SENATORS OF THE DEMOCRATIC “ADVISORY COMMITTEE” IN THE HAYES-TILDEN
CONTEST]
Luck was with me. It went with a bang--not, however, wholly without
detection. The Indianians, devoted to Hendricks, were very wroth.
“See that fat man behind the hat telling him what to say,” said one to
his neighbor, who answered, “Yes, and wrote it for him, too, I’ll be
bound.”
One might as well attempt to drive six horses by proxy as preside over
a National Convention by hearsay. I lost my parliamentarian at once. I
just made my parliamentary law as we went. Never before nor since did
any deliberative body proceed under manual so startling and original.
But I delivered each ruling with a resonance--it were better called
an impudence--which had an air of authority. There was a good deal of
quiet laughter on the floor among the knowing ones, though I knew the
mass was as ignorant as I was myself; but, realizing that I meant to
be just and was expediting business, the Convention soon warmed to
me, and, feeling this, I began to be perfectly at home. I never had a
better day’s sport in all my life.
One incident was particularly amusing. Much against my will and over my
protest, I was brought to promise that Miss Phœbe Couzins, who bore
a Woman’s Rights Memorial, should at some opportune moment be given the
floor to present it. I foresaw what a row it was bound to occasion.
Toward noon, when there was a lull in the proceedings, I said with
an emphasis meant to carry conviction, “Gentlemen of the Convention,
Miss Phœbe Couzins, a representative of the Woman’s Association of
America, has a Memorial from that body and, in the absence of other
business, the chair will now recognize her.”
Instantly, and from every part of the hall, arose cries of “No!” These
put some heart into me. Many a time as a school-boy I had proudly
declaimed the passage from John Home’s tragedy, “My name is Norval.”
Again I stood upon “the Grampian hills.” The Committee was escorting
Miss Couzins down the aisle. When she came within the radius of my
poor vision I saw that she was a beauty and dressed to kill! That was
reassurance. Gaining a little time while the hall fairly rocked with
its thunder of negation, I laid the gavel down and stepped to the
edge of the platform and gave Miss Couzins my hand. As she appeared
above the throng there was a momentary “Ah!” and then a lull broken
by a single voice: “Mr. Chairman, I rise to a point of order.” Leading
Miss Couzins to the front of the stage, I took up the gavel and gave a
gentle rap, saying, “The gentleman will take his seat.”
“But, Mr. Chairman, I rise to a point of order,” he vociferated.
“The gentleman will take his seat instantly,” I answered in a tone of
one about to throw the gavel at his head. “No point of order is in
order when a lady has the floor.”
After that Miss Couzins received a positive ovation, and having
delivered her message retired in a blaze of glory.
Mr. Tilden was nominated on the second ballot. The campaign that
followed proved one of the most memorable in our history. When it came
to an end the result showed on the face of the returns 196 in the
Electoral College, 11 more than a majority, and in the popular vote
4,300,316, a majority of 264,300 over Hayes.
How this came to be first contested and then complicated so as
ultimately to be set aside has been minutely related by its authors.
The newspapers, both Republican and Democratic, of November 8, 1876,
the morning after the election, conceded an overwhelming victory for
Tilden and Hendricks. There was, however, a single exception. “The
New York Times” had gone to press with its first edition, leaving the
result in doubt but inclining toward the success of the Democrats.
In its later editions this tentative attitude was changed to the
statement that Mr. Hayes lacked the vote only of Florida--“claimed by
the Republicans”--to be sure of the required 185 votes in the Electoral
College.
The story of this surprising discrepancy between midnight and daylight
reads like a chapter of fiction.
[Illustration:
CONGRESSMEN OF THE DEMOCRATIC “ADVISORY
COMMITTEE” IN THE HAYES-TILDEN CONTEST