tional disaster it might at last have broken. When the votes were counted it was discovered that Hayes had carried the state by a majority of five thousand and more, and that the reaction against an unlimited paper currency had at last set in, even in its strongholds of the west.

While General Hayes had been mentioned at various stages of his career as a possible candidate for the Presidency, and while his fitness for the office and claims upon it had been urged by his enthusiastic friends in years before, it was this triumphant redemption of the third state in the Union from one of the extravagant "isms" of the time, that placed him before the Nation, and caused older and more prominent candidates to take the measure of his strengt, and count him among the possibilities. of the party's choice. To all overtures made to him in person or by letter he had but one response-that he was not a candidate for any office, and was anxious to retire to private life at the expiration of his gubernatorial term. To one friend he said: "The personal advantages you suggest rather tend to repel me. The melancholy thing in our public life is the insane desire to get higher. . . But now I can't take that direction, and I will be ever so much obliged if you will help drop me out of it as smoothly as may be." To a member of the state legislature he wrote: "Content with the past, I am not in a state of mind about the future. It is for us to act well in the present. George E. Pugh used to say there is no political hereafter." To a delegate to the National Republican convention we find him expressing himself under date of April 6, as follows: "Having done absolutely nothing to make myself the candidate of Ohio, I feel very little responsibility for future results. When the state convention was called, it seemed probable that if I encouraged my friends to organize for the purpose, every district would elect my decided supporters. But to make such an effort on my own behalf, to use Payne's phrase on repudiation, 'I abhorred.'

"With so general an impression in my favor in Ohio," he wrote in his diary the same spring, "and a fair degree of assent elsewhere, especially in states largely settled by Ohio people, I have supposed that it was possible I might be nominated. But with no opportunity and no desire to make combinations or to lay wires, I have not thought my chances worth much consideration. I feel less diffidence in thinking of this subject than perhaps I ought. It seems to me that good purposes, and the judgment, experience and firmness I possess would enable me to execute the duties of the office well."

The first pledge given upon the part of Ohio to the support of General Hayes in the National Republican convention of 1876, was when the state convention on March 29, by a unanimous vote and amid much enthusiasm, passed the following: "The Republican party of Ohio, having full confidence in the honesty, ability and patriotism of Rutherford B. Hayes,

cordially presents him to the National Republican convention for the nom ination for President of the United States, and our state delegates to that convention are instructed and the district delegates are requested to use their earnest efforts to secure his nomination." Under these suggestions, the delegates from Ohio went into the convention at Cincinnati on June 14, determined to leave no stone unturned by which their purpose could be made good. All things favored them from the first. Governor Hayes was found to be the first choice of nearly every one for the second place upon the ticket, and their second choice for the first place. His friends determined to antagonize no one, and to quietly and modestly present him as the one candidate who could harmonize all interests and unite all party elements. When nominations for President were called for, Ex-Governor Noyes of Ohio presented General Hayes in a brief but eloquent speech. The men who were put forward by other states were among the ablest and most eminent statesmen the country possessed-James G. Blaine, O. P. Morton, Roscoe Conkling, B. H. Bristow, Governor Hartranft, William A. Wheeler and Marshall Jewell. The first ballot stood: Blaine, 285; Morton, 125; Conkling, 99; Bristow, 113; Hayes, 61; Hartranft, 58; Wheeler, 3; Jewell, 11. The balloting proceeded amid great enthusiasm, and with a slow but sure advance in favor of Hayes. On the second he received 64 votes; on the third, 67; on the fourth, 68; on the fifth, 104. On the sixth he stood second, having 113 to 308 for Mr. Blaine. The seventh gave him the great prize, the result being: Hayes, 384; Blaine, 351, and Bristow, 21. The nomination was received with indescribable enthusiasm, with long-continued cheering and every other possible demonstration of joy and delight. William A. Wheeler of New York was given the second place, and the party went before the country upon a platform of exceptional clearness and strength. When the committee appointed by the convention called upon Governor Hayes to officially acquaint him of the high honor conferred upon him, and the chairman had conveyed that fact in appropriate words, they received the following modest reply: "Sir, I have only to say in response to your information, that I accept the nomination. Perhaps at the present time it would be improper for me to say more than this, although even now I should be glad to give some expression to the profound sense of gratitude I feel for the confidence reposed in me by yourselves and those for whom you act. At a future time I shall take occasion to present my acceptance in writing, with my views upon the platform." In that letter, which bore date of July 8, he presented his thanks to the convention in more elaborate form, declared that the platform of the party was in accord with his views, and proceeded to the discussion of several of the propositions therein that he deemed "of such importance" that they could not be carelessly passed by. In regard to civil service reform, he expressed himself emphatically and to

the point. "The reform," he declared, "should be thorough, radical and complete. We should return to the principles and practice of the founders of the government, supplying by legislation, when needed, that which was formerly established custom. . . They meant that public officers should owe their whole service to the government and to the people. They meant that the officer should be secure in his tenure as long as his personal character remained untarnished and the performance of his duties satisfactory. If elected, I shall conduct the administration of the government upon these principles; and all constitutional powers vested in the Executive will be employed to establish this reform." He declared it his inflexible purpose, if elected, "not to be a candidate for election to a second term," and added the pregnant thought that "the restoration of the civil service! to the system established by Washington and followed by the early Presidents, can be best accomplished by an Executive who is under no temptation to use the patronage of his office to promote his own reëlection." In relation to the vital question of the National currency, he said: "On the currency question I have frequently expressed my views in public, and I stand by my record on this subject. I regard all the laws of the United States relating to the payment of the public indebtedness, the legal tender notes included, as constituting a pledge and moral obligation of the government, which must in good faith be kept. It is my conviction that the feeling of uncertainty inseparable from an irredeemable paper currency, with its fluctuations of value, is one of the great obstacles to a revival of confidence and business, and to a return of prosperity. That uncertainty can be ended in but one way—the resumption of specie payments; but the longer the instability connected with our present money system is permitted to continue, the greater will be the injury inflicted upon our economical interests and all classes of society. If elected, I shall approve every appropriate measure to accomplish the desired end, and shall oppose any step backward.”

The language used in this letter of acceptance in regard to his course toward the states lately in rebellion in case he should be chosen, becomes freighted with unusual interest in view of his policy toward the south when in the Presidential chair, and it is strange that the people did not read his meaning to an extent that would have prevented much of their surprise. when his new departure of attempting conciliation was set beside the necessarily rigorous attitude of President Grant. "The resolution of the convention," said he, "on the subject of the permanent pacification of the country, and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all its constitutional rights, is timely and of great importance. The condition of the southern states attracts attention and commands the sympathy of the people of the whole Union. In their progressive recovery from the effects of the war, their first necessity is an intelligent

and honest administration of government, which will protect all classes of citizens in all their political and private rights. What the south most needs is peace, and peace depends upon the supremacy of law. There can be no enduring peace if the constitutional rights of any portion of the people are habitually disregarded. A division of political parties, resting merely upon distinctions of race or upon sectional lines, is always unfortunate, and may be disastrous. The welfare of the south alike with that of every other part of the country, depends upon the attractions it can offer to labor, to immigration and to capital. But laborers will not go, and capital will not be ventured, where the Constitution and the laws are set at defiance, and distraction, apprehension and alarm take the place of peace-loving and law-abiding social life. All parts of the Constitution are sacred, and must be sacredly observed-the parts that are new no less than the parts that are old. The moral and material prosperity of the southern states can be most effectively advanced by a hearty and generous recognition of the rights of all by all-a recognition without reserve or exception.

"With such a recognition fully accorded, it will be practicable to promote, by the influence of all legitimate agencies of the general government, the efforts of the people of those states to obtain for themselves the blessings of honest and capable local government. If elected, I shall consider it not only my duty, but it will be my ardent desire to labor for the attainment of this end.

"Let me assure my countrymen of the southern states that if I shall be charged with the duty of organizing an administration, it will be one which will regard and cherish their truest interests, the interests of the white and of the colored people both, and equally, and which will put forth its best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will wipe out forever the distinction between north and south in one common country."

The Democratic National convention of 1876 was held at St. Louis on June 27, and the Presidential candidates presented were: Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware; Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana; Joel Parker of New Jersey; Samuel J. Tilden of New York; William Allen of Ohio, and Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania. On the first ballot Mr. Tilden was chosen the candidate for President, and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, by acclamation, for vice-president. The canvass that followed was one of the most exciting ever witnessed in America, as the Democratic party saw before it the best chance for success offered since the war, and no effort was left unemployed to carry the day. Mr. Tilden came fresh from his triumphs as the leader of the great reform movement in the local affairs of New York, while General Hayes had the prestige of his recent victory in Ohio, his service in various public capacities, and his record as a soldier during the war. Few striking incidents occurred during the

months of discussion and debate. General Hayes, who had no inclination and small capacity for political management remained quietly at home and left the conduct of the campaign in the hands of the regular party leaders. Mr. Tilden had never made pretentions to oratory and declined to go upon the stump, although his consummate political skill was applied to a personal direction of all the movements of his side. "In spite of his personal fidelity to hard money," says one intelligent observer,* "the equivocal position of his party was used against him with great effect. The fact that the Republicans had passed the resumption measure, and that the Democrats had demanded the repeal of its most important feature, made a clear and sharp issue; and the pronounced record of Mr. Hayes as the leader of the fight against the inflationists of Ohio emphasized the Republican attitude. The southern question, though treated as secondary, came into marked prominence. It was brought forward by the course of events. If the "Solid South" was to constitute the chief pillar of Democratic strength, it would exercise a dominant influence in Democratic councils, and the north might naturally regard the possible consequences of its ascendancy with misgiving and alarm. So strong did this. feeling grow that Mr. Tilden was compelled, before the close of the campaign, to put forth a letter pledging himself, in the event of his election, to enforce the constitutional amendments and resist southern claims. But everyone understood, at the same time, that the vote of the recent slave states entered into Mr. Tilden's calculations as necessary to his election. The "Solid South," New York, Indiana, Connecticut and New Jersey, and possibly Oregon, was the political power embraced in his calculations?

The states that had their home elections in October, one month in advance of the National election-Ohio and Indiana-did not indicate much as to the eventual result, the first going Republican by some nine thousand, and the latter Democratic by five thousand. When the decisive day came in November, the matter was all uncertainty; but all sides anticipated a verdict that would be decisive, and no one imagined that a long season of doubt, of excitement and even of National danger was so close at hand. From the first reports received upon the night of election, the belief became general throughout the country that Mr. Tilden had been elected. He had carried New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Indiana, according to calculation, and the assumption was general that he was also secure in the southern states. But at a very late hour such information came to the National Republican headquarters as led the National chairman, Senator Zachariah Chandler, to claim a Republican triumph in South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida, and caused him to send over the land the dispatch which has well been called historic: "Ruther

*Twenty Years of Congress,' by James G. Blaine, Vol. II, page 579.