Mr. Robert M. McLane, later Governor of Maryland and Minister to
France--a man of rare ability and large experience, who had served in
Congress and in diplomacy, and was an old friend of Mr. Tilden--had
been at a Gramercy Park conference when my New Orleans report arrived,
and had then and there urged the agitation recommended by me. He was
now again in New York. When a lad he had been in England with his
father, Lewis McLane, then American Minister to the Court of St.
James’s, during the excitement over the Reform Bill of 1832. He had
witnessed the popular demonstrations and had been impressed by the
direct force of public opinion upon law-making and law-makers. An
analogous situation had arrived in America. The Republican Senate was
as the Tory House of Lords. We must organize a movement such as had
been so effectual in England. Obviously something was going amiss with
us and something had to be done.
[Illustration: From the painting by Cordelia Adele Fassett, in
the Senate wing of the Capitol at Washington. After a photograph,
copyright, 1878, by Mrs. S. M. Fassett
THE SESSION OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO CONSIDER THE CASE OF THE
FLORIDA RETURNS, IN THE SUPREME COURT ROOM, FEBRUARY 5, 1877]
NOTE TO “THE SESSION OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION,” ETC. (SEE THE
PREVIOUS PAGE)
With the purpose of making a picture typical of the sessions of the
Electoral Commission, Mrs. Fassett included prominent people who
were in Washington at the time, and who gave the artist sittings in
the Supreme Court Room.
The Commissioners on the bench, from left to right are: Senators
Thurman, Bayard (writing), Frelinghuysen, Morton, Edmunds; Supreme
Court Justices Strong, Miller, Clifford, Field, Bradley; Members
of the House, Payne, Hunton, Abbott, Garfield, and Hoar. At the
left, below Thurman, is the head of Senator Kernan who acted as
substitute for the former when ill.
William M. Evarts, counsel for Hayes, is addressing the Commission,
and his associate, E. W. Stoughton (white-haired), sits behind him;
Charles O’Conor, chief counsel for Tilden, sits at his left. Other
members of counsel are grouped in the middle-ground. At the left
is seen George Bancroft (with long white beard), and in the middle
foreground (looking out), James G. Blaine.
It was agreed that I return to Washington and make a speech “feeling
the pulse” of the country, with the suggestion that in the National
Capital should assemble “a mass convention of at least one hundred
thousand peaceful citizens,” exercising “the freeman’s right of
petition.”
The idea was one of many proposals of a more drastic kind and was the
merest venture. I, myself, had no great faith in it. But I prepared the
speech, and after much reading and revising, it was held by Mr. Tilden
and Mr. McLane to cover the case and meet the purpose, Mr. Tilden
writing Mr. Randall, Speaker of the House of Representatives, a letter,
carried to Washington by Mr. McLane, instructing him what to do in the
event that the popular response should prove favorable.
Alack-the-day! The Democrats were equal to nothing affirmative. The
Republicans were united and resolute. I delivered the speech, not in
the House, as had been intended, but at a public meeting which seemed
opportune. The Democrats at once set about denying the sinister and
violent purpose ascribed to it by the Republicans, who, fully advised
that it had emanated from Gramercy Park, and came by authority, started
a counter agitation of their own.
I became the target for every kind of ridicule and abuse. Nast drew a
grotesque cartoon of me, distorting my suggestion for the assembling of
one hundred thousand citizens, which was both offensive and libelous.
Being on friendly terms with the Harpers, I made my displeasure so
resonant in Franklin Square--Nast himself having no personal ill-will
toward me--that a curious and pleasing opportunity which came to pass
was taken to make amends. A son having been born to me, “Harper’s
Weekly” contained an atoning cartoon representing the child in its
father’s arms, and, above, the legend: “10,000 sons from Kentucky,
alone.” Some wag said that the son in question, was “the only one of
the hundred thousand in arms who came when he was called.”
For many years afterward I was pursued by this unlucky speech, or
rather by the misinterpretation given to it alike by friend and foe.
Nast’s first cartoon was accepted as a faithful portrait, and I was
accordingly satirized and stigmatized, although no thought of violence
ever had entered my mind, and in the final proceedings I had voted for
the Electoral Commission Bill and faithfully stood by its decisions.
Joseph Pulitzer, who immediately followed me on the occasion named,
declared that he wanted my “one hundred thousand” to come fully armed
and ready for business; yet he never was taken to task or reminded of
his temerity.