SOUTH CAROLINA.

In South Carolina the undersigned voted against the Tilden electors being declared elected, because they had not received a majority of the votes of the people.

In that case it was offered to be proved, in substance, that United States troops in large numbers were sent to the State before the election, for the purpose of influencing and controlling the votes to be given thereat, by interfering with and overawing the people, and that the militia of the State was used for the same purpose; that the polls were surrounded by armed bands, who by violence and force prevented any exercise of the right of suffrage except on one side; in fact, that the election was controlled by the armed forces of the State and Nation, and a resort to all manner of brutality, violence, and cruelty, and was not free.

The majority of the commission refused to admit the evidence, on grounds that would fairly warrant a President of the United States in using the whole army to take possession of all the ballot-boxes in any State, and allow no voting except for himself if he was a candidate for reëlection, or for his party, and which would require both Houses of Congress to recount the vote so obtained, and to give him the fruits of such a wilful and wicked violation of all constitutional law and right.

If any decision better calculated to destroy the liberty of a free people, to destroy all faith in a Republican form of government, a government of the people by the people, could be devised and contrived, the undersigned have not been able to discover it.

They denounce the decision as an outrage upon the rights of all the people, and, if sustained, and acted on, as the utter ruin of our institutions and government.

The foregoing is a brief statement of the action of the commission. To defeat that action the undersigned have done all in their power. They protested against it before it was accomplished, and they protest against it now. They know the commission was established to receive evidence, not to shut it out.

They know the conscience of this great people was troubled by fear that any one should obtain the high office of President by fraud, cheating, and conspiracy, and that it demanded that the charges and counter-charges of corrupt practices in reference to the election in three States should be honestly investigated and inquired into, not established and sanctified, by refusing all inquiry and examination.

They know the conscience of the whole people approved the law establishing the commission, nay, hailed it with joy, because it established, as all believed, a fair tribunal, to examine, to inquire into, and determine the charges of fraud and corruption in the election of three States; and they believe that this conscience has been terribly disappointed and shocked by the action of the commission, which establishes fraud and legalizes its perpetration, instead of inquiring into and condemning it.

The undersigned believe the action of the majority of the commission to be wrong, dangerous, nay, ruinous in its consequences and effects.

It tends to destroy the rights and liberties of the States and of the United States and the people thereof; because by it States may be robbed of their votes for President with impunity, and the people of the United States have foisted upon them a chief magistrate, not by their own free choice honestly expressed, but by practices too foul to be tolerated in a gambling hell.

By the action of the commission the American people are commanded to submit to one as their chief magistrate who was never elected by their votes, whose only title depends on fraud, corruption, and conspiracy.

A person so holding that great office is a usurper, and should be and will be so held by the people. As much a usurper as if he had signed and held it by military force; in either case, he equally holds against the consent of the people.

The

Let the people rebuke and overrule the action of the commission. only hope of the country rests on this being done, and done speedily and effectually, so that it may never become a precedent to sustain wrong and fraud in the future.

It is the first and highest duty of all good citizens who love their country to right this foul wrong, as soon as it may be done under the Constitution

and laws.

Let it be done so thoroughly, so signally, so effectually, that no encouragement shall be given to put a second time so foul a blot on our national escutcheon.

APPENDIX B

PARTY SENTIMENT IN FAVOR OF TILDEN'S RENOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 1884.

THE following are a few specimens of the many letters addressed to Mr. Tilden and others, urging that he should accept a renomination.

Lyman Trumbull to S. J. Tilden.

CHICAGO, June 7, 1884.

MY DEAR SIR: The Republicans have now made their nominations for President and Vice-President, of men who are fair representatives of the Republican organization. Their election means a continuance of the partisanship, abuses, corruptions, and centralizing tendencies of the last twenty years, which you and I both believe dangerous, and if continued, in the end destructive of Republican liberty. It seems to me the patriotic duty of all men so believing to sacrifice all personal considerations for their country's good.

The Democracy all over the land are looking to you as the one person above all others to lead them in the coming political contest. The only question seems to be, Will you consent to be the candidate? I know nothing of your determination except what may be gathered from the conflicting statements of the press, and I do not expect or ask a reply to my letter. My only object in writing is to urge upon you the duty of yielding to the united demand of the Democracy. There are times when patriots must not hesitate, if necessary, to take their lives in their hands for liberty's sake. I know not your physical condition, but mentally you are all that your friends require, and even at the hazard of your life, I believe it your duty to listen to the united voice of the friends of constitutional liberty. I know that you were once fairly elected President. I feel confident that you can be again. Whether any other Democrat can be is uncertain. I fear not. It was a great mistake not to have nominated you four years ago. I felt it at the time. The country now sees it.

With the highest regard for you personally, I beg of you to let us make you President in fact.

W. S. Groesbeck to S. J. Tilden.

CINCINNATI, April 29, 1884.

MY DEAR SIR: I have felt an inclination for some time to write you a letter about the approaching presidential election.

Moreover, with you as a candidate, the campaign of 1884 will take its complexion and character from yourself, and would be mainly a repetition of the campaign of 1876. "Tilden and Reform" would be again the battlecry, and the fraud of '76 would unite and arouse the Democracy as nothing else would. You hold this great card in your hand. No one else has it, nor can you transfer it to any one else.

Some of the papers are saying you do not feel equal to a renewal of the contest. This brings me to what I desire especially to submit to your consideration. It is this: The contest is already prepared. We will fight again the battle of '76. With you as the candidate, the preparations for '84 are complete. The people will ask no more of you-only your name and battle-cry. Don't you see it? The campaign of '76 required great labor. You performed it well and satisfactorily. That same preparation is at hand and suitable for the campaign of '84. Your work is already done; you may rest, as it were, and the Democracy will fight. So it seems to me.

If you are a candidate, you will be elected. Were I in your place, I would rather be President a single day and die, than live ten years without this vindication. It is true that every hour adds to the number of those who feel that you were wronged, and your right to the presidency will be affirmed in authentic and accepted history; but all this is incomplete and unsatisfactory compared with a triumphant reëlection and inauguration into the office. Mr. Tilden, that would be a big day throughout the United States, and enough to quicken you into a new life.

John A. McClernand to S. J. Tilden.

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., June 5, 1884.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY SAMUEL J. TILDEN, President-elect:

DEAR SIR: The crime which defeated the will of the people in 1876, and kept you from exercising the presidential office, needs to be avenged.

Time, and your example, have subdued and conciliated all factious opposition to you in the Democratic party. The opponents of former years are now your most noisy partisans. Your nomination in July will follow as a spontaneous and consentaneous act unless you prevent it.

Preventing it, calamitous consequences must ensue. The Democratic party will be left to fall into strife, anarchy, and impotency. The old guard and your old friends,- what will become of them? The barriers to latitudinous construction will be broken down, and license given to public extravagance, official corruption, and the greed of unscrupulous and powerful monopolies.

Your declination is inadmissible. Accept the nomination, even if death should overcome you during or after the fight. If I know myself, I would, in the present extremity of country and party, suffer the martyrdom for you, vicariously, if it was possible to do so.

Excuse the freedom and energy of these remarks. They proceed from a sense of duty. I have done.

Mary P. Hoadly to S. J. Tilden.
(Personal.)

MY DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN: Will you pardon me for taking a few moments of your time with a plea for our country?

The nomination of Blaine, with his great popularity, renders it necessary for the Democratic party to put forth as his antagonist its strongest man - its one strong man.

-

Never before was a political party so perfectly unanimous in its expressions of confidence and fealty as the Democratic party now gives to you, and your consent to take the office of President would make your nomination and election sure. Of no other Democrat can this be said.

I know it is said that you dread the fatigue and excitement of the campaign. It will be a campaign that will run itself, for the voters will be inspired by the magic of your name, and will march to victory without your assuming any part of the necessary labor attending an election. Your friends will do all that for you and for the cause.

But even admitting that your health might suffer, and I trust that would not be the case, is not this a time, when like the soldier going to battle, a man ought to risk even his life for his country? With such a corrupt administration as Blaine would give us, and four years more of the Republican party, getting itself still more firmly entrenched, what hope would there ever be of any change for the better if Samuel J. Tilden refuses to lead the hosts of his party ready to follow him to the death?

--

Pardon me if I have "rushed in where angels fear to tread," but do think, and before positively saying “No,” try if it be not possible to say "Yes."

Very cordially your friend and admirer,

COLUMBUS, June 7, 1884.

MARY P. HOADLY.

MY DEAR MR. TILDEN: To every word of my wife I say AMEN and AMEN.

Your friend,

GEO. HOADLY.

Hermann Lieb to S. J. Tilden.

CHICAGO, April 16, 1884.

DEAR SIR: Your letter to the Iroquois Club was the event of the evening, and forms the topic of conversation among Democrats throughout the city to-day. The sentiment for your renomination is growing into a popular demand. The party is hopelessly divided upon the tariff question, and