The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-01-05
Aolitital sf'airs.
VIM. E. Chambers Letter.

member OF the hepuDilcan Natl0nai OOm-
mittee, has addressed an open letter to the
Republicans Of New Hampshire, in which
he makes number Of explicit statements
concerning alleged bargains made during
the electoral count and their alleged fulfil
ment By the adoption and pursuance Of
the Presidents southern policy" After
referring to the declarations of the Cincin-
natl Convention and Of Governor Hayes
letter Of acceptance in regard to the pro-
lection Of Southern citizens in the free
enjoyment Of all their rights, Mr.. Chand-
Ter asserts that the Republican party, by
the advice and procurement Of Governor
Hayes, made " the necessity of keeping
Federal power in Republican hands and
using it for the protection Of black and
white Southern Republicans" the main
issue Of the Presidential campaign. He
says the bloody shirt, as it IS termed,
was freely waved, and Governor Hayes
himself urged prominent public men to
put forward, as their best argument, the
dangers Of rebel rule and solid South.
In this connection he quotes several ex-
pressions from Governor Hayes's letter of
November 8, 1876, when the latter thought
himself defeated, and said:
/ do not care for myself, but
do care for the poor colored men Of the
South. Northern men cannot
live there, and viii leave. The
Southern people win practically treat the
constitutional amendments as utilities,
and then the colored mans fate viii be
worse than when he was in slavery.
That is the only reason that l
regret the news as it is.
Mr.. Chandler then proceeds to state
that Governor Hayes not only pledged
himself to protect to the full extent of the
Federal power, life, suffrage and political
rights in the South, but was counted in
as President only by reason Of special
pledges given by Senator Sherman and
other Ohio emissaries who particularly and
emphatically promised that he would rec
ogDize and maintain the lawful State gov
ernments Of South Carolina and Louisiana,
and stand by Governors Chamberlain and
Packard" Mr.. Chandler amplifes these
statements at considerable length, and pro-
ceeds TO make charges as follows:
Wisdom and honor, therefore, it seems
TO me, clearly required that President
Hayes should maintain his own rightful-
ness Of title and stand by the men and
principles Of his party. Had he done so,
in my belief the Democratic cry of fraud
would have been the merest folly. The
Republican party would have remained
dominant in every Northern State and in
several Southern States, and would have
swept the country in the recent fall cleo
tons. Instead Of all this, what do we
see Almost the first act of the new
Administration was to fulfil bargain that
had been made during the Presidential
e1unt, by which, if Mr.. Hayes should be
President, the lawful governments of Lou
isiana and South Carolina were to be
abandoned, and the mob governments in
those States were to be recognized and
established. Certain Democrats in the
House of Representatives, seeing that by
the recurring decisions of the Electoral
Commission and the regular proceedings
Of the two houses under the Electoral bill
which they had warmly supported Hayes
would surely be President, conceived the
plan Of saving something from the wreck
They had, therefore, threatened by dila-
tory motions and riotous proceedings to
break up the count, and then opened nego-
tiations with such timid and too-eagerly-
expectant Republicans as they could find
ready. They had succeeded beyond their
sanguine expectations. Senator Sherman
had visited Ohio and consulted Governor
Hayes Mr.. Henry Watterson, Demo
cratic member and nephew of Mr.. Stanley
Matthews, had acted as go-between and
on the one side Messrs Matthews, Charles
Foster, John Sherman and James A. Gar
field, and on the other L. @. G. Lamar,
John B. Gordon, E. j Ellis, Randall Glib
son, Z. A. Burke and John Young Brown
had agreed:
Ffrst-That the count should not be
broken up in the House, but that Hayes
should be declared and inaugurated Presi-
dent; and
iSecond-That upon Hayess accession
the troops should be withdrawn from pro-
tecting Governors Chamberlain and Pack
ard, and that the new Administration
should recognize the governments of Wade
Hampton in South Carolina and T. H.
Nichols in Louisiana.
BY certain general and indefinite letters,
since given to the public. by secret writ
ing now in the hands of E. A. Burke, and
in other ways, the agreement was authen-
ticated, and President Grant was immedi-
ately requested by Governor Hayess eoun-
sci on no account to recognize Packard or
Chamberlain, but to leave the ultimate
decision as to their fate to the incoming
President. After Inauguration the bar
gain was speedily fulfilled As soon as
the electoral votes of their States were
safe, Governors Packard and Chamberlain
had been notified by Messrs. Matthews
and kyarts to get out. Governor Cham
berlaln was now summoned to Washington
and informed that he must surrender.
He protested against his taking off The
President hesitated, but Wade Hampton
demanded the performance Of the bargain
Mr. Matthews was sent for, came from
Ohio, and within twenty-four hours the
United States flag was ordered down in
Charleston and Governor Chamberlain
stamped out As to Louisiana, the fulfil
ment proceeded more slowly, but none the
less surely. Packard had made, March
p, constitutional call for Federal aid
which it was difficult to withhold from one
as surely Governor as Hayes was Presi-
dent, and yet there was the bargain. As
a subterfuge an unconstitutional commits
sion consisting Of Messrs John NJ. Harlan,
Joseph Il. Hawley, c. B. Lawrence, Wayne
McVeagh and John G.. Brown was sent to
New Orleans instructed to gradually de-
stroy the Packard Legislature by seducing
or forcing its members into the Nichols
Legislature; but they proving too stub
bornly Republican, the commission tele-
graphed to the President that nothing
would destroy Packard but the actual order
Withdrawing the troops. At the word the
President gave the order; Packard was
crushed, and the commission returned tri-
umphant to Washington to be recognized
one Of them, General Harlan, by an ap-
pOintment as Supreme Court Judge; an
other, Mr.. Lawrence, by the release of
Jake Rehm, the great whiskey conspira-
tor and defrauder of the revenue at Chi
cago. General Hawley was offered the
appointment Of Chief Commissioner to the