Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1878 — THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. [ARTICLE]

THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION.

A Secret Chapter ot Political History—Letter from SI an ton Marble—Mr. Tllden’s Relations to the Electoral Count of 1876 Pacts that Have an Interest for the People. In the recent correspondence between Henry Watterson and Abram 8. Hewitt the former called upon Mr. Man ton Marble, as the only personal witness of some of the facts in the history of the Electoral bill and of Mr. Tilden’s relation thereto, to publish these facts and put on record the whole of this important chapter in our political annals. Mr. Marble, in response, publishes in the New York Sun a paper setting forth these facts. He says that nothing Mr. Tilden did caused, and nothing was omitted by him to avert, the success of the plot which effected a revolution in the Presidential succession. Mr. Marble recites that after the election of 1876 had shown that Mr. Tilden was fairly elected to the Presidency, Zach Chandler instantly set in motion the plot which deprived him of it. The Republican Returning Boards of the three States were telegraphed to that all depended on them. Troops were sent to the three capitals, and the “visiting statesmen" were summoned. In two “ interviews,” adroitly timed, President Grant gave out that the Presidency would be turned over to Vice President Ferry in the event of a failure of a count, citing a statute which palpably refers to no such event as the expiry of his own term, and carefully neglecting to cite the constitution, where it provides that the House and Senate shall repair a default of election by the college. Now Ferry (writes Mr. Marble) was neither one of the two, nor one of the three highest candidates voted for, but he, too, put it about among the reporters that if ‘ ‘the two houses failed to agree ” he would shirk “no responsibility.” Burlesquing Lady Godiva in her long hair, when “ clothed upon with chastity,” he was ready to ride down Pennsylvania avenue in nothing but his beard and stolen magistracy. When this flagitious complot was flagrant in all its parts, and while as yet no Republican hierarch, from Prof. Woolsey to Mrs. Jenks, had challenged the conspirators with a Stand thou on that aide, for on this am I; it is no secret that Mr. Tilden, comprehending its scope, its dangers, and his own responsibility as well, in the primacy of leadership to which he had been newly chosen Iby his party and elected by his countrymen, matured and determined upon a plan to encounter and defeat the cabal, and to maintain at once the Presidential succession and the public peace. Forasmuch as the plot to filch the Presidency and the Government from the elect of the people, besides its two qualities of fraud and force, had two periods and parts, it is timely here to observe just where Mr. Tilden abstained from encountering it, and just at what period and part he planned to destroy it. All of the “visiting statesmen” summoned by Grant were, by a singular coincidence, Republicans and special friends ana private agents of Mr. Hayes. It is now proven and notorious that they it was who worked out the primary part and fraudulent ground-work of the conspiracy, directing if not devising the perjuries, forgeries and paper fabrications of the local and county officials, or S retending their regularity and legality efore the State canvassers. To hear Noyes defend the Alachua frauds and forgeries before the Florida board with gushing eloquence and the fabricated testimony of 228 affiants, all by an extraordinary coincidence writing one and the same hand, would have given that canting hypocrite, Pecksniff himself, a moral vomit. These agents from Ohio were also the systematic suborners of the inferior officials, of their accomplices and their false witnesses, in multifarious crimes. They promised the official trusts of the Government as bribes for the commission of high criminal offenses. In so many instances as to be past counting, their promises have been adopted and performed by Mr. Hayes. The local election officers, etc., now hold minor civil trusts under the Government, by Hayes’ recommendation, but the real principals in the crime were rewarded by the gift of the highest trusts in the administrative and diplomatic service.

It is anybody’s secret that the certificates of these three State Canvassing Boards were for sale. Already it is proved that two were actually purchased. Probably it will yet appear that the third was likewise obtained. They were bought by promise ot office, or by money, or by both. McLin, an ague-stricken pariah of Florida, did not scruple, if his own mendacity be trusted, to put a pecuniary value upon Ills official duty to certify the official counting returns. Maddox, the agent of Madison Wells, went to Washington, stated to Grant and Cameron the price of his chief, and threatened to sell out to the other side. He sent his agent, Pickett, to New York to make offer at a reduced price to the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who, scouting it, said that it was the third such offer to him of the certificates of the Louisiana Returning Board. It is certain that such offers to Democrats were not mere snares. The intimacies and confidences of these corrupt men for an easy sale were all, of course, among their fellowpartisans on the Republican side. But, while they could enhance their own value by the threat as well as by the reality of offering their wares to the Democratic side, yet offices were then but promises only. Cash down was their bird in hand,worth any two in the bush. Any one of the venal crew acting separately could himself alone deliver what he deemed a conclusive title to the Presidency. But it was not there and thus that Mr. Tflden ought to compass the defea of the Republican conspiracy. Whatever the wish, or the less absolute integrity, or the more customary morals, of any devoted adherent, no such transaction would he consent to, nor connive at, nor permit. A few thousand dollars—a market for the wares of just one Madison Wells, just one McLin, only one—paid for* doing the bounden duty and mere justioe|he had sworn to do, and the whole atrocious conspiracy would have been bursted like a puff-ball and blown away in dust. But I apologize for the suggestion. First, I apologize to Gov. Tilden for confronting his character with the morally impossible. Next I apologize to all his Republican calumniators for confronting their characters with the morally incredible. But it was necessary to mention just

where Mr. Tilden did not attack the Republican conspiracy. “ Mr. Tilden,” says the-writer, “ took immediate pains to advise his friends foremost in the House of Representatives that the final success of the low plot was impossible if that House would stand firmly and immovably on the unbroken series of precedents formed by the twenty-two Presidential counts from 1793 to 1872. He demanded that they expose and combat in full debate the threatened usurpation by the President of the Senate of the right to count the votes and to select the votes to be counted. Upon this issne Mr. Tilden counseled many of his friends in the leadership of the House not only to stand, but to force the debate first in the Honse, then in the Senate. He accepted all responsibility for the outcome. He assured them that were their temper stiff and resolute, the conspiracy would break down in process of execution. ” After dwelling at length on the earnestness with which Mr. Tilden tried to push the fight on this plan, Mr. Marble gives a history of the electoral scheme and proceeds: “He would not be drawn into the slightest expression of personal sanction to the electoral scheme, which was adopted on the 17th of January with unanimity by the Democratic members of the committees of both honses. Mr. Tilden, in his interview with Mr. Hewitt, on the 14th, did not withhold the grounds of his objection to the bill. Expressing some surprise at the fact that the Democratic Senators had already determined upon their course, whatever his advice or wishes might be, and some surprise at the secrecy which had shrouded the gestation of their project, Mr. Tilden observed that secrecy in respect to any plan implicating the rights and interests of so many was a mistaken and unfortunate policy. He recommended the widest publicity, the fullest discussion, and the freest consultation. Mr. Tilden’s criticisms of the details of the bill, of which in no shape could he approve either the policy or the substance, exemplify the political sagacity of the statesman: “ ‘lf arbitration is to be adopted the tribunal ought to be fixed in the bill itself, and not left to chance or intrigue. If an arbitration is to be adopted, the duty of the arbitrators to investigate and decide the case on its merits should be made mandatory and not left a question of construction. With both the vital points left at loose ends, you cannot succeed. You can exact, first, the selection of good men to compose the tribunal, which is the controll ing point; and, second, the nature of the function to be performed by the tribunal, which is next in importance. Fix these two points, good men, explicit powers, and you might possibly get through. Leave them doubtful, and it is happy-go-lucky, the shake of a dice box.’ “ The scheme which Mr. Hewitt had brought contained in its first draft a provision by which six judges were to be described in the act, one of them then to be eliminated by lot. To this Mr, Tilden’s objection was peremptory. Said he : ‘I may lose the Presidency, bnt I will not raffle for it. ’ He was pressed to say that if the bill could be modi fied so as to fix the five judges by a positive provision he would give it his approval. He firmly declined. The measure itself was not one as to which Mr. Tilden’s action was or could be hesitated for a single instant. His practical objection deserves ns much weight as any argued objection then or since, namely, that ‘so great a stake as the government of 45,000,000 of people with an immense civil expenditure, and 100,000 officeholders to be disposed of by a small body sitting in the capital, the jndge of its own powers, would become the sport of intrigue or fraud.’ “The next day, JaD. 15, Mr. Hewitt having returned to Washington, telegraphed thence to Mr. Edward Cooper, of New York: ‘“To E. C.—The Senate committee will probably reject the five and report the sixjudge plan immediately. The Senators feel committed to concur. The House committee will not concur, and, for the present, will probably not report.’ “Mr. Tilden’s answer was as follows: “ ‘New York, Jan. 15, 1877. “ ‘ To A. 8. H.: “ ‘ Procrastinate to give a few days for information and consultation. The six-judge proposition is inadmissible. E. C.’ “The next day Mr. Hewitt telegraphed again: ‘“Washington, Jan. 16. “ ‘ To E. 0.: “‘After protracted negotiations the Senate committee has receded from the six-j udge scheme, declined the five-juigo and offered the four senior Associate Justices, who are to choose the fifth judge, excluding the Chief Justice. Our Senate friends earnestly favor acceptance, because they do not believe it possible to pass over —. The Democrats on the House committee believe this is the last chance of agreement. We cannot postpone beyond 11 to-morrow, and if we decline the Senate committee will report their original plan, to which our friends are committed. Telegraph your advice.’ “Mr. Tilden sent the following answer : “ ‘New York, Jan. 16. “ ‘Be firm and cool. The four-judge plan will not do. It is, perhaps, worse than the six. Complaints are likely to arise of haste and want of consultation with members, and embarrassment in the exercise of their judgment after the plan is disclosed, by the premature committal of their representatives. There should be more opportunity for deliberation and consultation. Secrecy is dangerous. It is probably a mistake in itself, and if it results in disaster, it would involve great blame and infinite mischief.’ “The night that the foregoing telegram to Mr. Hewitt was sent, the undersigned had called upon Mr. Tilden and found him in his library with several other gentlemen. The telegraphic correspondence given above was read, and the situation freely canvassed. In their presence Mr. Tilden dictated and sent the following telegram for transmission in cipher to Washington through the National Committee rooms, not having been sent to or seen by Mr. Hewitt. It is not pertinent to any controversy concerning him. Indeed, by the time it bad arrived and been deciphered the business was done, but it has value now as a fuller written record of the namo points covered more briefly in the telegrams to Mr. Hewitt:

“ ‘New Yobk, Jan. 16. “ ‘No need of hot haste. But much danger in it Some days’ intervals should be taken. The risk of publicity is harmless. There is no information which conld justify abstinence rom condemning such an abandonment of the constitution and practice of the Government and of the rights of the two houses and of the people. Nothing but great and certain public danger, not to be escaped in any other way, could excuse such a measure. We are overpressed by exaggerated fears, and forget that the other side will have greater troubles than we unless relieved by some agreement. They have no way out but by usurpation. They are bullying us with what they dare not do, or will break down in attempting. Bo long as we stand on the constitution and settled practice we know where are. The consequence of the new expedient has not been enough considered. The only way of getting accessions in the Senate is by the House standing firm, and judicious friends believe that in that case we will go safely through. Opportunity to consult such friends should be given before even tacit acquiescence by the House committee, if that Is contemplated. Though details may be properly discussed, the final committal by the House committee should be firmly withheld.’ “ His magnanimous silence, the foregoing telegrams, and the preceding interview have now disclosed all that has

not hitherto been of public record in respect to Mr. Tilden’s judgment, action and advice on the Republican conspiracy. He has since maintained an absolute reserve on the subject, even when reproached for a responsibility which he did not share. His only utterances have been the expression of a deep solicitude as to how the imperiled rights of the people may be .vindicated against a precedent fatal if condoned. While no well-informed and competent critic of that compromise can ever question the high and patriotic purpose of the pure, the able, the admired Democrats who were its parents or sponsors, yet it is submitted that these proofs of the contemporaneous judgment, attitude and advice thereon of the elected Democratic leader could not in the present currency of a false belief and of partisan misrepresentations be withheld from the Democratic party.”