petitor. In Wisconsin, the supreme court, through Chief Justice Whiton (4 Wis., 792), declared that the election, and not the canvass, of the votes determined the right to office. The Court went behind the canvass, and, on the just principle, ubi jus, ibi remedium, took jurisdiction to declare the respondent chosen. If remedy be found for a wrong to one of the members of our Union, why not for a wrong to the whole body? The protest of the popular branch of Congress remains. That body, by resolution, declared that the State of Florida had given its votes for the Democratic candidates. On the 3d of March, in a most solemn resolution, offered by Mr. Knott, of Kentucky, it declared, by 146 to 82, that they were duly elected. In spite, therefore, of the action of the Electoral Commission and the farce of its confirmation by the Senate, the defeat of the Presidential succession, at least de jure, was of such gravity that no lapse of time can suppress, no sneer belittle, and no compliance with Democratic policy obliterate the criminality of those who plotted for it. How far may discussion of that crime be opened for historic reference? How many anodynes may be given to drug it to sleep? Is it now too late to expose wrong, even if it cannot be repaired or punished? Time cannot so veneer it as to make it right. The question will recur: "Had not the Democrats the true majority in the Electoral College?" Is it argued, that by the mode of its ascertainment-by the Electoral Commission-this question was decided authoritatively? In answer, let it for a moment be assumed that the Commission was authorized by the Constitution. However doubtful the right of Congress to delegate to such a body the duty delegated to itself; however uniform the practice and certain the duty, that each house held the negative on the count of any state; however unwise to give the power away to a third body, even if the power to devolve it existed; nevertheless the fact remains, that the question of who was or was not the choice of the Electoral College was never decided! The truth was never declared, nor pretended to be declared. It was ignored-deliberately and intentionally. It was avoided. That Commission ostensibly passed only upon certain papers furnished them by the President of the Senate. These papers were merely prima facie writings of those interested in the result certified. The Commission did not entertain the merits. It did not allow the impeachment of falsehood, nor the rebuttal of concocted certificates. To have done so would have conferred

right and repressed wrong. It would have executed the will of the States and the People—the summa jura imperii !. That will was not executed, and hence the relations de facto and de jure hung in ominous unrest for four years over the land.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

PRESIDENT HAYES' ADMINISTRATION AND ITS RESULTS.

MR. HAYES' QUALITIES

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HIS FORMER POPULARITY — QUESTIONS DURING HIS ADMINISTRATION SILVER AND GOLD RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS-RESUMPTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL STATE GOVERNMENT IN THE SOUTH-REPEAL OF THE BANKRUPTCY ACT-PARTY PLATFORMS – GENERAL GRANT — GENERAL HANCOCK, AS SOLDIER AND CIVILIAN-GARFIELD SUCCEEDS HAYES-HIS CAREER-HIS INAUGURATION HIS LEADER IN THE CABINET, BLAINE-THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD—ARTHUR'S ACCESSION-THE NOTABLE EVENT OF HIS ADMINISTRATION PENDLETON'S CIVIL SERVICE REFORM BILL.

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HE result of the electoral count of 1877 did not dishearten the Democratic people and party. It stimulated them to renewed exertion. The administration of Rutherford B. Hayes, as has been shown, was that of a de facto Executive. As such he was the nineteenth President of the United States. He was lacking in certain elements of power. He was a man of amiable and complaisant disposition. He and the author of this book, practiced law together, at Cincinnati, in their early days. He won a fair reputation as a lawyer; but he won more reputation in the Civil War, by honorable service in the Union cause. He became a major-general. He was elected to Congress in 1864, while in the field. It was his success in contesting the gubernatorial chair with Allen G. Thurman in 1869, and his re-election in 1875, that gave him the good or the ill fortune of the nomination for the Presidency at Cincinnati, in 1876. His inaugural utterances were suave and plausible; but they did not conciliate the vindictive feeling which his peculiar accession to power occasioned. His best purposes were nullified. Had he refused to accept the office of President in 1877, in all probability he would have been the Executive for eight years after 1880. The era of good feeling did not come in his administration, because of the questionable character of his credentials. He had able men in his cabinet. Such men as Evarts, Sherman, McCrary, Thomp

son, Schurz, Devens, and Key are rarely matched for executive skill and art. During his term there was much trouble connected with the labor movements.

In 1877, the agitation for the remonetization of silver disturbed the finances of the country. By the first coinage regulations the standard unit of value was the American silver dollar. The act of April 2, 1792, which established the Mint, designated the coins of the United States. The gold coins were "Eagles," "Half Eagles," and "Quarter Eagles." The silver coins were "Dollars or Units," each to be of the value of a Spanish "milled dollar" (the same that was then current), and to contain 371 1-4 grains of pure silver or 416 grains of standard silver; "Half Dollars," of half the value of the dollar or unit; "Quarter Dollars," of one-fourth the value of the dollar There were "Dimes" and "Half Dimes" of proportional value, and "Cents" and "Half Cents." The eagles were "each to be of the value of ten dollars or units," and to contain 247 1-2 grains of pure or 270 grains of standard gold. The half and quarter eagles were to be of proportional weight and value. Coinage was free, and all gold and silver coins of these denominations were declared to be "a lawful tender in all payments whatsoever." The same act prescribed that "the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units, dimes or tenths, cents or hundredths, and mills or thousands."

The standard for all gold coins of the United States was fixed by this act; eleven parts in twelve of the entire weight of each coin were to consist of pure gold, and the twelfth part of alloy, the alloy to be of silver and copper in convenient proportions, not exceeding one-half silver. The standard fixed for all silver coins was 1485 parts fine (pure) silver, to 179 parts alloy, the latter to be wholly of copper. The proportional value of gold to silver in all United States coins was fixed at fifteen to one, according to quantity in weight, of pure gold or pure silver; that is to say, every fifteen pounds of pure silver was to be of equal value in all payments with one pound weight of pure gold, and so in proportion as to any greater or less quantities of the respective metals.

By the act of Jan. 18, 1837, the standard for both gold and silver coins was thereafter to be nine hundred parts of a thousand of pure metal, and one hundred of alloy, the alloy to be the same as that previously prescribed. The weight of the silver dollar was fixed at 412 1-2 grains, and that of the gold eagle at 258 grains. The smaller denominations were to be of proportional weights, and the gold and silver coins issued under both acts were made a legal tender at their nominal value for the payment of all debts. This act provided for the coinage of gold double eagles and gold dollars of proportional weights, and it made these new coins also a legal tender. By the act of Feb. 21, 1853, the weight of the silver half dollar was reduced to 192 grains, and that of the quarter dollar, dime, and half dime, pro

THE STANDARD SILVER DOLLAR.

671

portionally; and the legal tender quality of these coins was limited to sums not exceeding five dollars.

By the "coinage act of eighteen hundred and seventy-three," — which repealed all previous acts in relation to the mint and coinage that were inconsistent with its provisions- the standard silver dollar was omitted from the coinage of the United States. The silver coins authorized in this act, were: the "trade dollar," the half dollar, quarter dollar, and dime. The weight of the "trade dollar" was fixed at 420 grains, troy, of the half dollar at twelve and one-half grammes, of the quarter dollar at six and one-fourth grammes, and of the dime at one-fifth of the half dollar. The standard for both gold and silver coins was not changed, except that the alloy for the gold coin might be wholly of copper, or have one tenth part of it silver. The weight of the gold coins was fixed at,-516 grains for the double eagle, 258 grains for the eagle, 129 grains for the half-eagle, seventy-seven and fourtenths for the three dollar piece, sixty-four and one-half grains for the quarter eagle, and twenty-five and eight-tenths for the gold dollar. These gold and silver coins, and none other, were thereafter to be issued; and, except the trade dollar, and silver for sums of five dollars, gold was the only coinage that had a legal tender quality affixed to it by law, under this act. By the joint resolution, approved July 22, 1876, the legal tender quality of the "trade dollar" was abolished, and the Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to limit its coinage "to such an amount as he may deem sufficient to meet the export demand for the same."

The effect of these acts was to make the gold dollar, of 25.8 grains, the single standard unit of value in this country. Other fiscal measures came into operation during Hayes' administration. The author, by the grace of Mr. Speaker Kerr, was chairman of the Banking and Currency committee. It was a perilous post for one not accomplished in fiscal philosophy by banking experience. The chief among these measures was that passed in January, 1875. It was known as the Resumption act. It declared that on the 1st of January, 1879, the government should begin to redeem its outstanding legal-tender notes in coin. The question then arose as to the meaning of the word "coin." Did it mean gold and silver, or gold only? Then came the inquisition as to the legislation of 1873 and 1876 by which the privilege of paying debts in silver had been taken away. The gold dollar seemed paramount. Remonetization of silver became a shibboleth and an issue. Speculation had resulted after the Resumption act in 1875. It seemed as if the debtor class had entered upon hardship. Panics became imminent. Ruin stared the debtor in the face. The Bankruptcy act was repealed in 1878; but as resumption came near, confidence began to be restored. Notwithstanding all prophecies to the contrary, better times supervened.

In 1878, Congress passed an act for the restoration of the legal quality of the old silver dollar. By the act of Feb. 28, 1878, it again became lawful

to coin "silver dollars" of the weight of 412 1-2 grains Troy "of standard silver, as provided in the act of Jan. 18, 1837," with the devices and superscriptions prescribed by that act. This act of 1878 provided that the new silver dollar, together with all silver dollars theretofore coined by the United States of like weight and fineness, should be a legal tender at their nominal value "for all debts and dues public and private except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. A subsequent act abolished the coinage of the twenty-five cent silver piece.

Coinage of the silver dollar was begun at the mints under the act of 1878, at the rate of not less than two millions a month. This law was passed over Mr. Hayes' veto. Both parties voted for it. The old double standard was restored. On the 1st of January, 1879, the resumption of specie payment was formally accomplished. Monetary affairs began to settle down steadily. Legitimate business became possible on the old steady monetary unit. The most notable events of Mr. Hayes' administration were the resumption of specie payments, and the resumption of constitutional state government in Louisiana, South Carolina, and other southern states. As to the latter event, it came as a necessary incident to the peculiar circumstances attending the proceedings for counting him in as the de facto President.

Again the Presidential election year rolled around. The year 1880 saw the Republicans struggling at Chicago to select a candidate who could carry the country. They were divided closely, between General Grant and Mr. Blaine.

The author has forborne to treat of the wonderful career of General Grant in the period covered by this volume. The forthcoming Memoirs, written under such pathetic circumstances, in the valley and shadow of death, can alone do justice to the motives and actions of that greatest general of modern times, who conquered as much by his generosity as by the sword. It was the proudest moment of the author's life when he exerised the privilege of voting for the restoration of General Grant to that place in the army which so many of his best friends regretted that he had ever left to enter the less congenial field of political strife. He was twice called to the Presidential office. The issues of that period were bitter, and passion was rife between the parties. The soldier-president, with all his ability to command, and patriotic desire for "Peace," found a spirit of turbulence and defamation in the ranks of his own party too great for even his genius to quell. It became his duty, as president, to enforce laws against his countrymen that were utterly inconsistent with his own chivalrous and generous policy as a victorious general. The Democratic leaders too often forgot this in the heat of debate, and in their vigorous denunciation of bayonet rule in the South. But it remained with those of his own household of faith, those upon whom he had heaped honors,- to seek by dark and devious ways to malign and defame his personal honor. General