The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-04-05
THEPREsIDENTIAL COUNT.
The Pledges Made for President Hayes.

by consent Of the writer's made public
the letters of Stanley Matthews and
Chas G. Foster of Ohio, whereby fill
clustering was prevented and the Pres
idential count completed. The follow
ing are extracts from Browns letter,
explaining how the letters came to be
written:
On the Goth of February last I sent
a page from the House Of Representa-
tiyes to the Senate Chamber for my
distinguished friend, General Gordon,
and he came over in few minutes. /
told him that l wanted an interview
with Hon. Charles Foster, at which !
desired his presence. | outlined to
General Gordon what | intended to
say to Mr.. Foster, land he said he would
with pleasure accompany me. We
found Mr.. Foster in the room OF the
committee on appropriations. No one
else was present during the interview.
| told Mr.. Foster that had, as he
knew, been voting against all dilatory
motions had in speech advocated
the inflexible execution Of the cleo
toral bill had stated in the Demo-
cratic caucus that | would SO vote
if / were the only man from
the South to do SO; that the
vote was approved by my judgment
that felt under the obligations of
honor to stand by the result, bitter as
it was. feeling that the situation was
not chargeable to the electoral bill but
the majority of the commission, whom
we had agreed to trust. told him
had received dispatches and letters
from cherished and trusted friends,
conveying most empathie remonstrance
against my course, but that, with my
convictions about the question, if a
petition signed by every voter in my
district should be sent to me request
ing me to support the dilatory motions
it would not by hair alter my purpose
said to him that there was but one
thing which would change me, and il
was if / thought by voting to complete
the count, which was the result of ths
Inauguration of Mr.. Hayes, would b,
aiding, directly or indirectly, in per
. petuating the usurpatiOns of Packard
|, and Chamberlain in the States of Louis
lana and South Carolina, ] would re
/ versed my action, and do my yer,
: utmost to defeat the execution of tn
! bill, regardless of consequences, calam
itous to the country as | believed the,
would be.
| THE result of this interview wa
: that Foster and other Republicans con
D ferred together and the next mornin
\ Foster brought him an unsigned lette
q as bel Brown insisted on written plede
5 es. Brown made some changes in tn
b draft and his letter continues
/ In an hour / went to his desk and
J, delivered Inc letter signed by hin
!. self and Matthews. / observed that
was in different handwriting, read
t hastily, and remarked that it contain
|. ed some generalities / did not like
l. He replied that Mr.. Matthews had r.
d written it, and added, "Brown, it
n intended to cover the whole case, an
,e | can promise you there will be n
l. doubt about the fulfllment of all til
e assurances have given YOU" N
IS ticed the original letter on his desl
d and said, 'ssign this also, and he r
$ piled, Certainly, with pleasure. A
/, I was leaving he called me back an
y told me that President Graz
70 would, as soon as the count W;
d completed, issue a certain ordt
t. to Gen. Augur in Louisiana. He 7
l, requested me not to mention this IA
ID for several days, but expressly ga1
Is me permission to make any use OF Il
re- Letters / might desire. The order