Litchfield enquirer., 1878-11-21
Who Began it?

recollection, convince me that the statement made in your editorial of the 7th inst, that stt must 6e acknowledged that tt scas.the Repu6- Ecan party scliclt made the first appeal to he Pocket Book is Mis Congressional District 6y the nOnsisatson ofP T. Barn1m iE 1867," is grave mistake The District had been carried by the Republicans at thetwo previous elections, and they felt no apprehension of danger in the result of the canvass then pend ing-of course they felt nc need of the use of money to secure the success of their candi- date F. T. Barnum was known as sound republican and his lectures and other efforts in the cause of temperance, have secured fer him the good opinion of the best men of all parties. And besides, the public mind was possessed of a kind of superstitious credulity, inspiring the belief that he was Man of Destiny" and that the same success which had attended him in other enterprises, would crown his labors in the canvass for seat in Congress. The calm and sedate men of the party were not much affected by this feeling. but the young, active, and enthusiastic workers in the party, were carried away with it, and their ef- forts secured hls nomination. The fact that he was rich man did not, to my knowledge, enter into the question of the propriety of his nomination After the nomination of P. T. Bar mum was made the Democrats nominated Wm. H. Barnum, whose only qualification was, that he was able to buy seat in congress despite of all opposition, and his nomination was the first appeal to the pocket book in this District After the fact was publicly discussed, that the Democrats relied upon the rich mans money to carry the election, P. T. Barnum issued card, declaring that he should not use dollar in the purchase of votes.
 The result of the election showed that the great body of the Republicans voted for their candidate, and so far as my observation ex- tended, those who left the republican party, and voted for Wm. H. Barnum, were the men whom his money had corrupted.
 The truth is that the first movement in the course of corruption, which has disgraced our political history, was made in the nomlnatlcn of Wm. H. Barnum for Congress in 1867.
 c. F. SEDew1oK.
 [Our recollection of the campaign of 1867, differs from that of our venerable friend in some important particulars. It it no doubt true that very many Republicans supported P. T. Barnum in the nominating cQuveution, and elsewhere, from entirely pure and disinterest- ed motives. It is our belief, however, that his nomination was due mainly to the efforts of Republican politicians who were either hir- ed to pack delegations in his favor or were induced to favor his nomination in the hope of plucking him during the canvass. So general was the anticipation of carnival of corrup- tion, that the letter referred to was written to put stop to the flood of calls upon P T. Bar mum for money. That this letter was one of the many humbugs of the Prince of Humbugs, was as the result showed, thoroughly under stood by the men to whom the distribution of his money was afterwards entrusted The testimony taken in the investigation into this election by the Congressional Committee on Elections shows that most shameless bribery was practiced by both parties; and the success of Wm. H. Barnum was popularly attributed  to the fact that his money actually reached the voter, while most of P. T. Barnum's funds stuck fast in the hands of his agents. Another fact made the defeat of the latter overwhelm- ing Very many of the best men in the Re- publican party absolutely refused to vote for a man whose chief repute was that of being the greatest humbug of all time, and whose story of his own life confessed without shame to car ger of successful fraud. The choice of evils presented by such nomination, and by that of man who was already an adept in tho a-te of corruption, was one of the most hateful ever presented by American politicians to the American people. The basest treachery was also added to the other features of this abomi- nable campaign, and it is now pretty well un- derstood that the pockets of certain we'll known Republican politicians were lined with the money of both candidates-with the money of P. T. Barnum in the first instance; and, after wards, with that which they received from Wm. H. Barnum for betraying their own party and the candidate of their own selectiOn.-ED ENQ.