820 TILDEN, SAMUEL JONES. 



TRENCH, RICHARD CHENEVIX. 



ceedings at the counting of electoral votes at 

 every presidential election; which contained a 

 long introduction, analyzing the facts, with a 

 view to showing that the power of making the 

 count, or providing a method of making it, lay 

 in Congress, and that the function of the Pres- 

 ident of the Senate was simply to open the 

 certificates. A compromise was arranged, by 

 which the Electoral Commission was formed, 

 to which body cases whereon the Senate and 

 the House of Representatives differed might 

 be referred for decision, its judgment to be 

 final, unless set aside by both houses acting 

 separately. The Commission was composed of 

 five Representatives, five Senators, and five 

 Supreme Court judges eight Republicans and 

 seven Democrats. The Commission refused to 

 go beyond the certificates, and decided in favor 

 of the Hayes electors. The votes in the Com- 

 mission were invariably on party lines eight 

 to seven except in the case of the disputed 

 electoral vote from Oregon, when the Commis- 

 sion voted unanimously not to count the vote 

 of the single Tilden elector, but divided on 

 counting the vote of the Republican elector 

 alleged to be ineligible. In every case the 

 House of Representatives disapproved of the 

 decision of the Commission, and the Senate 

 approved of it. 



It has always been a matter of dispute as to 

 whether Mr. Tilden approved of the Electoral 

 Commission compromise; but he certainly ac- 

 quiesced in the measure. Subsequently a num- 

 ber of cipher dispatches, which passed in re- 

 gard to the result of the Oregon election and 

 in regard to the proceedings of the canvassing 

 board in Florida, were translated and pub- 

 lished, and they were regarded by most Repub- 

 licans as casting suspicion on Mr. Tilden's ac- 

 tion ; but a congressional committee appointed 

 to investigate the subject found that, although 

 the Florida canvassing board was for sale, and 

 at least two of his agents who were watching 

 its proceedings were willing to buy it, Mr. Til- 

 den refused to consider the matter. 



In the summer of 1877 he went to Europe, 

 and after his return he retained his interest 

 and a great part of his influence in politics. 

 It was commonly taken for granted that the 

 Democratic ticket of 1876 would be put in the 

 field in 1880 ; but Hendricks, who wanted the 

 first place, refused to become a candidate for 

 the second, and the revolt of Tammany Hall 

 in 1879 weakened the Democratic party of 

 New York. The reaction against Tilden was 

 strong enough, therefore, to make his renomi- 

 nation doubtful when the Democratic National 

 Convention met at Cincinnati, June 22, 1880. 

 Moreover, his health was broken, and possibly 

 he was weary of strife and sick of ambition. 

 At any rate, he sent to the New York dele- 

 gates a letter dated June 18, refusing to be- 

 come a candidate for renomination. In 1884, 

 as the time for choosing a presidential candi- 

 date drew on, there was made manifest a de- 

 termination among all elements of the Demo- 



cratic party to select Mr. Tilden, and nothing 

 but his solemn assurances that he could not 

 accept a nomination checked the movement. 



His closing years were passed in retirement 

 at his country residence on the Hudson. His 

 health was for a long time feeble, and death 

 came with the general breaking down of his 

 system. He was unmarried, and left the main 

 portion of his large fortune to trustees, to be de- 

 voted to public use, the design being to found 

 a great library in New York city. He was 

 buried at New Lebanon. His life was written 

 by Theodore P. Cook (New York, 1876), and 

 his writings have been edited by John Bigelow 

 (2 vols., New York, 1885). 



TRENCH, RICHARD CHENEVIX, an English 

 clergyman and author, born Sept. 9, 1807; died 

 in London, March 28, 1886. He was graduated 

 at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was or- 

 dained to a curacy in Suffolk. He first at- 

 tracted notice as a poet, and in 1835 published 

 his first work, ' The Story of Justin Martyr, 

 and other Poems." In 1838 appeared his 

 " Sabbation, Honor Neal, and other Poems." 

 About this time he became acquainted with 

 Samuel Wilberforce, who exercised a consid- 

 erable influence upon his after-life. He be- 

 came a curate under Dr. Wilberforce at Alver- 



RICHAED CHENEVIX TRENCH. 



stoke in 1841, and rector of Itchen Stoke in 

 1845. He was Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge 

 in 1845 and 1846, and delivered courses of lect- 

 ures on "The Fitness of Holy Scripture for 

 unfolding the Spiritual Life of Men" and 

 " Christ the Desire of all Nations; or the Un- 

 conscious Prophecies of Heathendom." In 

 1855 he became Dean of Westminster, and 

 some years later was selected as one of the 

 editors of the New Commentary of the Bible, 

 proposed by the Speaker of the House of Com- 

 mons. In 1863 he was appointed to succeed 

 Dr. Whately as Archbishop of Dublin, and a 

 few years later he took a prominent part in 



