The Electoral Commission

In the recent correspondenco between Henry Watterson and Abram S. Hewitt the former called upon Mr. Mantón Marble, as the only personal witness of somo of the faota in the history of the Electoral bilí and of Mr. Tilden's relation thereto, to publisb these facts and put on record the whole of tuis important chapter in our politïcal armals. Mr. Marble, in responso, publishes in the New York Sun a paper setting forth these facts. He says that nothing Mr. Tilden did caused, and nothing was omitted by him to ayert, the success of the plot which effected a revolutiou in the Presidential succession. Mr. Marble recites that after the election of 1876 had shown that Mr. Tilden was fairly elected to the Presidency, Zaoh Chandler instantly set in motion the plot wbioh depriyed him of it. The Kepnblican Returning Boards of the three States were telegraphed to that all depended on them. Troops were seiit to the three capitals, and the "visiting statesmen " were summoned. In two "interviews," adroitly timed, President Grant gave out that the Presidency would be turned over to Vico President Ferry in the event of a failure of a cout, eiting a statute which palpably refers to no such event as the expiry of his own term, and carefully ncglectiug to cite the constitution, where it providea that the House and Benate shall repair a defrailt of election by the college. Now Ferry (writes Mr. Marble) was neither one of the two, nor one of the three highest candidat.es voted for, but he, too, put it about atnong the reporters that if "the two housesfailedtoagree " he would Bhirk "no responsibility." Burlesqwing Lady Godiva in her long hair, when "clothed upon with chastity," he was ready to ride down Pennsylvania avenue in nothing but his beard and stolen magistracy. When this flagitious complot was flagrant in all its psrts, and while as yet no Republican hierarob, from Prof. Woolsey to Mrs. Jenks, had challenged the conspirators with a Staml Ihou on thal pide, für on tbis fun I; it is no secret that Mr. Tilden, comprehending its scope, its dangers, and his own responsibility as well, in the primacy of leadership to which he had been newly chosen by his party and elected by his country men, maturedand determined upon a plan to encounter and defeat the cabal, and to maintain at onse the Presidential succession and the public peace. Forasmueh as the plot to filch the Presidency and the Government from the elect of the people, besidos its two qualities of fraud and force, had two periods and parts, it is timely hero to observe just where Mr. Tilden abstained from encountering it, and just at what period and part he planned to destroy it. All of the "visiting statesmen" summoned by Grant were, by a singular coincidence, Republicana and special friends ana private agents of Mr. Hayes. It is now proven and notorious that they it was who worked out the primary part and fraudulent grouuü-work of the conspiracy, directing if not devising the perjuries, forgeries and paper fabrications of the local and county officials, or preteuding their regularity and legality before the State canvassers. To hear Noyes defend the Alachua frauds and forgeries befórc the Florida board with gushing eloquence and the fabricated testimony of 228 aftlants, all by au extraoi'dinary coincidence writing one and the same hand, would iiave given that canting hypocrite, Pecksniff himself, a moral vomit. Theae agenta from Ohio were also the systernatic suborners of the inferior officials, oE their acoomplices and their false witnesses, in multifarious crimes. They promised the officia] trusts of the Government as bribes for tho commission of high criminal oflenses. In so many instances as to be pase counting, their promises have been adopted and performed by Mr. Hayes. The local election oílioers, etc., now hold minor civil trusts uuder the Öoveroment, by Hayes' recommendation, but the real principáis in the crime were rewarded by the gift of the highest trusts in the administrative and diplomatic service. It is anybody's secret that tiie certificates of these three State Canvassing Boards were for sale. Already it is proved that two were aatually purchased. Probably it will yet appear that the third was likewise obUiincd. They were bonght by promise o! office, or by money, or by both. MoLin, an ague-stricken pariah of Florida, did not scruple, if his own mendacity be trusted, to put a pecuniary valué upon his official duty to certify the official counting returns. Maddox, the agent of Madison Wells, went to Washington, stated to Grant and Cameron the price of his chief, and throatened to sell out to the other side. He sent his agent, Pickett, to New York to make offer at a reduced price to the Chairman of the Democratie National Committee, wlio, scouting it, said that it was the third sueh ofl'er to him of the certificates of the Louisiana Relutning Board. Jt is eertain that such offers to Demócrata were not mere SDares. The intimacies and conBdences ei' these corrupt men for an easy sale were all, of oourse, among their fellowpartisaus on the Repnblican side. But, while they could enhauce their own valuo by the threat as well as by the reality of ofFeriag their wares to the Democraiio side, yt;t cflies wero theu but promises only. Cash down was their bird in hnul.wortk any two in the bush. Any one of the venal crew actii'g separately could himself alone deliver what he ileamed a conclusivo title to the Presidency. But it was not there and thus that Mr. Tilden ought to compass the defea of the Kepublican conspiracy. Whatever the wieh, or the less absolute integrity, or the more customary moráis, of any devoted adherent, no such tninsaction would he consent to, nor connive at, nor pemiit. A few thousand dollars - a market for the wares of just oue Madisou Wells, i ust one McLiu, only one - paid for dong the bounden duty and mere jastii-p.he liad sworn to do, and the whole atrotious couspirncy woukl have been bnrsted like a puff-ball and b'owu away in dust. But I apologize for the suggestion. First, I apolog'Zi to Gov. Tilden for cinfronting his charaoter with the morilly imposfiible. Next I apologiza to all his Repubican calumniators for confrouting their obaractérs with the morally incredible. But it was necessary to mention just where Mr. Tilden did not attack the Republican conspiracy. " Mr. Tilden," says the writer, " look immcdiato paius to advise his friends i'oremost in the House of Represent atives that tho linal sucess of the low plot was impossible if that House would stand firinly aud immovably on the uubroken series of precedent s formeel by the tweoty-two Presidential couuts from 1793 to 1872. He demanded that they expose and combíit in full debato the threatened usurpatiou by tho President of the Senato of the right to count the votes and to select the votes to be counted. Upon this issue Mr. TiWen counseled many of his friends in the leadership of the House not only to stand, but to foroe the debato first in' the House, Uien in the Seuate. He aecyptcd :ill responsibility for the oiitcome. He assured tliem thiit were their temper stiff and resolute, the conspiracy would break down in process of execution. " After dwelliug ai length on the earnestnesa with which Mr. Tilden tried to push tho fight on tbis plaD, Mr. Marblo gives a history of the electoral sóbeme and procecds: " He would not be drawn iuto tho slightest expreasion of personal fiinction to the electoral schenie, which was adopted on tho 17th of January with unaniinity by the Democratie members of the conimittees of both houseS. Mr. Tildón, in his interview with Mr. Hewitt, on. the 14th, did not withhold the grounds tf his objection to the bil!. Expressing sorne surprise at the fact thftt the Democratie Senators had already detertnined upon their course, whiitever his adyice or wishes might be, and some surprise at the secréoy which had shrouded the gestatioii of their project, Mr. Tilden observed that secrecy in respect to any plan iinplicating the riglits and intere3te of so many was a mistaken and unfortunate policy. He recommended the widest publicity, the fullest ciisoussion, and the freest consultation. Mr. Tildon's criticisms of the details of the bill, of which in no shape could he approve citlier the policy or tho substance, esemplity the political sagacity oí the stateeman: " 'If arbitration is to bo adoptcd tho tribunal ought tu be fixed in the bill itself, and not loft to chanco or intrigue If an arbitration is to be adopted, tho duty of the arbitrators to investígate and decido the case on its inerits shoultl be made mandatcry and not left a question of coiiuiruction. With both the vital points lef t at loot-e ends, you cannot succeed. You can exact, first, the seloction of good mon to compose the tribunal, which is the controll ing point ; and, oocond, the nature of the f ncction to Ie pcifarmed by the tribunal, which is next in importance. Fix there two points, good men, expneit powers, and you might possibly getthrough. Leave them donbtful, and it is nappy-go-lucky, the shake of a dice box.' " The scheme which Mr. Hewitt had brought contained in its first draf t a provisión by which six judges were to be describod in the act, one of them then to be eliminated by lot. To this Mr. Tilden's objection was peremptovy. Said he : 'I may lose the Presidoney, but I will not raffle forit.' He was pressed to áay that if the bill could be modi fied so as to fix the five judges by a positivo provisión he would give it his approval. He firmly declined. The mea8ure itseif was not one as to which Mr. Tilden's action was or conld ba hesitated for a single instant. His practical objection deserves as mueh weight as any argued objection then or since, namely, that ' so great a stake as the government of 45,000,000 of people with au immense civil expenditure, and 100,000 officeholders to be disposed of by a small body sittiDg in the capital, the judge of its own powers, would become the sport of intrigue or fraud.' "The next day, JaD. 15, Mr. Hewitt having returned to Washington, telegraphed thence to Mr. Edward Oooper, of New York : '"To E. C- The Senato committee will probably reject the five and report the sixjudgo plan immediatelv. The Senatord feel committed to concur. The House committee will not concur, and, for the present will probably not report.' "Mr. Tilden's answer was as follows: " ' New York, Jan. 15, 1877. " ' To A. 8. H. : " ' Procrastinitc to give a few days for iuformation and consultation. The six-judge proposition is inadmissible. E. C.' "The next day Mr. Hewitt telegraphed again : " ' Washington, Jan. 16. " ' To E. C. : "'Alter proti'tcted negotiations the Somitc committeo has reeeded from the six-jndge schemo, declined the flve-judge and ofifered the four senior Associate Justices, who are to chooso the flfth judge, excluding the Chief Justice. Our Sonate frionds earnostly favor aeceptance, because they do not beliove it posnible to pass over . The Democrats on the Hou?e committee believo this is the last chance of agreement. We cannot postpone bevond 11 to-morrow, and if we decline the Senate cominittee will report their original plan, to which our friends are committed. Telegraph your advice.' "Mr. Tilden sent the following answer : " 'New Yokk, Jan. 10. " 'Bofinn and cool. The four-judge plan will not do. It is, perhap8, worse than the six. Coifiplaints are likely to arise of haste and want of consultation with membors, and I barra8iimeut in the exercise of their judgment after the plan is disclosed, by the premature committel of their representativos. There should bo more opportunity for deliberation and consultation. Secrecy is dangerous. It is probably a mistake in itseif, and if it results in disiatcr", it would iuvolve great blame and infinite mischief.' "The night that the foregoing teleI " V TV "11 J I 1 signed had called upon Mr. Tilden and fonnd him in his library with severa] other gentlemen. The telegraphic correspondence given above was read, and the sitnation freely canvassed. In their presence Mr. Tilden dictated and sent the following telegram for transmission in ciplier to Washington throngh the National Committee rooms, not having been sent to or seen by Mr. Hewitt. It is not pertinent to any controversy conoerning him. Indeed, by the time it bad arrived and been deciphered the business was done, hut it has valué now a3 a fuller wiitten record of the same points covered more brief ly in the ielegrams to Mr. Hewitt : ■"Nkw Yokk, Jau. IC. " 'No Deed of hot baste. But mucli danger in it. Some days' intervals pUould be taken. The risk of publioity in haimloss. There is no information which could justify abstinence coni condemning tuch au abandoiiment of the constitutiou and poetice of the Government ar.d of the nghts of the two bouses and of the people. NotJnng but great and certaiu public danger, not to be escaped in any other way, could excuse such a meaeuro. We are overpresKed by exaggerated fcarn, aud forgot that the other side will have greater troubles than we unless relieved by some agreement. They havo no way out but by usurpation. They are bullying us with what they dare not do, or will break down in attempting. So long as we stand on the constitutiou and aettled practico we know where are. The conneejnence of tho new expodient bas not been enough considered. The ouly way of getting accessions in the Henate is by the Houae standing firra, and judicious friends believe that in that case we will go safely through. Opportunity to consull such friends should be given before even tacit acquiescenco by the House eommittee, if that is contemplatetl. Though details may bs properly discussed, the final committal by the House committee should bu firmly wlthheld.' " His magnauimous silence, the fore?oing telegrama, and the preceding interview havo now disclo?ed all that has not hitherto been of public record in respect to Mr. Tilden's judgment, action and advico on the Kepublican conspiraoy. He has sinee maintained an absolute reserve on the subject, even when reproached for a responsibility which he did not share. His only utterance8 have been the expression of a deep solicitude as to how the imperiled righto of the peoplo may be vindicated against a [treeedent fatal if condoned. While no wel informeel and competent critic of tliat compromise can ever ijuestion tho high and patriotic purpose of the pure, the able, the admired Democrats who were its parents or sponsors, yet it is submittod that thpse proofj of the contemporaneous judgment, attitude and advioe thereon of the elected Democratie leader could not iu the present currency of a false belief and of partisan misrepresentations be withheld from the Democratie party."