254 



CONNECTICUT. 



Connecticut may be justly interpreted in the same 

 way. 



If this be your meaning, we beg leave to say, in 

 advance, that such an inference and such a use of the 

 election of General Hawley would be a gross perver- 

 sion of the truth, and wholly contrary to the assur- 

 ances publicly and privately given by General Haw- 

 ley, who, it is admitted, could not be elected but by 

 the aid of the friends of the President and his policy. 



Yet we do not claim that this policy is involved m 

 the issue of this election, and we therefore protest in 

 advance against any such inference ; and if such a 

 lose is made of that election, we assure you that the 

 effect will be injurious to the Union organization. 



The question may be asked why the Conservatives 

 of Connecticut do not act with the other organization 

 which has unreservedly avowed its support to the 

 President's policy? Our answer is, that we have 

 more confidence in the men who have proved their 

 loyalty on the fields of battle, and by their efforts to 

 sustain the Government in the darkest periods of the 

 war, than in those who sought to discourage enlist- 

 ments, destroy the credit of the Government, and 

 give aid and comfort to the rebels; and whom we 

 cannot trust with their cheap professions, even 

 though they head their ticket with a gentleman 

 whose war record is not so objectionable, but whose 

 accommodating temper is such that he allows him- 

 self to be used to advance the interest of a party 

 whose loyalty was tried and found wanting. 



We are also firm in our belief that the President 

 prefers to settle this contest inside of the Union 

 party, giving those of the opposite side who are sin- 

 cere in their professions the opportunity of throw- 

 ing their strength where it most properly belongs, 

 namely, into that portion of the Union party which 

 is confessedly in harmony with their views. 



JAMES F. BABCOCK, 

 F. W. SMITH, Jr. 



The Democrats were not less desirous than 

 their opponents to obtain an expression of opin- 

 ion from the President respecting the State 

 election, and on March 23d, a delegation of the 

 party, consisting of A. E. Burr and 0. M. Inger- 

 soll, had a long interview with him, of which, 

 on the succeeding day, they published an ac- 

 count in the newspapers. From their state- 

 ment it appears that the President complained 

 that his remarks had not been correctly re- 

 ported by the Eepublican delegation which had 

 recently visited him. He desired, he said, the 

 success of the Union party, meaning by the 

 Union party at that time the party which sup- 

 ported his Union restoration policy, and no 

 others. Those who opposed his policy he re- 

 garded as not belonging to that party, and upon 

 the success of his policy, he said, depended the 

 welfare of the Union. The following passages 

 from the report of Messrs. Burr and Ingersoll, 

 further illustrate the views of Mr. Johnson: 



The President then remarked that Messrs. Owen 

 and Griswold [of the Republican delegation] should 

 have reported him as saying that he was the friend 

 of those who supported his policy, and the opponent 

 of those who oppose it. "The question," said he, 

 " of my restoration policy is now the paramount ques- 

 tion, and all who oppose it are my opponents." 



We assured the President that if those gentlemen 

 had so telegraphed his remarks, we should not have 

 been here this evening. 



The President then said: "The principles of my 

 restoration policy are fundamental. No man can ap- 

 prove of my policy and that of Congress at the same 

 time. That is impossible." In New Hampshire it was 

 claimed that both policies were supported, which, 



of course, could not be ; but after the election it was 

 claimed that a radical victory bad been achieved. HP 

 trusted the people would not now be deceived. 



At that interview the following letter from 

 E. S. Cleveland, postmaster at Hartford, and 

 recently a member of the Eepublican party, 

 was communicated to the President : 



< POST-OFFICE, HAKTFOKD, CONN., March 22, 1866. 

 To President Johnson : 



SIR: I am now engaged in publicly advocating 

 the election of James E. English as candidate for 

 Governor of Connecticut a gentleman who is openly 

 committed to the support of your veto, to the de- 

 fence of your 2'2d of February speech, and of your 

 policy of restoration in opposition to the disunionists 

 of Connecticut. 



I am opposing the election of General Joseph R. 

 Hawley, who openly disapproved of your veto and of 

 your 22d of February speech, and declines to sup- 

 port your policy as opposed to the radical majority 

 in Congress. If my political action is not satisfac- 

 tory to you, I beg you to receive my resignation as 

 postmaster of this city. 



I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, 

 E. S. CLEVELAND. 



This was immediately returned to Messrs. 

 Burr and Ingersoll, with the following indorse- 

 ment : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 28, 1866. 

 Your political action in upholding my measures 

 and policy is approved. Your resignation is, there 

 fore, not accepted, but is herewith returned. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



From the middle of March the interest in the 

 election was greatly enhanced, and it soon be- 

 came the absorbing topic of discussion or con- 

 versation throughout the State. Both parties 

 sought the services of their most effective speak- 

 ers from all parts of the country, and a more 

 thorough canvass of a State was probably never 

 attempted. Connecticut, politically speaking, 

 had for a number of years been classed among 

 the doubtful States ; for, notwithstanding she 

 had annually been carried by the Republicans 

 since the formation of that party, the majority 

 was often very small in proportion to the. total 

 vote. In the present instance the result seemed 

 more than ever involved in doubt. At tho 

 presidential election of 1864 the majority for 

 Lincoln did not reach 2,500 in a total vote of 

 nearly 87,000 ; and although in 1865 Governor 

 Buckingham had a majority of over 11,000, 

 there was no relative increase of the Eepublican 

 vote, while the total vote was upward of 13,000 

 less than in the previous year. As the day of 

 election (April 2d) approached, the current of 

 opinion in the Eepublican party was observed 

 to tend more strongly toward the views of re- 

 construction held by Congress, though many 

 voters still wavered between the Congressional 

 and the Executive policy. On March 15th the 

 Civil Eights Bill, having passed both Houses of 

 Congress, was sent to the President for his ap- 

 proval. Almost immediately rumors of another 

 veto became prevalent, which were verified on 

 the 27th by the return of the bill 'to Congress 

 without the Executive approval. This act seem- 

 ed for the moment almost to demoralize the 

 Eepublican party in Connecticut. But six days 



