federal government in reserve, to warp the Tilden vote sufficiently to give Hayes the nineteen votes which he lacked; and how few are active in politics anywhere who are not ready to reason like the tyrant of Thebes : "Be just, unless a kingdom tempts to usurpation; The scheme of the Fifth-avenue conspirators spread through the party as rapidly as the poison from the bite of an adder. Republican leaders all over the country were signalled at once to claim all the disputed States and to persist in claiming them. At the same time it was arranged to send men "who could be depended upon " to each of the States whose electoral vote was to be tampered with; to provide ample means for such contingencies as might arise; and finally to open communication with the President and the Secretary of War to secure for the Returning Boards such protection for the work expected of them as they might require. Senator Zachariah Chandler, chairman of the National Republican Committee, proposed to take charge of Florida, and a credit was opened for him at the Centennial Bank in Philadelphia, whose officers were his friends. William E. Chandler, the man with "the immense pair of goggles," also went to Florida, and the Department of Justice ordered its detectives to report to him at Tallahassee. Thomas J. Brady, with a force of special agents of the Post-Office Department, followed the Chandlers with money for immediate use. William A. Cook, of Washington, was sent to Columbia, S.C. The election took place on Tuesday, the 7th, and before Thursday night, the 9th, these men were all on their way to their posts. On the same day, or night rather, the following orders were issued to Gen. W. T. Sherman by J. D. Cameron, Secretary of War, all dated from Philadelphia: VOL. II. - 2 10 P.M. "Order four companies of soldiers to Tallahassee, Fla., at once. Take them from the nearest points, not from Louisiana or Mississippi, and direct that they be moved with as little delay as possible." 11 P.M. "In addition to the four companies ordered to Tallahassee, order all troops in Florida to the same point, and if you haven't more than the companies named, draw from Alabama and South Carolina. Advise of the receipt of this and your action." 11.15 P.M. "Telegraph General Ruger to proceed at once to Tallahassee, Fla., and upon his arrival there to communicate with Governor Stearns. Say to him to leave affairs in South Carolina in hands of an eminently discreet and reliable officer." General Grant, who evidently had not yet been let fully into the scheme mapped out in the early morn of the day after the election, and who was satisfied that Tilden had been duly elected,1 did not quite comprehend the motive for all these military preparations for securing a fair election which had been held three days before. He evidently had suspicions that something was afoot, the nature and purpose of which there was a manifest disposition to disguise, if not altogether to conceal, from him. He concluded, therefore, to do a little telegraphing on his own account and without the intermediation of his guileless Secretary of War. Persuaded in his own mind that Tilden and Hendricks were elected, he seems to have been getting suspicious that some of the people about him, with the connivance of Hayes, were plotting something for which he himself did not care to be responsible, and for that reason sent the following telegram to General Sherman, and gave it simultaneously to the press : 'George W. Childs in his Reminiscences reports that a Republican Senator and other leading Republicans were early at his office the day after the election to meet General Grant, who was then at Philadelphia attending the closing exercises of the Centennial Exposition, and the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Childs. These gentlemen insisted that Hayes was elected, "notwithstanding the returns." Mr. Childs tells us that Grant did not agree with them, but contented himself with merely expressing a negative opinion. "PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 10, 1876. "To GEN. W. T. SHERMAN, Washington, D.C.: "Instruct General Augur, in Louisiana, and General Ruger, in Florida, to be vigilant with the force at their command to preserve peace and good order, and to see that the proper and legal Boards of Canvassers are unmolested in the performance of their duties. Should there be any grounds of suspicion of fraudulent counting on either side, it should be reported and denounced at once. No man worthy of the office of President would be willing to hold the office if counted in, placed there by fraud; either party can afford to be disappointed in the result, but the country cannot afford to have the result tainted by the suspicion of illegal or false returns. "U. S. GRANT." Two weeks before the election the federal troops in South Carolina had been increased to thirty-three companies, taking for that purpose every available soldier on the Atlantic seaboard from Fortress Monroe northward. The President's telegram, whatever the motive that inspired it, was not in accordance with the plans of the conspirators. The direction "to see that the proper and legal Boards of Canvassers are unmolested in the performance of their duties" was easy to execute, for there was no danger whatever of the Boards of Canvassers being molested in the performance of their duties; and it was entirely within the scope of the executive authority, if lawfully invited, to direct the generals in command in the several States, in the event of an outbreak, to coöperate with the local authorities "to preserve peace and good order." No other interference of federal troops within a State was lawful, nor could even such an order be lawfully enforced until the governors of the respective States had reported that they were unable to preserve the peace, a condition of things which could not have been honestly affirmed to exist in any State of the Union at that time. But how were the commanding generals to comply with the second term of Grant's last telegram, and see whether there were any "grounds for suspicion of fraudulent counting on either side"? And to whom were they to report and denounce it? In Louisiana the canvassers all, without exception, were Republicans, and in Florida all but one were Republicans. Was it false counting by his own party the President wished his soldiers to guard against? If so, he did not send enough, or at least enough of the right kind. How, too, could the commanding generals ascertain whether there were any grounds of suspicion of fraudulent counting, unless they had been directed to supervise the reception, as well as the canvassing, of the returns? But this was equivalent to an impeachment of the integrity of the Returning Boards. Besides, "a fair count of the votes actually cast" was precisely what the conspirators did not want. Two days before President Grant stepped between his Secretary of War and the people, with those memorable despatches, the polls had been closed, and the returns" of the votes actually cast," save from remote counties and parishes in Florida and Louisiana, had been turned in. There was no possibility then of fraudulent counting, except by the Returning Boards. When President Grant sent those despatches of the 10th of November it is evident that if he really meant what he said he was not aiming his gun at any Democratic influences at work in the disputed States, but at the reckless crowd about him who were tampering with the Returning Boards. Believing, as we now know he did, that Tilden was elected, he might very naturally have suspected that all the forces of the federal government were being rallied by his political staff for the single purpose of defeating him. Grant, with all his limitations as a President, is generally believed to have been too direct a man to let fly the Parthian shaft with which he concluded his telegram to Sherman, if he were merely "playing to the galleries." The Returning Boards of South Carolina and Louisiana could be depended upon to return Republican electors, for the character of the Republican officials of those States were known to be equal to the emergency if properly "protected" and adequately "encouraged." The "encouragement" was on its way, and the action of the Secretary of War left no doubt that the "protection" also was at hand. Of Florida the managers were not so certain, as there were doubts about the powers of the Returning Boards in that State, and also about the degree of dependence to be placed upon its members. W. E. Chandler telegraphed from Tallahassee in cipher on the 13th of November: "Send $2,000 to Centennial Bank of Philadelphia so I can draw for it." "Have Arthur send Republicans acting with Democrats." On the 15th he telegraphed again: "Florida needs eminent counsel and help. Can you send $3,000 and $2,000, making $5,000? Danger great here." Which of these sums was used for "counsel" and which for "help" has never transpired. On the arrival of W. E. Chandler in Tallahassee, the 13th, telegrams were sent to the local Republican managers telling them that the "State is close and you must make effort to render every possible assistance," and that "funds from Washington would be on hand to meet every requirement." Chandler's promises that "counsel" and "protection " should not be wanting, and that the "funds" from Washington were on their way, were very well as far as they went; but Chandler was not the candidate for the presidency, and there was no satisfactory evidence that Hayes, if elected, would feel under any obligation to take up Chandler's paper. In fact, the business he was engaged in, and the means by which he and his confederates were carrying it on, were not calculated to inspire the utmost confidence in his promises, nor indeed a sufficient degree of confidence to induce the average politician to disgrace himself for such an indefinite consideration. He felt too, probably, that for the security of his own share in the |