THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION.
The Electoral Commission was a cunningly devised plan for declaring
Mr. Hayes legally elected President. In the then feverish condition
of parties at the Capitol, with no previously arranged plan for
adjusting controverted questions, it was evident that some plan
should be devised for a peaceful solution of the difficulty.
Republicans conceived the idea of an Electoral Commission, to be
composed of five Senators, five Representatives, and five Associate
Justices of the Supreme Court. No sooner had Mr. Tilden and his
conservative friends agreed to the Commission, in which he would
have had one majority, than Judge David Davis, of the Supreme Court,
was elected a United States Senator. This made it necessary to
select Judge Bradley as the man who was to hold the balance of
power.
The debate in the Senate on the bill establishing the Electoral
Commission was deeply interesting, as several of those who participated
were prominent candidates for the Presidency. There was an especial
desire to hear Senator Conkling, who had "sulked in his tent" since
the Cincinnati Convention, and the galleries were crowded with
noted men and women, diplomats, politicians, soldiers and journalists
from all sections of the Republic.
Mr. Conkling took the floor late in the afternoon. Tall, well
proportioned, with his vest opening down to the waist and displaying
his full chest and broad shoulders to the best advantage, his hair
tossed back from his massive brow with studied carelessness, his
white and slender hands set off by spotless linen, he looked every
inch a Senator. Before him, on the desk, were his notes, daintily
inscribed on gilt-edged, cream-tinted paper; but he did not refer
to them, having committed his remarks so thoroughly that many
believed them to have been extemporaneous. His speech was pronounced
by good judges as the greatest specimen of "the art which conceals
art" that has ever been delivered in this country. With apparent
candor, good nature, and disinterested statesmanship, he adroitly
stated his side of the case, reviewing what had been done at previous
Presidential elections, and showing that he had given the subject
careful study. As dinner-time approached, Senator Edmunds stated
that Mr. Conkling was not physically able to finish his speech,
and moved that the Senate go into the consideration of executive
business.
The next day the Senator from New York was not present, and after
a recess had been taken for ten minutes, in the hope that he would
arrive, Senator Sargent, of California, took the floor. Mr. Conkling
finally came in, and when he began to speak, appeared to be in
better health than on the day previous, and he again uttered his
well-rounded sentences as if without premeditation. Once he forgot
himself, when, to give additional emphasis to a remark, he advanced
across the aisle toward Senator Morton. The Senator from Indiana
retreating, Mr. Conkling exclaimed, in the most dramatic tone, "I
see that the Senator retreats before what I say!" "Yes," replied
Senator Morton, in his blunt way, "I retreated as far as I could
from the false doctrine taught by the gentleman from New York."
"Mr. President," said Senator Conkling, evidently disconcerted,
"the honorable Senator observes that he has retreated as far as he
could. That is the command laid on him by the common law. He is
bound to retreat to the wall before turning and rending an
adversary."
When Mr. Dawes reminded the Senator that the Commission should be
made as exact as it would in the State of Massachusetts, he replied
that it would not be possible. "The Queen of Sheba," said Mr.
Conkling, "said that she never realized the glory of Solomon until
she entered the inner Temple. The idea that the Representatives
of other States could breathe the upper air, or tread the milky
way, never entered into the wildest and most presumptuous flight
of the imagination. Oh! no, Mr. President. Whenever the thirty-
seven other States attain to the stature of the grand old Commonwealth,
the time will come when no problem remains to be solved, and when
even contested Presidential votes will count themselves. Then, in
every sphere and orbit, everything will move harmoniously, by
undeviating and automatic processes."
The debate was prolonged into the night, and it was after midnight
before Senator Morton spoke, pale, trembling in every limb, and
with his forehead beaded with great drops of perspiration. He
spoke sitting in his chair, and for upward of an hour hurled argument
after argument at the bill, evidently speaking from deep conviction.
Mr. Blaine, who had been sworn in the day previous, followed Mr.
Morton, and created quite a sensation by opposing the bill. The
night dragged on, and it was seven o'clock ere the final vote on
the passage of the bill was reached. It was passed by a vote of
forty-seven ayes against seventeen nays, ten Senators being absent
at the time.
The House of Representatives, after a somewhat stormy session,
which lasted seven hours, passed the Electoral Commission Bill by
one hundred and ninety-one ayes against eighty-six nays. Five-
sixths of those voting in favor of the bill were Democrats, and
four-fifths of those voting against it were Republicans.
The Electoral Commission, which commenced its sessions on Wednesday,
January 31st, was a grand legal exhibition. It occupied the Supreme
Court room, which had been made historic when the Senate Chamber
by the great debates in which Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and other
famous statesmen had participated. The fifteen Commissioners,
sitting on the lengthened bench of the Supreme Court, listened in
turn to the intricate propositions of constitutional law presented
by Mr. Evarts, with his acuteness and dispassionate eloquence; to
the partisan harangues of Charles O'Conor, who had risen like one
from the grave; to the tirades of David Dudley Field; to the
ponderous yet effective reasoning of Joseph McDonald; to the
ingenious reasoning of Senator Howe; to the forcible style and
flippant wit of Matt. Carpenter; to the polished sentences of Mr.
Stoughton; to the graceful and powerful argument of the venerable
Judge Campbell, of Louisiana, who had in '61 gone South from the
Bench of the Supreme Court, with a number of others.
The counting of the electoral vote on the 2d of February, 1877,
attracted crowds to the House of Representatives. Even the diplomats
came out in force, and for once their gallery was full. On the
floor of the House were many distinguished men, including George
Bancroft, Mr. Stoughton, of New York, crowned with a mass of white
hair; General Sherman, William M. Evarts, Jere. Black, and Lyman
Trumbull. At one o'clock the Senate came over in solemn procession,
preceded by the veteran Captain Basset, who had in charge two
mahogany boxes, in which were locked the votes upon which the fate
of the nation depended. Next came President _pro tem._ Ferry and
Secretary Gorham, followed by the paired Senators. Roscoe Conkling,
tall and distinguished in appearance, was arm in arm with Aaron
Sargent, the California printer; Bruce, the colored Mississippian,
was with Conover, the Florida carpet-bagger; the fair Anglo-Saxon
cheeks of Jones, of Nevada, contrasted strongly with the Indian
features of General Logan, and finally along came Oliver P. Morton,
of Indiana.
President _pro tem._ Ferry, in a theatrical bass voice, called the
Convention to order, and, after stating what it was convened for,
opened one of the boxes and handed an envelope to Senator Allison,
with a duplicate to Mr. Stone. It was from the State of Alabama,
and on being opened, ten votes were recorded for Samuel J. Tilden,
of New York. State after State was thus counted until Florida was
reached, when the majestic Dudley Field arose and objected to the
counting thereof. A brief discussion ensued, and the vote of
Florida was turned over to the Electoral Commission. The Senate
then returned to its chamber, preceded by the locked boxes, then
nearly empty.
It was asserted by those who should have known that Judge Bradley,
who had been substituted for Judge Davis, came near, in the discussion
on the Florida votes, turning the result in favor of Tilden. After
the argument upon the Florida case before the Commission, Judge
Bradley wrote out his opinion and read it to Judge Clifford and
Judge Field, who were likewise members of the Commission. It
contained, first, an argument, and, secondly, a conclusion. The
argument was precisely the same as that which appears in the public
document; but Judge Bradley's conclusion was that the votes of the
Tilden electors in Florida were the only votes which ought to be
counted as coming from the State. This was the character of the
paper when Judge Bradley finished it and when he communicated it
to his colleagues. During the whole of that night Judge Bradley's
house in Washington was surrounded by the carriages of Republican
visitors, who came to see him apparently about the decision of the
Electoral Commission, which was to be announced next day. These
visitors included leading Republicans, as well as persons deeply
interested in the Texas Pacific Railroad scheme.
When the Commission assembled the next morning, and when the judgment
was declared, Judge Bradley gave his voice in favor of counting
the votes of the Hayes electors in Florida! The argument he did
not deliver at the time; but when it came to be printed subsequently,
it was found to be precisely the same as the argument which he had
originally drawn up, and on which he had based his first conclusion
in favor of the Tilden electors.
Disputed State after disputed State was disposed of, and Washington
was stirred with feverish excitement. Every day or two some rumor
was started, and those who heard it were elated or depressed, as
they happened to hope. But the great mass listened with many grains
of allowance, knowing how easy it is at all times for all sorts of
stories, utterly without foundation, to get into the public mouth.
The obstructionists found that they could not accomplish their
purpose to defeat the final announcement, but their persistence
was wonderful. They were desperate, reckless, and relentless.
Fernando Wood headed, in opposition to them, the party of settlement
and peace, his followers being composed in about equal parts of
Republicans and of ex-Confederates who turned their backs on the
Democratic filibusters. Finally the count was ended, and President
_pro tem._ Ferry announced one hundred and eighty-four votes for
Samuel J. Tilden and one hundred and eighty-five votes for Rutherford
B. Hayes.
Few personages in Washington during this period were more sought
after by visitors than Francis E. Spinner, who, under Lincoln,
Johnson, and Grant, held the office of Treasurer of the United
States for fourteen successive years. Whether the verdant visitors
supposed that his high office enabled him to distribute greenbacks
at pleasure to all who came, or whether his remarkable signature,
which all the land knew, made him seem a remarkable man, matters
little; the fact remains that he was flooded with callers, whom he
received with genial cordiality, making all feel that they too had
an interest in the money makers of the land.
General Grant, having passed eight years in the army and eight more
in the White House, retired to private life without regret. His
form had become more rotund while he was President, his weight had
increased from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty-five
pounds, his reddish-brown hair and beard had become speckled with
gray, and he had to use eye-glasses in reading. His features had
softened, perhaps, in their determined expression, but his square,
massive jaws always gave him a resolute look. He loved to listen
better than to talk, but when with friends he would always take
part in the conversation, often spicing his sententious remarks
with humorous comments. His sentences, at times epigrammatic, were
those of "a plain, blunt soldier," but his vigorous economy of
words lent additional force to what he said, and he would not only
hold his own in a discussion with Senators learned in the law, but
would convince his opponents by merely saying his say, and meaning
what he said. He was never known while in Washington to tell an
indelicate story or to use a profane word, although when slightly
excited he would sometimes say, "Dog on it!" to give emphasis to
his assertion.
General Grant's Administration was not an unalloyed success. The
strength of the Republican party, which might, with a careful,
economical, and strictly honest administration, have been maintained
for a generation, was frittered away and its voters alienated by
causes that need not be recapitulated here. The once noble party,
which had its genesis twenty years previous in the great principle
of the restriction of human slavery, which had gone from triumph
to triumph until slavery was not only restricted but utterly
destroyed, the party which had added the salvation of the Union to
its fame as the emancipator of a race, had sunk under the combined
effects of political money making, inflated currency, whisky rings,
revenue frauds, Indian supply steals, and pension swindles. General
Grant, though himself honest, appeared unable to discern dishonesty
in others, and suffered for the sins of henchmen who contrived to
attach to the Republican party an odium which should have attached
wholly to themselves.
"It was my fortune or misfortune," said General Grant in his last
and eighth annual message to Congress, "to be called to the office
of the Chief Executive without any previous political training."
A great and successful soldier, he knew absolutely nothing of civil
government. His natural diffidence was strangely mingled with the
habit of authority, and he undertook all the responsibilities of
civil power without any of the training which is essential to its
wise exercise, as if his glory as General would more than atone
for his deficiencies as President.
[Facsimile]
F. E. Spinner
FRANCIS E. SPINNER was born at German Flats, New York, January
21st, 1802; was cashier of the Mohawk Valley Bank for twenty years;
was a Representative in Congress from New York, December 3d, 1855
- March 3d, 1861; was appointed by President Lincoln Treasurer of
the United States March 16th, 1861; was successively re-appointed
by Presidents Johnson and Grant; resigned July 1st, 1875, when he
retired to private life, passing his winters in Florida.