REPUBLICAN PARTY. 



853 



During the ensuing controversy a sensation was made 1 

 'by the publication of "cipher dispatches, " which Mr. 

 Pelton, the uephew and private secretary of Mr. 

 Tilden, had sent to Democratic " visiting statesmen " 

 in the disputed sections. In 1878 the Potter investi- 

 gating committee subsequently confirmed the "cipher 

 dUpatches," but Mr. Tilden denied any knowledge of 

 them. 



The second session of the Forty-fourth Congress 

 met on Dec. 5, 1876, and while by that time all knew 

 the dangers of the approaching electoral count, yet 

 neither House would consent to the revision of the 

 joint rule regulating the count. The Republicans 

 claimed that the President of the Senate had the sole 

 authority to open and announce the returns in the 

 presence of the two Houses ; the Democrats disputed 

 this right, and claimed that the joint body could con- 

 trol the count under the law. But the impending 

 danger was avoided by the patriotism of prominent 

 members of Congress representing both political par- 

 ties. These gentlemen, after several private confer- 

 ences, substantially agreed upon a result several days 

 before the introduction of the Electoral Commission 

 Act. The leaders on the part of the Republicans in 

 these conferences were Conkling, Edmunds, Freling- 

 huysen ; on the part of the Democrats Bayard, 

 Gordon, Randall, and Hewitt, the latter a member of 

 the House and Chairman of the National Democratic 

 Committee. That the Electoral Commission was a 

 Democratic measure is shown by the character of the 

 votes cast for and against it. In the Senate there 

 were 21 Republicans tor it and 16 against, while there 

 were also 26 Democrats for it to only 1 (Eaton) against. 

 In the House nearly the same proportion was main- 

 tained, the bill passing that body by 191 to 86. 



The Electoral Commission was composed of five 

 Senators, five members of the House of Representa- 

 tives, and five Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. 

 This extra-constitutional body met Feb. 1, and by 

 uniform votes of 8 to 7 decided all objections to the 

 electoral votes of Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, 

 and Oregon in favor of the Republicans, and while the 

 two Houses disagreed on nearly all of these points, 

 the electoral votes were, under the provisions of the 

 law, given to Hayes and Wheeler, and the final result 

 declared to be 185 electors for Hayes and Wheeler to 

 184 for Tilden and Hendricks. 



Thus closed the most important crisis that ever at- 

 tended an electoral count. Had not wisdom pre- 

 vailed over partisan feelings it is probable that instead 

 of a peaceable solution disorder, riot, and bloodshed 

 would have resulted. 



Tho. opening acts of Pros. Hayes' administration 

 ten. led to alienate the stalwart wing of his party. 

 The withdrawal of the U. 8. troops from the 

 South and the overthrow of the Packard rule in Louis- 

 iana guve his policy a tone too concessive to Southern 

 demands. Later his efforts to prevent intimidation of 

 negro votes in the South reunited his party. His 

 veto of the judicial expense bill for the reason that it 

 would prevent him from enforcing the election laws, 

 and his special message asking that the appropriation 

 bills be passed without the objectionable rider, brought 

 him into full party favor. At the extra session of 

 1879, the main business of which was to pass the nec- 

 essary appropriation bills, the Democrats continued 

 their former tactics of adding riders to prevent U. 

 S. supervision of the elections, but the President 

 still interposed his vetoes. The firm attitude of the 

 President and the party leaders on that question 

 roused new spirit among the Republicans and did much 

 toward giving them a majority in the House at the 

 next elcetion. 



Tln> most important politieal action t;iken at this ses- 

 sion was the passnze. for Congress was still Demo- 

 cntie,. of a law to keep the pence at the polls. To this 

 W:LS added the Garfield proviso that it should not lie 

 construed to prevent the conctitutional use of the; 



army to suppress domestic violence in a State a pro- 

 viso which in the view of the Republicans rid the bill 

 of material partisan objections, and it was therefore 

 passed and approved. The "political riders" were 

 again added to the appropriation and deficiency bills, 

 hut were again vetoed and failed in this form to become 

 laws. Upon these questions Pres. Hayes showed much 

 firmness. During the session the Democratic opposi- 

 tion to the general election law was greatly tempered, 

 the Supreme Court having made an important decis- 

 ion which upheld its constitutionality. 



At the second session of the Forty-sixth Congress 

 Pres. Hayes suggested the retirement of the legal 

 tender notes and the maintenance of the policy for the 

 accumulation of a sinking fund to pay the national 

 debt Sixteen days after Congress met gold sold at 

 par in New York and specie payment became a fact. 



The 3 per cent, funding bill was vetoed by Pres. 

 Hayes for the reason that he and a majority of the 

 Republicans in Congress did not believe the loan could 

 be advantageously placed at that rate. Finally a bill 

 fixing the rate at 3J per cent, became a law. Yet two 

 years later the loan was successfully placed at 3 per 

 cent. In reviewing the party for twenty years the 

 convention at Chicago presented its claims for public 

 support in the following declarations : 



It suppressed a rebellion which had armed nearly a mil- 

 lion ol men to subvert the national authority. It recon- 

 structed the union of the StHtes with freedom, instead of 

 slavery, as its corner-stone. It transformed four million of 

 hnmnii beings from the likeness of things to the rank of 

 citizens. It relieved Congress from the infamous work of 

 limiting fugitive slaves, and charged it to see that slavery 

 dues not exist. It hits raised the value of our paper cur- 

 rency from 38 per cent, to the par of gold. It has restored, 

 upon a solid basis, payment in coin for all the national obli- 

 gations, and has given us a currency absolutely good and 

 equal in every part of our extended country. It has lifted, 

 the credit of the nation from the point where 6 per cent, 

 bonds sold at SC to that where 4 per cent, bonds are eagerly 

 sought at a premium. Under its administration railways 

 have increased from 31,000 miles in 1860 to more than 

 82,000 miles in 1879. Our foreign trade has increased from 

 $700,000,000 to $1,150,00(1,000 in the same time, and our 

 exports, which were $20,000,000 less than our imports in 

 ISfiO, were $264,(K10,000 more than onr imports iu 1879. 



Without resorting to loans, it lias, since the war closed, 

 defrayed the ordinary expenses of the government, besides 

 the accruing interest on the public debt, and disbursed an- 

 nually over $30,000,000 for soldiers' pensions. It has paid 

 $888,000,000 of the public debt, and, by refunding the bal- 

 ance at lower rates, has reduced the annual interest charge 

 Irom nearly $151,000,000 to Jess than $89,000,000. 



The financial history of the Republican party is one 

 of its proudest boasts. It took charge of the govern- 

 ment in its extremity, without money or credit. It 

 succeeded in negotiating enormous loans and in estab- 

 lishing a paper currency that finally assunied a gold 

 value. It established the national banking system, 

 which has received the commendation of all and which 

 should be preserved as a firm foundation for the 

 country's prosperity. The resumption of specLe pay- 

 ments marked an important era, because it was the 

 fulfilment of a pledge made by the party. The re- 

 duction of the public debt and the steadily reduced 

 rate of interest show the wisdoni of a policy which was 

 adopted in the days of the nation's trial. 



The administration of Pres. Hayes tended to awake a 

 more independent sentiment in his party, and the 

 divergence of the two wings became more apparent in 

 the future. Impartial historians must give _ his 

 administration the credit of softening party asperities 

 and aiding very materially in the restoration ot better 

 feeling between the North and South. _That his 

 policy was the best for his party as well as his country 

 was shown by the result of the following Presidential 

 election. 



The Republican nominating convention of 1880 was 

 very exciting. Gen. Grant was urged by his special 

 friends as a candidate. As the result showed, the 



