Tilden, Democrat, for the same office, 50,317 majority. Pennsylvania, which gave Grant a majority of 137,548, now elected a Democratic Lieutenant-Governor by 4,679 majority. Ohio, which gave Grant 37,531 majority in 1872, now elected a Democratic Secre tary of State by 17,207, and so it went through nearly all the old Republican States except in the Northwest and part of New England, which the Republicans held, though by much diminished majorities. The straight Republicans had a majority in the Congressional delegations of only twelve States: Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin. And this was the House that would elect the President in case there was no choice by the people in 1876, and would help canvass the Electoral vote in any event. In Michigan it came dangerously near to being a landslide, but the Upper Peninsula, which was formerly strongly Democratic, but which was now staunchly Republican, saved the State to the latter party. About 2 a. m. the morning after election, Governor Bagley, who was a candidate for re-election, and who had been striking averages on the returns received at the office of the Detroit Post, shoved his papers aside, put up his pencil, and remarked: "Well, boys, I'm beaten." But just as he was about to leave the office returns from two of the Upper Peninsula Counties came in, and encouraged by these, he stayed long enough to figure out his election. His plurality in 1872 was 56,744. In 1874 it was 5,969, the vote being in full as follows: John J. Bagley, Republican... 111,519 105,550 3,937 The Democrats also made a raid on the Michigan Congressional delegation, electing Alpheus S. Williams over Moses W. Field, in the Detroit District; George H. Durand, of Flint, over Josiah W. Begole, in the Sixth District, and Allen Potter over Julius C. Burrows, in the Kalamazoo District. The Republicans elected were: Nathan B. Bradley, Omar D. Conger, Jay A. Hubbell, Henry Waldron, George Willard and William B. Williams. The Republican majority in the Legislature was so small that a few malcontents, combining with the Democrats, were able to defeat Zachariah Chandler for the United States Senate, and elect Isaac P. Christiancy in his place. The upheaval brought into Congress many new Democratic faces, some of them destined to become conspicuous in the party. From Connecticut appeared in the Senate Ex-Governor James E. English, who was appointed to fill a vacancy, and William W. Eaton, who was chosen by the newly elected Legislature. Mr. Eaton was, during the war, one of the most rampant of Copperheads. But age and Senatorial responsibilities sobered him, and in the Senate he was very conservative and independent, sometimes on financial and tariff measures even voting with the Republicans. Indiana replaced Daniel D. Pratt with Joseph E. McDonald, who was also much more moderate now than during the war, and who disputed with Thomas A. Hendricks, the Democratic leadership of the State. The most conspicuous of the new comers was Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, who, a number of times, appeared in conventions as a candidate for the Presidential nomination, and who was nominated in 1888 for VicePresident. Other new Democratic Senators, who afterwards achieved distinction, were William Pinkney Whyte, of Maryland; Francis M. Cockrell, of Missouri; Theodore F. Randolph, of New Jersey; Francis Kernan, of New York, and William Wallace, of Pennsylvania. In the House the most distinguished members on the Democratic side, a few of whom had served in the Forty-third Congress, but most of whom were new, were: William H. Barnum, of Connecticut; Benjamin H. Hull and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, the latter of whom had been in Congress before the war, during which he was Vice-President of the Confederacy, and whose appearance now, with a solid Democratic delegation, showed that the colored vote in that State was well suppressed; Carter H. Harrison, William M. Springer and Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, the latter Vice-President during Cleveland's second term; Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, who had been in Congress before, but who was missing from the Forty-third; J. Proctor Knott and Joseph C. S. Blackburn, of Kentucky, the latter one of the most unreconstructed rebels left in the State; Randall L. Gibson and E. John Ellis, of Louisiana; Otho R. Singleton, of Mississippi; Abram S. Hewitt and Scott Lord, of New York; Frank H. Hurd and Henry B. Payne, of Ohio; William Mutchler, of Pennsylvania; John H. Reagan, of Texas; J. Randolph Tucker, of Virginia, and Charles J. Faulkener, of West Virginia. On assembling in December, 1875, the House elected Michael C. Kerr Speaker by 173 votes. to 106 for James G. Blaine. With an overwhelming Democratic majority in the House, with a good working Republican majority in the Senate, and a Republican President, it was not to be expected that much legislation would be accomplished by the Forty-fourth Congress, and especially legislation of a political character. Far the most important Act was that regulating the count of Electoral votes for President and Vice-President for the term commencing March 4, 1877, an abstract of which appears in the chapter of this book relating to the Electoral Count. Two financial measures were passed at the first session. One was a joint resolution, with these provisions, (1) authorizing the Secre tary of the Treasury to issue silver coin at any time in the Treasury, to an amount not exceeding $10,000,000, in exchange for an equal amount of legal tender notes, such notes to be kept as a separate fund, only to be reissued upon the retirement and destruction of a like sum of fractional currency; (2) limiting the coinage of the trade dollar, and removing its legal tender quality; (3) legalizing the manufacture and issue of silver coin, to an amount, including the amount of subsidiary silver coin and fractional currency outstanding, not exceeding at any time, fifty million dollars. Another financial Act, approved April 17, 1876, directs the Secretary of the Treasury to "give silver coins of the United States, of ten, twenty-five and fifty cents, standard value, in redemption of an equal amount of fractional currency, whether the same be now in the Treasury awaiting redemption, or whenever it may be presented for redemption; and the Secretary may provide for such redemption and issue by substitution at the regular sub-treasuries and public depositories, until the whole amount of fractional currency outstanding shall be redeemed. And the fractional currency redeemed under this act shall be held to be a part of the sinking fund provided for by existing law, the interest to be computed thereon as in the case of bonds redeemed under the Act relating to the sinking fund." Other Acts of general interest passed by this Congress were those reducing the rates of postage on newspapers and periodicals; extending the franking privilege to the Executive Departments; providing that with certain exceptions named, no person shall be tried for an offense, not capital, unless an indictment is framed or information instituted within three years of the time the offense is committed; reducing the number of internal revenue districts; increasing pensions to soldiers who lost both an arm and a leg; encouraging and promoting telegraphic connection between America and Europe, and extending the time for presenting Southern claims. Two Constitutional Amendments were discussed and voted upon. The first, reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary, pro vided that, "No person who has held, or may hereafter hold, the office of President, shall ever again be eligible to said office." A substitute extending the term to six years and making the President ineligible was voted down, yeas 108, nays 144, and the original Amendment was then rejected, yeas 145, nays 108, not two-thirds in the affirmative. The following was reported by the House Judiciary Committee to stand as Article XVI: "No State shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and no money raised by taxation in any State for the support of public schools, or derived from any public fund therefor, nor any public lands devoted thereto, shall ever be under the control of any religious sect or denomination; nor shall any money so raised, or lands so devoted, be divided between religious sects or denominations. This Article shall not vest, enlarge or diminish, legislative power in Congress." This passed the House by a vote of 180 to 7, but a Senate substitute for it was rejected in the latter body by 27 yeas to 15 nays. XXIII. THE SIXTH REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN. The Three Natural Republican Leaders-Blaine's Popularity With the Republicans-Democratic Attacks Upon Him-His Bold Defense in the House-Reading of the Mulligan Letters-His Attack of Sunstroke-Ingersoll's Brilliant Speech at the Cincinnati Convention--A Close Contest for the Nomination-It Goes to Rutherford B. Hayes on the Seventh Ballot-William A. Wheeler Nominated for Vice-President-A Long Platform Declaration--New Departure for the Democrats-Tilden and Hendricks Nominated-Tilden Conducts His Own Canvass-A Closely Contested Campaign-Hayes Has One Majority on the Electoral Vote. The Sixth National Republican Convention, which met in Cincinnati, June 14, 1876, had before it for consideration three of the men who were among the ablest in the party, and who had been in the public service almost from the time of their reaching manhood, and six others who appeared either as favorite sons, or else who were believed to possess some special element of strength. The three natural leaders were James G. Blaine, of Maine; Roscoe Conkling, of New York, and Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana. Blaine was the popular favorite, and his initial strength in the Convention was so great as to tempt to a combination of all the other candidates against him. He had been brought into especial prominence by debates on the General Amnesty Bill in the Forty-fourth Congress, where he had stood the brunt of the attack of half the exConfederates in the House. He had won admiration by the boldness and vigor of his counter attacks, and especially by the skill with which he had worsted Congressman Hill, of Georgia, in debate. He was regarded by the Democrats as their strongest foe, and they regarded him with a bitter hatred. In order to compass his undoing, a few days before the Cincinnati Convention was to meet, they started |