The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-04-26
THAT NAN HAYES"
conklipg Lets cut Some Secrets Of the
Electoral Crisis.

The New York HO1M publishes
long and letter from Utica
\. e, correspondent, being the sun
Of a series of interviews with Scnato
COnkling, at his home III that city, a
intervals during the past few months
The relations between the correspOn
dent and the Senator, the World saws
were such as made entire franknas
necessary on the part of the latter
and the IFOId adds that the CORES
pondent's name will be forthconiibr !
the slightest reason for publishing
should arise. In the il terViews In.
Senator spoke with the utmost free
dom about the successive steps that
led to the formation of the EiectoIa
Commission, the part had in it bv
prominent Democratic and ReDubIi-
can members OF Congress, and by
President Hayes and his friends. n
the course of the interview, the U0,Io
correspondent asked: "Vell, Senator.
! would like to know whether YOU
think the true history of the Lou
isiana electoral business will ever he
told in Congress, and if so, how so?p
COnkling-Ges | think it will. |
do not see how il can be kept down.
There are too many avenues of infOr-
nation opened to-day to make con-
cealment nupn longer possible. No
reasonable man can doubt there was
some kind of a bargain between the
friends of Nichols and that man
Hayes, and that Stanley Matthews
aud Sherman were privy to it. \ very
great many people have become curl
Gus TO know precisely what the bar
gaia was. and exactly how it WAS
carried out, and Yankee ingenuity
will be sure to find some means of get
ting at the foundation. l cannot say
how soon the facts will come out, for
something may occur anY day TO force
them to the surface. 1t will probably
be best to let them come out naturally.
What will be the result? The result
will be that the whole country will he
appalled, by the dishOnor of this adj
minlstratiog. / tell you, sir, that
never in the history of this nation has
there been, in an entire four wears of
an administration, so much Corrur-
ton, bartering of offices, rewarding of
political fanatics, traffic with political
leaders, and bargain and sale of cleo
toral franchise as during this past
year. The peODle will not believe il
until proof is shown them, but the
proof will be forthcoming. The DeO-
pie say that Hayes is good man and
means well, but they do not know
what they are talking about. When
the facts are kAGspA ah0ut tnis admin
islratiOn, no one win attempt to eX-
cuse the man on account of his sup
iruaed goodness. The acts that have
aisgra6ed this adiHnlsFratiqn have al
- doas before the open eyes of the
President. t,,.o,-io,,,
Mr.. Conkling then goes o. 'o4sfi'T
at length the history of the IlIector;,.
Commission, He says: "The country
vas actually in danger. Yes, the dan
ger was real and imminent. The
point of peril was not the South, but
the West. 1t was understood the Re
publican leaders had determined to
have Vice President Ferry count the
votes at all hazards, and Hayes cleo
ted, and the West was determined on
resistance. 1t was no child's play in
that section. Gen. Steadman had
20, ,0G0 men enrolled and assigned to
for the purpose Of seating
Tilden in office in case Vice President
Ferry carried out his prOposition.-
You NAV look astOniShed, but these
things are true. President Grant was
at his wits ends, and he confessed to
me that he did not know what TO do.
He was gathering some troops at or
near Washington, but hedid not know
how far he could depend upon them.
Gen. Sherman told him that in case of
trouble, the sympathies of q large ma
jority of the officers and soldiers of the
regular army would be with Tilden,
and tAat the army must not he taken
into consideration as dependence in
any such crisis. From these facts and
ic0m what was threatened and prOph-
esied publicly in those days, you can
how gloomy was the outlook
ut the Republican councils. The Pres
ident asked my advice, and l frankly
told him ! did not believe that Vice
President Ferry had any right to de
clare the vote, but could merely act in
a clerical capacity to open the envel-
Opes and lay the votes of the Electoral
College before the convention of the
two houses for their decision, and, by
the way, | may as well state here that
when certain Senators came to me
and said il was proposed TO make me
President of the Senate i'll Ferry's
place, / frankly told them that l could
not accept the position, and that by
my Interpretation of the Constitution
| should be compelled to ruleseXactly
opposite the wishes of himself and
friends. That will perhaps explain
one story that is told about me, and
while we are ON the subject, let me
say that | suggested subsequently, that
there was no constitutional reason
why Grant should not be elected Pres
ident of the Senate, if they wanted a
strong man, though L saw no neces-
siiy for any such change. OF course, l
knew there was no likelihood of such
a choice, and that Grant simply de
sired to see his successor peacefully in
augurated and to enjoy a long vaca-
ton"
Mr.. Conllling says that he then sug-
gested To President Grant the idea of
= commission, and that the latter en-
braced it heartily. He gives an ac-
count of various interviews with the
President and Sherman, the difficult
ties the advocates of the plans met
with, and then in particular the de-
tails which convinced him Hayes, then
in Ohio, was intriguing with Southern