Chapter XVI: Preface (14)

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

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

The equal, steady, and complete enforcement of laws and the protection of all our citizens in the enjoyment of all privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution, are the first duties of the nation. The dangers of a solid South can only be averted by a faithful performance of every promise which the nation has made to the citizen. The execution of the laws and the punishment of all those who violate them are the only safe methods by which an enduring peace can be secured and genuine prosperity established throughout the South. Whatever promises the nation makes, the nation must perform, and the nation cannot with safety delegate this duty to the States. The solid South must be divided by the peaceful agencies of the ballot, and all opinions must there find free expression, and to this end the honest voter must be protected against terrorism, violence, or fraud.

And we affirm it to be the duty and the purpose of the Republican party to use every legitimate means to restore all the States of this Union to the most perfect harmony that may be practicable; and we submit it to the practical, sensible people of the United States to say whether it would not be dangerous to the dearest interests of our country at this time to surrender the administration of the National Government to the party which seeks to overthrow the existing policy under which we are so prosperous, and thus bring distrust and confusion where there are now order, confidence, and hope.

The Republican party, adhering to principles affirmed by its last national convention of respect for the constitutional rule covering appointments to office, adopts the declaration of President Hayes, that the reform of the civil service should be thorough, radical, and complete. To this end it demands the co-operation of the legislative with the executive department of the Government, and that Congress shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper, practical tests, shall admit to the public service.

General Grant had become intensely interested in the contest for a third term, and he had every reason to believe that it would be accorded to him. Foreign travel and intelligent observation had greatly enlarged his narrow political ideas and tempered his political asperities, and he would undoubtedly have made a much better President than ever he did before. But the unwritten law of the nation confronted him, declaring that no man could fill the Presidential chair for a longer period than did George Washington. It was that sentiment that decided the contest against him.

He was at his home in Galena, not far from Chicago, during the sessions of the convention, but while he was advised of what transpired from day to day, he gave no directions and made no suggestions to his friends. He had the ablest galaxy of leaders that ever appeared in a national convention in support of any one candidate, and he trusted them implicitly. On the morning after the convention adjourned he came to Chicago, and I met him at the Palmer House, where he had come to confer with his discomfited friends. His face gave no sign of the disappointment he had suffered. He met his friends in even a more genial way than was his custom. He expressed himself as entirely content with the decision of the convention, and greatly appreciated the support that had been given him. He never looked better in his life, and while I could not congratulate him, I could truthfully express my gratification at seeing him the picture of health and comfort.

He was then in entire accord with his leading friends in their purpose to prevent the election of Garfield, and for two months after the campaign opened Garfield would have been overwhelmingly beaten, but after Conkling’s conference with Garfield in Ohio, Grant’s friends gave a most zealous support to Garfield’s election, and barely saved him by the aid of Tammany’s betrayal of Hancock.

The Democratic National Convention met at Cincinnati on the 22d of June, with John W. Stevenson, of Kentucky, as permanent president. The dispute over contested seats lasted until the second day. Massachusetts, that had never voted for a Democratic candidate for President, put up the fiercest fight between disputing delegations, and New York had a bitter factional quarrel between delegations chosen by the regular Democrats and another chosen by the Tammany people. The Tammany followers, under the lead of John Kelly, were very vindictive in their opposition to Tilden, openly declaring that they would not support Tilden if nominated, and the Tammany delegation was rejected. The position of Tilden was regarded as doubtful until well on in the second day of the contest, when an elaborate letter from him was read to the convention withdrawing his name. The letter had been prepared by Tilden and given to a trusted friend to use it only if it became evident that Tilden could not be again nominated, or that he could not be elected if nominated. The judgment of his most dispassionate friends was that he might be nominated, but that he could not be elected, with the fierce opposition of Tammany and his failure to assert his right to the Presidency in 1877.

After Tilden’s withdrawal the contest was really between Hancock and Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania. If the Tilden strength had been concentrated on Randall at the opening of the convention, his nomination would have been within the range of probability, but even after Tilden withdrew he hesitated until the 2d ballot before he gave Randall any support. Bayard was a close second to Hancock on the 1st ballot, but he was at no time within sight of a nomination.

It was on this occasion that the late Daniel Dougherty made the most eloquent speech of his life, presenting the name of Hancock to the convention. He was not a member of the delegation, but was called into it for the purpose on the morning of the day that the nomination was to be made. He hurried around to my room at the St. Nicholas, as he hesitated about accepting the duty assigned him. He always prepared his important speeches and memorized them. I earnestly urged him to go at once to his room and write a short speech and be prepared to deliver it. He finally decided to do so, and in a speech of not over twenty minutes he delivered the greatest oration of his life.

Only two ballots were had for President, and on the second Hancock was so largely in the lead, having 320 to 128-1/2 for Randall, that the delegations began to change their votes until Hancock had 705 to 33 for all others. The following table gives the ballots in detail:

══════════════════════════════════╤═════════╤═════════╤═════════
CANDIDATES. │ First. │ Second. │ After
│ │ │ changes.
──────────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────
Winfield S. Hancock, Pennsylvania │ 171 │ 320 │ 705
Thomas F. Bayard, Delaware │ 153-1/2│ 113 │ 2
Henry B. Payne, Ohio │ 81 │ ―― │ ――
Allen G. Thurman, Ohio │ 68-1/2│ 50 │ ――
Stephen J. Field, California │ 65 │ 65-1/2│ ――
William R. Morrison, Illinois │ 62 │ ―― │ ――
Thomas A. Hendricks, Indiana │ 50-1/2│ 31 │ 30
Samuel J. Tilden, New York │ 38 │ 6 │ 1
Horatio Seymour, New York │ 8 │ ―― │ ――
Samuel J. Randall, Pennsylvania │ ―― │ 128-1/2│ ――
Scattering │ 31 │ 22 │ ――
══════════════════════════════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═════════

As Indiana was one of the debatable States, William H. English, of that State, was nominated for Vice-President, with only Richard M. Bishop, of Ohio, named against him. Before the ballot had proceeded to any considerable extent, Bishop’s name was withdrawn, and English given a unanimous nomination. The following platform was unanimously adopted:

The Democrats of the United States, in convention assembled, declare—

1. We pledge ourselves anew to the constitutional doctrines and traditions of the Democratic party, as illustrated by the teachings and example of a long line of Democratic statesmen and patriots, and embodied in the platform of the last national convention of the party.

2. Opposition to centralizationism and to that dangerous spirit of encroachment which tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever be the form of government, a real despotism. No sumptuary laws; separation of Church and State for the good of each; common schools fostered and protected.

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 tariff for revenue only.

4. The subordination of the military to the civil power, and a general and thorough reform of the civil service.

5. The right to a free ballot is the right preservative of all rights, and must and shall be maintained in every part of the United States.

6. The existing administration is the representative of conspiracy only, and its claim of right to surround the ballot-boxes with troops and deputy marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the electors, and the unprecedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and despotic power, insult the people and imperil their institutions.

7. The grand fraud of 1876–77, by which, upon a false count of the electoral votes of two States, the candidate defeated at the polls was declared to be 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 representative government; the Democratic party, to preserve the country from a civil war, submitted for a time in firm and patriotic faith that the people would punish this crime in 1880; this issue precedes and dwarfs every other; it imposes a more sacred duty upon the people of the Union than ever addressed the conscience of a nation of freemen.

8. We execrate the course of this administration in making places in the civil service a reward for political crime, and demand a reform by statute which shall make it forever impossible for the defeated candidate to bribe his way to the seat of a usurper by billeting villains upon the people.

9. The resolution of Samuel J. Tilden not again to be a candidate for the exalted place to which he was elected by a majority of his countrymen, and from which he was excluded by the leaders of the Republican party, is received by the Democrats of the United States with sensibility, and they declare 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 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.

10. Free ships and a living chance for American commerce on the seas and on the land. No discrimination in favor of transportation lines, corporations, or monopolies.

11. Amendment of the Burlingame treaty. No more Chinese immigration, except for travel, education, and foreign commerce, and therein carefully guarded.

12. Public money and public credit for public purposes solely, and public land for actual settlers.

13. The Democratic party is the friend of labor and the laboring man, and pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormorant and the commune.

14. We congratulate the country upon the honesty and thrift of a Democratic Congress, which has reduced the public expenditure forty million dollars a year; upon the continuation of prosperity at home and the national honor abroad; and, above all, upon the promise of such a change in the administration of the Government as shall insure us genuine and lasting reform in every department of the public service.

The National Greenback party held its national convention at Chicago on the 9th of June, with Richard Trevellick, of Michigan, as permanent president. A single ballot was had for President, resulting as follows:

James B. Weaver, Iowa. 224-1/2
Henry B. Wright, Penn. 126-1/2
Stephen D. Dillaye, N. Y. 119
Benj. F. Butler, Mass. 95
Solon Chase, Maine. 89
Edward P. Allis, Wis. 41
Alexander Campbell, Ill. 21

Before the vote was finally announced delegations speedily changed their votes to Weaver, and he was declared unanimously chosen as the candidate. B. B. Chambers, of Texas, was nominated for Vice-President by 403 votes to 311 for Allanson M. West, of Mississippi. The following platform was adopted:

1. That the right to make and issue money is a sovereign power to be maintained by the people for the common benefit. The delegation of this right to corporations is a surrender of the central attribute of sovereignty, void of constitutional sanction, conferring upon a subordinate irresponsible power absolute dominion over industry and commerce. All money, whether metallic or paper, should be issued and its volume controlled by the Government, 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 United States should not be refunded, but paid as rapidly as practicable, according to contract. To enable the Government to meet these obligations, legal tender currency 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.

3. That labor should be so protected by national and State authority as to equalize its burdens and insure a just distribution of its results; the eight-hour law of Congress should be enforced; the sanitary condition of industrial establishments placed under rigid control; the competition of contract labor abolished; a bureau of labor statistics established; factories, mines, and workshops inspected; the employment of children under fourteen years of age forbidden; and wages paid in cash.

4. Slavery being simply cheap labor, and cheap labor being simply slavery, the importation and presence of Chinese serfs necessarily tends to brutalize and degrade American labor; therefore immediate steps should be taken to abrogate the Burlingame treaty.

5. Railroad land grants forfeited by reason of non-fulfilment of contract should be immediately reclaimed by Government; and henceforth the public domain reserved exclusively as homes for actual settlers.

6. It is the duty of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. All lines of communication and transportation should be brought under such legislative control as shall secure moderate, fair, and uniform rates for passenger and freight traffic.

7. We denounce, as destructive to prosperity and dangerous to liberty, the action of the old parties in fostering and sustaining gigantic land, railroad, and money corporations, invested with, and exercising, powers belonging to the Government, and yet not responsible to it for the manner of their exercise.

8. That the Constitution, in giving Congress the power to borrow money, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, never intended that the men who loaned their money for an interest consideration should be preferred to the soldier and sailor who perilled their lives and shed their blood on land and sea in defence of their country; and we condemn the cruel class legislation of the Republican party, which, while professing great gratitude to the soldier, has most unjustly discriminated against him and in favor of the bondholder.

9. All property should bear its just proportion of taxation; and we demand a graduated income tax.

10. We denounce as most dangerous the efforts everywhere manifest to restrict the right of suffrage.

11. We are opposed to an increase of the standing army in time of peace, and the insidious scheme to establish an enormous military power under the guise of militia laws.

12. We demand absolute democratic rules for the government of Congress, placing all representatives of the people upon an equal footing, and taking away from committees a veto power greater than that of the President.

13. We demand a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, instead of a government of the bondholders, by the bondholders, and for the bondholders; and we denounce every attempt to stir up sectional strife as an effort to conceal monstrous crimes against the people.

14. In the furtherance of these ends, we ask the co-operation of all fair-minded people. We have no quarrel with individuals, wage no war upon classes, but only against vicious institutions. We are not content to endure further discipline from our present actual rulers, who, having dominion over money, over transportation, over land and labor, and largely over the press and the machinery of government, wield unwarrantable power over our institutions, and over our life and property.

15. That every citizen of due age, sound mind, and not a felon, be fully enfranchised, and that this resolution be referred to the States, with recommendation for their favorable consideration.

The Prohibition convention met at Cleveland on the 17th of June. The platform was substantially a repetition of the platform of 1876, and General Neal Dow, of Maine, was presented for President, and A. M. Thompson, of Ohio, for Vice-President.

The few scattered fragments of the American party held a convention on the 27th of June, and nominated John W. Phelps, of Vermont, for President, and Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, for Vice-President. Their platform declared against secret societies, Freemasonry in particular, and all other anti-Christian movements. The party was not heard of in the contest.

The Presidential contest of 1880 was remarkable for the absence of bitterness or vituperation. Garfield and Hancock were both highly respected, and I cannot recall a struggle for the Presidency that exhibited less of the asperities which are usually displayed in the struggle for the political control of the nation. Hancock was beaten on the popular vote by a majority of but little over 7000, and he lost his election by Tammany failing to give him a cordial support in New York.

The following table presents the popular and electoral vote of 1880:

═══════════════╤═══════════════════════════════════════════╦═══════════════════
│ POPULAR VOTE. ║ ELECTORAL
│ ║ VOTE.
STATES. ├────────────┬───────────┬─────────┬────────╫──────────┬────────
│ James A. │Winfield S.│ James B.│ Neal ║ │
│ Garfield, │ Hancock, │ Weaver, │ Dow, ║Garfield. │Hancock.
│ Ohio. │ Penn. │ Iowa. │ Maine. ║ │
───────────────┼────────────┼───────────┼─────────┼────────╫──────────┼────────
Maine │ 74,039 │ 65,171[28]│ 4,408 │ 93 ║ 7 │ ――
New Hampshire │ 44,852 │ 40,794 │ 528 │ 180 ║ 5 │ ――
Vermont │ 45,567 │ 18,316 │ 1,215 │ ―――― ║ 5 │ ――
Massachusetts │ 165,205 │ 111,960 │ 4,548 │ 682 ║ 13 │ ――
Rhode Island │ 18,195 │ 10,779 │ 236 │ 20 ║ 4 │ ――
Connecticut │ 67,071 │ 64,415 │ 868 │ 409 ║ 6 │ ――
New York │ 555,544 │ 534,511 │ 12,373 │ 1,517 ║ 35 │ ――
New Jersey │ 120,555 │ 122,565 │ 2,617 │ 191 ║ ―― │ 9
Pennsylvania │ 444,704 │ 407,428 │ 20,668 │ 1,939 ║ 29 │ ――
Delaware │ 14,133 │ 15,275 │ 120 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 3
Maryland │ 78,515 │ 93,706 │ 818 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8
Virginia │ 84,020 │128,586[29]│ ―――― │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 11
West Virginia │ 46,243 │ 57,391 │ 9,079 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 5
North Carolina │ 115,874 │ 124,268 │ 1,126 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 10
South Carolina │ 58,071 │ 112,312 │ 566 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 7
Georgia │ 54,086 │ 102,470 │ 969 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 11
Florida │ 23,654 │ 27,964 │ ―――― │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 4
Alabama │ 56,221 │ 91,185 │ 4,642 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 10
Mississippi │ 34,854 │ 75,750 │ 5,797 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8
Louisiana │ 38,637[30]│ 65,067 │ 439 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8
Texas │ 57,893 │ 156,428 │ 27,405 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8
Arkansas │ 42,436 │ 60,775 │ 4,079 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 6
Missouri │ 153,567 │ 208,609 │ 35,135 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 15
Tennessee │ 107,677 │ 128,191 │ 5,917 │ 43 ║ ―― │ 12
Kentucky │ 106,306 │ 149,068 │ 11,499 │ 258 ║ ―― │ 12
Ohio │ 375,048 │ 340,821 │ 6,456 │ 2,616 ║ 22 │ ――
Michigan │ 185,341 │ 131,597 │ 34,895 │ 942 ║ 11 │ ――
Indiana │ 232,164 │ 225,522 │ 12,986 │ ―――― ║ 15 │ ――
Illinois │ 318,037 │ 277,321 │ 26,358 │ 443 ║ 21 │ ――
Wisconsin │ 144,400 │ 114,649 │ 7,986 │ 69 ║ 10 │ ――
Minnesota │ 93,903 │ 53,315 │ 3,267 │ 286 ║ 5 │ ――
Iowa │ 183,927 │ 105,845 │ 32,701 │ 592 ║ 11 │ ――
Nebraska │ 54,979 │ 28,523 │ 3,950 │ ―――― ║ 3 │ ――
Kansas │ 121,549 │ 59,801 │ 10,851 │ 25 ║ 5 │ ――
Colorado │ 27,450 │ 24,647 │ 1,435 │ ―――― ║ 3 │ ――
Nevada │ 8,732 │ 9,613 │ ―――― │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 3
California │ 80,348 │ 80,426 │ 3,892 │ ―――― ║ 1 │ 5
Oregon │ 20,619 │ 19,948 │ 249 │ ―――― ║ 3 │ ――
├────────────┼───────────┼─────────┼────────╫──────────┼────────
Totals │4,454,416 │ 4,444,952 │ 308,578 │ 10,305 ║ 214 │ 155
═══════════════╧════════════╧═══════════╧═════════╧════════╩══════════╧════════

[28] Votes for a fusion electoral ticket, made up of three Democrats and four Greenbackers. A “straight” Greenback ticket was also voted for.

[29] Two Democratic tickets were voted for in Virginia. The regular ticket received 96,912, and was successful; the “Readjusters” polled 31,674 votes.

[30] Two Republican tickets were voted for.

Garfield possessed more political honors at one time than any other public man in the history of the country. After the November election of 1880, he was the Congressman from his district; he was United States Senator-elect, having been chosen by the Ohio Legislature in January of the same year, and he was President-elect. He had many elements of popularity, but was not a courageous leader like Blaine. He was not a strong, aggressive man, although able in debate and one of the most scholarly of our public men. He had a most difficult rôle to fill when he came into the Presidency. Conkling wholly distrusted him when Garfield was first nominated for President, as was clearly evidenced by Conkling failing to call upon Garfield when Garfield made his first visit to New York after the Chicago convention, although he stopped at the same hotel where Conkling was a guest. Later in the campaign Conkling was earnestly urged to visit Garfield, and he made the visit, resulting in the Conkling and Grant forces earnestly supporting Garfield’s election.

General Grant, for the first time in his life, took the stump to aid the Garfield cause; but even after having turned the tide in favor of Garfield’s election, Conkling knew that Garfield was not a self-reliant leader, and after the appointment of Blaine to the Cabinet, with whom Conkling had no relations whatever, private or official, Conkling had little confidence in Garfield fulfilling his pledges made to the friends of Grant. The open breach came when Garfield nominated Robertson for Collector of New York. Robertson was one of the New York delegates to Chicago who voted against Grant, and was one of the most aggressive anti-Conkling men in the State. This appointment was at once charged upon Blaine, but the evidence is conclusive that it was made by Garfield alone, without even a suggestion from Blaine, who certainly did not desire to precipitate a war between the administration of which he was Premier and so formidable a political factor as Conkling. It was simply Garfield’s blunder, made in haste, and it proved very clearly that he was not equipped to meet the political exigencies which confronted him. Conkling blundered even worse than Garfield. He petulantly resigned his seat in the Senate, in which his colleague, Senator Platt (now Senator from New York), joined him, although he had served but a fraction of a year of his full term.

Conkling confidently hoped to be re-elected by the New York Legislature, and he doubtless would have succeeded had not the presiding officer of the Senate, by a very shrewd and simple parliamentary act, postponed the election a week longer than Conkling expected. That delay was fatal, and a protracted and humiliating contest was made by Conkling and Platt, each week both losing prestige and support, until finally the Republicans of the New York Legislature were compelled to cast them both aside and elect new Senators. Vice-President Arthur stood manfully abreast with Conkling, his friend, in his battle at Albany for re-election, but after the failure on the 1st ballot there never was a time when the re-election of Conkling and Platt was possible. Conkling retired from politics utterly disgusted, located in New York, where he very rapidly acquired a lucrative practice, and his tragic death from exposure in the great blizzard of 1888 ended the career of one of the ablest of the statesmen of his day.

Arthur was the fourth Vice-President who succeeded to the Presidency by the death of the President, and he was the second whose honors had come to him by the assassination of his chief. The accession of Arthur created very general distrust in both business and political circles. He was little known beyond his factional conflicts in New York, having been removed from a leading Custom House office by Secretary Sherman. That removal was sustained by the Republican Senate in defiance of the power of Conkling. It was generally assumed that the administration of Arthur, under the lead of Conkling, would be one of political vengeance, and of necessity convulse the party and end Republican power in the nation.

Business interests were disturbed because they feared that Arthur would be a political President with little exhibition of statesmanship, but Arthur rose to the full measure of his responsible duties. While he moved with great caution, to avoid a breach with his own friends, he soon offended Conkling, and gradually won the confidence and respect of the nation to an extent that few Presidents have enjoyed. The Garfield administration had been started on lines that Arthur could not follow, and the retirement of the Garfield Cabinet, with the exception of Robert T. Lincoln, then Secretary of War, was soon accomplished. The prosecution of the Star-Route Postal frauds was the one thing on which Blaine and MacVeagh, the Attorney-General, had decided to make a creditable record for the administration, and while Arthur was quite as honest as Garfield, political necessities compelled him to discourage those prosecutions. Beyond that there was not a blemish on his administration of some three years and a half. He appreciated the fact that the President should be above the rule of faction, and in that he early offended Conkling. He nominated Conkling as Supreme Judge of the United States, but Conkling peremptorily rejected it, and thenceforth the relations between Arthur and Conkling were severely strained.

Arthur was the one of the four Vice-Presidents succeeding to the Presidency who did not change the policy of the administration. He gradually won the esteem of all parties in the land by his dignity, courtesy, and manliness in every emergency that confronted him. He was one of the most genial and delightful of all the Presidents who occupied the White House, and he would doubtless have been nominated for President in 1884 but for the fact that Blaine had that honor safely mortgaged. Arthur was desirous of a nomination, but Blaine was so strong with the leaders and also with the rank and file of the party that he won an easy victory over the President.

The opposition to Arthur in the Republican convention of 1884 was not inspired by hostility to him or to his administration. It was simply the overwhelming Republican sentiment of the country that demanded Blaine as the party candidate for President. I had met President Arthur frequently during his Presidential term, although I never had any political or personal interests to serve. It was always a pleasure to call upon him and enjoy the dignified and cordial welcome he ever gave to visitors. I last saw him on the night of the Cleveland inauguration day, that closed his Presidential term. He was the guest of honor at a dinner given by Senator Cameron, and I was painfully impressed with what I then assumed to be the keen disappointment of Arthur at his retirement from the Presidency. He seemed greatly depressed in spirit and to lack his usual genial and fascinating qualities. It was not long after, however, when it became known that he had retired from the Presidential office the victim of a fatal disease, that exhausted his vitality. He lived a very quiet life, beloved by all who knew him and respected by the whole nation during the brief period between his retirement and his death.

THE CLEVELAND-BLAINE CONTEST

1884

The Presidential campaign of 1884 was opened on June 5 by the Republican National Convention at Chicago, which nominated Blaine after the Arthur administration had made a feeble struggle against him. Strange as it may seem, Blaine took much less interest in his nomination at that time than he had in his contests of 1876 and 1880. He was painfully impressed by the conviction that he was fated not to be President, and he feared his defeat. A recent article by ex-Governor Boutwell, of Massachusetts, who was then in Congress with Blaine, stated that a short time before the meeting of the convention, when Blaine knew that the nomination was within his own hands, he told Boutwell that he was glad to have some votes in the convention, but that he did not wish the nomination. He desired to defeat President Arthur, and urged Boutwell to organize for the nomination of General Sherman for President and Robert Lincoln for Vice-President.

I saw Blaine frequently during the months preceding the nomination, and he never exhibited any special gratification at the fact that he could then, for the first time, surely attain the leadership in his party for which he had so long struggled; but he had not the courage to decline it. The nomination came to him, and though he did not heartily welcome it, he was justly proud of it.

The contest between Cleveland and Blaine was one of the most spirited and earnest of our national political struggles. The assassination of Garfield and the factional troubles which arose under Garfield, and continued to some extent under Arthur, greatly disturbed Republican tranquillity, and in 1882 the Democrats won all the debatable States and carried the popular branch of Congress. Grover Cleveland in that year became a national political factor by his election as Governor of New York by nearly 200,000 majority. Blaine had the vital Republican element very earnestly in his support, but had to confront the implacable opposition of many of the ablest leaders of his party. He had already been a candidate before two Republican conventions, in which his enemies had defamed him without limit, and the Grant influence was as vindictive, although not so powerful, in 1884 as it was in 1876 and 1880.

The Republican National Convention met at Chicago on the 3d of June, and ex-Representative John R. Lynch, of Mississippi (colored), was made temporary president, and ex-Senator John B. Henderson, of Missouri, permanent president. The friends of President Arthur, largely representing Federal officials, made a very earnest battle for their chief, but it was a Blaine convention from start to finish. Many questions of party policy and rules were discussed and a platform adopted during the first three days of the convention, and it was not until the evening session of the third day that Presidential candidates were presented. On the morning of the fourth day, the convention proceeded to ballot, resulting in the nomination of Blaine, as follows:

═════════════════════════════════╤════════╤═════════╤════════╤════════
│ First. │ Second. │ Third. │ Fourth.
─────────────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────
James G. Blaine, of Maine │ 334-1/2│ 349 │ 375 │ 541
Chester A. Arthur, of New York │ 278 │ 276 │ 274 │ 207
George F. Edmunds, of Vermont │ 93 │ 85 │ 69 │ 41
John A. Logan, of Illinois │ 63-1/2│ 61 │ 53 │ 7
John Sherman, of Ohio │ 30 │ 28 │ 25 │ ――
Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut │ 13 │ 13 │ 13 │ 15
Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois │ 4 │ 4 │ 8 │ 2
William T. Sherman, of Missouri │ 2 │ 2 │ 2 │ ――
═════════════════════════════════╧════════╧═════════╧════════╧════════

The nomination of Blaine was made unanimous with great enthusiasm. The convention then adjourned until evening, when General John A. Logan, of Illinois, was nominated for Vice-President on the 1st ballot, receiving 779 votes to 7 for Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, and 6 for Walter Q. Gresham, of Indiana. General Logan was regarded as one of the most prominent of the Grant leaders, and it was considered good policy to unite the two elements of the party by giving him second place. His nomination was also made unanimous, and cheered to the echo. The following platform was unanimously adopted:

1. The Republicans of the United States, in national convention assembled, renew their allegiance to the principles upon which they have triumphed in six successive Presidential 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, equal, and beneficent, the safeguard of liberty, and the embodiment 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 freedom and equality of all men; for a united nation, assuring the rights of all citizens; for the elevation of labor; for an honest currency; for purity in legislation; and for integrity and accountability in all departments of the Government. And it accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform.

2. We lament the death of President Garfield, whose sound statesmanship, long conspicuous 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 United States. His distinguished services in war and in peace have endeared him to the hearts of the American people.

3. In the administration of President Arthur we recognize a wise, conservative, and patriotic 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 good citizen.

4. It is the first 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 on foreign imports shall be made, not for revenue only, but that, in raising the requisite revenues for the Government, such duties shall be so levied as to afford security to our diversified industries and protection to the rights and wages of the laborers, 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.

5. Against the so-called economical system of the Democratic party, which would degrade our labor to the foreign standard, we enter our most earnest protest. The Democratic party has failed completely to relieve the people of the burden of unnecessary taxation by a wise reduction of the surplus.

6. The Republican party pledges itself to correct the irregularities of the tariff and to reduce the surplus, not by the vicious and indiscriminate process of horizontal reduction, but by such methods as will relieve the taxpayer without injuring the laborer or the great productive interests of the country.

7. 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 duties upon foreign wool, in order that such industry shall have full and adequate protection.

8. We have always recommended the best money known to the civilized world, and we urge that an effort be made to unite all commercial nations in the establishment of an international standard which shall fix for all the relative value of gold and silver coinage.

9. The regulation of commerce with foreign nations and between the States is one of the most important prerogatives of the General Government, and the Republican party distinctly announces its purpose to support such legislation as will fully and efficiently carry out the constitutional power of Congress over interstate commerce.

10. The principle of the 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.

11. We favor the establishment of a national bureau of labor; the enforcement of the eight-hour law; 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 of a citizen of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption, and we favor the settlement of national differences by international arbitration.

12. The Republican party, having its birth in a hatred of slave labor, and in a desire that all men may be truly free and equal, 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.

13. Reform of the civil service, auspiciously begun under Republican administration, should be completed by the further extension of the reformed system already established by law to all the grades of the service to which it is applicable. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be observed in all executive appointments, and all laws at variance with the objects of existing reformed legislation should be repealed, to the end that the dangers to free institutions which lurk in the power of official patronage may be wisely and effectively avoided.

14. The public lands are a heritage of the people of the United States, and should be reserved, as far as possible, for small holdings by actual settlers. We are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts of these lands by corporations or individuals, especially where such holdings are in the hands of non-resident aliens, and we will endeavor to obtain such legislation as will tend to correct this evil. We demand of Congress the speedy forfeiture of all land-grants which have lapsed 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.

15. The grateful thanks of the American people are due to the Union 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. The Republican party also pledges itself to the repeal of the limitation contained in the Arrears act of 1879, so that all invalid soldiers shall share alike, and their pensions begin with the date of disability, and not with the date of the application.

16. The Republican party favors a policy which shall keep us from entangling alliances with foreign nations, and which gives us the right to expect that foreign nations shall refrain from meddling in American affairs—the policy which seeks peace and trade with all powers, but especially with those of the Western Hemisphere.

17. 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. We call upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American shipping has been depressed, so that it may again be true that we have a commerce which leaves no sea unexplored, and a navy which takes no law from superior force.

18. That appointments by the President to offices in the Territories should be made from the _bona fide_ citizens and residents of the Territories wherein they are to serve.

19. That it is the duty of Congress to enact such laws as shall promptly and effectually suppress the system of polygamy within our Territories, and divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power of the so-called Mormon Church, and that the law so enacted should be rigidly enforced by the civil authorities, if possible, and by the military, if need be.

20. The people of the United States, in their organized capacity, constitute a nation, and not a mere confederacy of States. The National Government is supreme within the sphere of its national duties, but the States have reserved rights which should be faithfully maintained, and which should be guarded with jealous care, so that the harmony of our system of government may be preserved and the Union kept inviolate.

21. The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance of a free ballot, an honest count, and correct return. We denounce the fraud and violence practised by the Democracy in 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.

22. 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 Democratic National Convention met at Chicago on the 8th of July, and was temporarily organized with Richard D. Hubbard, of Texas, as chairman. The first day of the convention was unusually boisterous. The Tammany delegates, under the lead of John Kelly, were in a minority in the delegation, and under the Democratic unit rule their votes would be cast for Cleveland, to whose nomination they were bitterly opposed. A desperate struggle was made to break the unit rule, and thus release Tammany from the support of Cleveland. The proposition was very largely defeated, and during the balloting the Tammany people made various and ineffectual efforts to have their votes recorded. On the morning of the second day, William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, was made permanent president, and the presentation of candidates for President followed, after which the platform was adopted and one ballot had for President, and on the following morning the 2d ballot was had, resulting in the selection of Cleveland.

Cleveland’s nomination was accomplished solely by the earnest and skilful management of his cause by Daniel Manning, who was Secretary of the Treasury during half of Cleveland’s first administration. Cleveland was a reluctant candidate, for he was not confident that he could be nominated, and doubted if he could be elected if nominated; but Manning gathered about him a very powerful organization, and under the unit rule carried the New York delegation solid for Cleveland, though Tammany, under the lead of John Kelly, stoutly opposed him.

Randall had been named as the candidate for President by Pennsylvania, and had a delegation strongly committed to his support. I was present at the conferences of Randall’s friends, and it became evident at an early stage of the battle that Randall’s nomination was not within the range of possibility. His pronounced protection views made him ineligible. Ex-Attorney-General William U. Hensel was there, and was actively enlisted in the Randall cause. When the defeat of Randall became clearly inevitable Hensel and I had a conference with Manning, and after a careful review of the situation it became apparent that Cleveland could be nominated with the aid of Randall’s friends. We made no suggestions to Manning as to conditions, but told him that we would telegraph for Randall and have him there the next morning early, so that he and Randall could confer alone. Hensel and I telegraphed Randall urgently requesting him to take the first train for Chicago. He arrived the next morning, was brought directly by Mr. Hensel to my room, where Mr. Manning was in waiting, and Hensel and I went to breakfast.

No one but Mr. Hensel and myself knew of Randall’s arrival, but within half an hour after he and Manning had met word was passed from Randall himself for his friends to support Cleveland. That settled the contest in Cleveland’s favor. Tammany protested, but the Tammany vote was cast for Cleveland all the same under the unit rule that the New York Democrats have always maintained.

The following are the ballots for President in detail:

═══════════════════════════════════╤════════╤═════════
│ First. │ Second.
───────────────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────
Grover Cleveland, of New York │ 392 │ 683
Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware │ 170 │ 81-1/2
Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana │ ―― │ 145-1/2
Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio │ 88 │ 4
Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania │ 78 │ 4
Joseph E. McDonald, of Indiana │ 56 │ 2
John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky │ 27 │ ――
Roswell P. Flower, of New York │ 4 │ ――
George Hoadly, of Ohio │ 3 │ ――
Samuel J. Tilden, of New York │ 1 │ ――
═══════════════════════════════════╧════════╧═════════

Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, upon whom the opposition to Cleveland had largely united on the 2d ballot for President, was unanimously nominated for Vice-President. On a motion to make the nomination of Cleveland unanimous, vigorous “nos” came up, especially from the Tammany Hall delegates, but the nomination of Hendricks was welcomed with the heartiest cheers. The following is the Democratic platform as adopted in 1884:

The Democratic party of the Union, through its representatives in national convention assembled, recognizes that, as the nation grows older, new issues are born of time and progress, and old issues perish; but the fundamental principles of the Democracy, approved by the united voice of the people, remain and will ever remain, as the best and only security for the continuance of free government. The preservation of personal rights, the equality of all citizens before the law, the reserved rights of the States, and the supremacy of the Federal Government within the limits of the Constitution, will ever form the true basis of our liberties, and can never be surrendered without destroying that balance of rights and powers which enables a continent to be developed in peace, and social order to be maintained by means of local self-government. But it is indispensable for the practicable application and enforcement of these fundamental principles that the Government should not always be controlled by one political party. Frequent change of administration is as necessary as constant recurrence to the popular will. Otherwise, abuses grow, and the Government, instead of being carried on for the general welfare, becomes an instrumentality for imposing heavy burdens on the many who are governed, for the benefit of the few who govern. Public servants thus become arbitrary rulers. This is now the condition of the country; hence a change is demanded.

The Republican party, so far as principle is concerned, is a reminiscence. In practice it is an organization for enriching those who control its machinery. The 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, made reckless by the long possession of power, have succumbed to its corrupting influence, and have placed in nomination a ticket against which the independent portion of the party are in open revolt. Therefore a change is demanded. Such a change was alike necessary in 1876, but the will of the people was then defeated by a fraud which can never be forgotten nor 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 Republican party, during its legal, its stolen, and its bought tenures of power, has steadily decayed in moral character and political capacity. Its platform promises are now a list of its past failures. It demands the restoration of our navy; it has squandered hundreds of millions to create a navy that does not exist. It calls upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American shipping has been depressed; it imposed and has continued these burdens. It professes the policy of reserving the public lands for small holdings by actual settlers; it has given away the people’s heritage, till now a few railroads and non-resident aliens, individual and corporate, possess a larger area than that of all our farms between the two seas. It professes a preference for free institutions; it organized and tried to legalize a control of State elections by Federal troops. It professes a desire to elevate labor; it subjected American working-men 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 bounties and pensions. It professes a pledge to correct the irregularities of our tariff; it created and has continued them. Its own tariff commission confessed the need of more than twenty per cent. reduction; its Congress gave a reduction of less than four per cent. It professes the protection of American manufactures; 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 depleted the returns of American agriculture, an industry followed by half our people. It professes the equality of all men before the law, attempting to fix the status of colored citizens; the acts of its Congress were 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 permitted to escape through contrived delays or actual connivance 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 canvasses 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 the Republican party for having failed to relieve the people from crushing war taxes, which have paralyzed business, crippled industry, and deprived labor of employment and of just reward.