for reform that the Democratic candidates received 4,300,000 suffrages. This was a majority of the popular vote of about 300,000, and of 1,250,000 of the white citizens. It was a vote of 700,000 larger than General Grant received in 1872, and 1,300,000 larger than he received in 1868. For all that, the rightfully elected candidates of the Democratic party were counted out, and a great fraud triumphed, which the American people have not condoned and will never condone. [Prolonged applause and cheers.] Yes, the crime will never be condoned, and it never should be. I do not denounce the fraud as affecting my personal interests, but because it stabbed the very foundations of free government. [Loud cheers.] I swear in the presence of you all, and I call upon you to bear witness to the oath, to watch, duringthe remainder of my life, over the rights of the citizens of our country with a jealous care. Such a usurpation must never occur again, and I call upon you to unite with me in the defence of our sacred and precious inheritance. The government of the people must not be suffered to become only an empty name." [Loud applause.]
The remainder of Mr. Tilden's address was as follows:
"The step, from an extreme degree of corrupt abuses in the elections to a subversion of the elective system itself, is natural. No sooner was the election over than the whole power of the office-holding class, led by a Cabinet minister, was exhorted to procure, and did procure, from the State canvassers of two States, illegal and fraudulent certificates, which were made a pretext for a false count of the electoral votes. To enable these officers to exercise the immoral courage necessary to the parts assigned to them, and to relieve them from the timidity which God has implanted in the human bosom as a limit to criminal audacity, detachments of the army were sent to afford them shelter. The expedients by which the votes of the electors chosen by the people of these two States were rejected, and the votes of the electors having the illegal and fraudulent certificates were counted, and the menace of usurpation by the President of the Senate of dictatorial power over all the questions in controversy, and the menace of the enforcement of his pretended authority by the army and navy, the terrorism of the business classes and the kindred measures by which the false count was consummated, are known. The result is the establishment of a precedent destructive of our whole elective system. [Applause.] The temptation to those in possession of the government to perpetuate their own power by similar methods will always exist, and if the example shall be sanctioned by success, the succession of government in this country will come to be determined by fraud or force, as it has been in almost every other country; and the experience will be reproduced here which has led to the general adoption of the hereditary system in order to avoid confusion and civil war. The magnitude of a political crime must be measured by its natural and necessary consequences. Our great Republic has been the only example in the world of a regular and orderly transfer of governmental succession by the elective system. To destroy the habit of traditionary respect for the will of the people, as declared through the electoral forms,and to exhibit our institutions as a failure, is the greatest possible wrong to our own country. It is also a heavy blow to the hopes of patriots struggling to establish self-government in other countries. It is a greater crime against mankind than the usurpation of December 2, 1851, depicted by the illustrious pen of Victor Hugo. The American people will not condone it under any pretext or for any purpose. [Cheers.] Young men! in the order of nature, we who have guarded the sacred traditions of our free government will soon leave that work to you. Within the life of most who hear me, the Republic will embrace 100,000,000 of people. Whether its institutions shall be preserved in substance and in spirit, as well as in barren forms, and will continue to be a blessing to the toiling millions here and a good example to mankind, now everywhere seeking a larger share in the management of their own affairs, will depend on you. Will you accomplish that duty and mark these wrong-doers of 1876, with the indignation of a betrayed, wronged, and sacrificed people? [A voice—'You bet we will.' Laughter.] I have no personal feeling, but thinking how surely that example will be followed if condoned, I can do no better than to stand among you, and do battle for the maintenance of free government. I avail myself of the occasion to thank you, and to thank all in our State and country who have accorded to me their support, not personal to myself, but for the cause I have represented, and which has embraced the largest and holiest interests of humanity." [Continued applause.]
LOUISIANA
MEN CONNECTED WITH THE RETURNING BOARD.
Names.Political Employment in 1876.Office Held Now.J. Madison WellsPresident Returning BoardSurveyor Port of New OrleansThos. C. AndersonMember Returning BoardDeputy Collector Port of New OrleansL. M. KennerMember Returning BoardDeputy Naval OfficerG. CasanaveMember Returning BoardBrother of U. S. Storekeeper, N. O.Chas. S. AbellSecretary Returning BoardInspector Custom HouseYork A. WoodwardClerk Returning BoardClerk Custom HouseW. M. GreenClerk Returning BoardClerk Custom HouseB. P. BlanchardClerk Returning BoardClerk Custom HouseG. P. DavisClerk Returning BoardClerk Custom HouseChas. HillClerk Returning BoardClerk Custom HouseGeo. GrindleyClerk Returning BoardClerk Custom HouseJno. RayCounsel for Returning BoardSpecial Agent Treasury Department and Counsel for Mr. ShermanS. S. WellsSon of J. Madison WellsInspector Custom HouseA. C. WellsSon of J. Madison WellsSpecial Deputy Surveyor, N. O.F. A. WoolfleyAffidavit TakerUnited States CommissionerR. M. J. KennerBrother Returning Board KennerClerk Naval Office
STATE OFFICERS AND MANAGERS.
Names.Political Employment in 1876.Office Held Now.Michal HahnState RegistrarSuperintendent MintA. J. DumontChairman Republican State Com.Inspector Custom HouseJ. P. McArdieClerk to Republican State Com.Clerk Custom HouseW. P. KelloggGovernorUnited States SenateL. J. SouerKellogg's Agent to Buy Mem. of Leg.Appraiser Custom HouseW. G. LaneKellogg's Agent to Buy Mem. of Leg.U. S. Commissioner Circuit Court, La.S. B. PackardCandidate for GovernorConsul to LiverpoolGeo. L. SmithCandidate for CongressCollector New OrleansJames LewisPolice Commissioner, N. O.Naval OfficerJack WhartonAdjutant-General of LouisianaUnited States MarshalA. S. BadgerGeneral of State MilitiaPostmaster, N. O., $3500; now Collec.H. S. CampbellChief of Affidavit FactoryUnited States Attorney, WyomingH. Conquest ClarkKellogg's Secretary (knew of forgery of Electoral Certificates)Private Secretary to Commissioner Internal RevenueWm. F. LoanChief of Police and Supervisor of Fifteenth Ward, N. O.Inspector Tobacco Internal RevenueW. L. McMillanCanvassed State for HayesPension Agent New Orleans, now Postmaster
ELECTORS.
Names.Political Employment in 1876.Office Held Now.W. P. KelloggElector at LargeUnited States SenatorJ. Henri BurchElector at LargeState SenatorPeter JosephElectorClerk Custom HouseL. A. SheldonElectorCounsel for John ShermanMorris MarksElectorCollector Internal RevenueA. B. LeviseeElectorSpecial Agent Treasury DepartmentO. H. BrewsterElectorSurveyor-General
SUPERVISORS AND PERSONS CONNECTED WITH THE ELECTION
Names.Political Employment in 1876.Office Held Now.M. J. GradySupervisor at OuachitaDeputy Collector Internal RevenueJno. H. DinkgraveManager at OuachitaLegislatureH. C. C. AstwoodManager at Ouachita (knew Garfield)Deputy United States MarshalW. R. HardyDistrict Attorney at OuachitaInspector Custom HouseHenry SmithSheriff of East FelicianaLaborer Custom HouseSamuel ChapmanSheriff of East FelicianaLaborer Custom HouseJas. E. AndersonSupervisor of East FelicianaDeclined Consulship to FunchalC. L. FergusonSupervisor of De SotoCaptain Night Watch Custom HouseJ. E. ScottSupervisor of ClaiborneMoney Order Postoffice, N. O.B. W. WoodruffSupervisor of RapidesBox Clerk Postoffice, N. O.L. F. BaughnonSupervisor of East Baton RougeLaborer Custom HouseW. H. McVeySupervisor of FranklinInspector Custom HouseL. WilliamsSupervisor of 16th Ward, N. O.Watchman Custom HouseE. K. RussSupervisor of NatchitochesLetter Carrier PostofficeF. A. DesiondeSupervisor of IbervilleNight Watchman Custom HouseW. H. HeistandSupervisor of TangipahoaClerk Custom HouseF. A. CloverSupervisor of East Baton RougeAssistant Weigher Custom HouseL. C. LesageClerk to Supervisor of East Baton RougeInspector Custom HouseWm. McKennaSupervisor of CaddoPostmaster ShreveportA. D. CornogSupervisor of Red RiverInspector Custom HouseM. A. LenetSupervisor of LafourcheLaborer Custom HouseVictor GerodiasRepublican Manager of St. TammanyTax Collector, N. O.A. J. BrimRepublican Manager of 2d Ward, N. O.Inspector Custom HousePatrick CreaghRepublican Manager 3d Ward, N. O.Chief LaborerR. C. HowardRepublican Manager 4th Ward, N. O.Laborer Custom HouseJ. C. PeuchlerRepublican Manager 5th Ward, N. O.Laborer Custom HouseW. J. MooreRepublican Manager 7th Ward, N. O.Gauger Internal RevenueThomas LeonRepublican Manager 8th Ward, N. O.Gauger Custom HouseT. H. RowanRepublican Manager 10th Ward, N. O.Night Inspector Custom HouseA. W. KemptonCommissioner of the 11th Ward, N. O.Assistant Weigher Custom HouseL. BackusManager of 11th Ward, N. O.PoliceNapoleon UnderwoodSupervisor of 12th Ward, N. O.Inspector Internal RevenueP. J. MaloneySupervisor of 14th Ward, N. O.Inspector Custom HouseL. E. SallesRepublican Manager of LafayetteWeigher Custom HouseR. A. HerbertRepublican Manager of IbervilleSuperintendent Warehouses Custom HouseW. B. DickeyRepublican Manager and Tax Collector, MadisonInspector Custom HouseThomas JenkHusband to Mrs. Jenks, who swore for John Sherman.Clerk Mint
FLORIDA
VARIOUS DOMESTIC OFFICERS AND AGENTS.
Names.Political Employment in 1876.Office Held Now.M. L. StearnsGovernorCommissioner Hot SpringsF. C. HumphriesElectorCollector PensacolaS. B. McLinMember of Returning BoardAssociate Justice of New Mexico (not confirmed)Moses J. TaylorClerk Circuit Court Jefferson CountyClerk United States Land OfficeJoseph BowesInspector Leon CountyClerk Treasury DepartmentW. K. CessnaJudge Alachua CountyPostmasterR. H. BlackInspector Elections Alachua CountyPhiladelphia Custom HouseGeo. H. DeLeonSecretary to Gov. StearnsClerk in Treasury DepartmentJohn VarnumAdjutant GeneralReceiver Land OfficeChas. H. PearceElectorJames BellChanged tickets, Jefferson CountyTimber AgentManuel GovinRepublican Manager of MonroeConsul to Spezia—— PhelpsPolitical ManagerSecretary to McCormick at Paris ExpositionE. W. MaxwellDetective in employ of Republican Visiting StatesmenLieutenant in Regular ArmyP. G. MillsTelegrapher who gave news about Democratic dispatchesTreasury DepartmentW. G. PurmanRepublican Member of CongressSister in Treasury, dismissed when he said he considered Tilden electedDennis EaganChairman Republican State Com.Timber AgentL. G. DenniRepublican Manager of AlachuaTreasury Department. Removed and published affidavitJ. W. HowellManager false return from BakerCollector Fernandino
VISITING STATESMEN.
John ShermanVisiting Statesman, La.Secretary TreasuryJohn M. HarlanVisiting Statesman, La.Justice Supreme CourtStanley MatthewsVisiting Statesman, La.Senator from OhioJames A. GarfieldVisiting Statesman, La.Administration candidate for SpeakerEugene HaleVisiting Statesman, La.Offered Postmaster-GeneralshipE. W. StoughtonVisiting Statesman, La.Minister to RussiaJohn A. KassonVisiting Statesman, La.Minister to AustriaSamuel ShellabargerVisiting Statesman, La.Messrs. Hayes and Sherman's Private CounselJohn CoburnVisiting Statesman, La.Commissioner Hot SpringsE. F. NoyesVisiting Statesman, La.Minister to FranceLew WallaceVisiting Statesman, La.Governor of New MexicoJohn LittleVisiting Statesman, La.Attorney-General, Ohio
The following officers of the Government were in Florida during the Presidential canvass, drawing their regular salaries, looking after the canvass: