aid upon the United States
Treasury for the payment of rebel war claims threw the Republicans
upon their guard, and, for the time being, every other question was
sunk into insignificance. So the insolence of the "Rebel Brigadier
Congress," and the letter of Samuel Jones Tilden, the Democratic
candidate for the Presidency, on the question of the Southern war
claims, gave the Republican party a fighting chance. But there were a
desperate South and a splendid campaign organizer in Mr. Tilden to
meet. And with a shot-gun policy, tissue ballets, and intimidation at
the South, while a gigantic, bold, and matchless system of fraudulent
voting was pushed with vigor in the North, there was little show of
success for the Republican ticket. The contest on the part of the
Republicans was spiritless. It was difficult to raise funds or excite
enthusiasm. The Republican candidate had only a local reputation. He
had been to Congress, but even those who had known that had forgotten
it. A modest, retiring man, Gov. Hayes was not widely known. The old
and tried leaders were not enthusiastic. Mr. Blaine had no second
choice. He was for himself or nobody. The Democrats prosecuted their
campaign with vigor, intelligence, and enthusiasm. They went "into the
school districts," and their organization has never been equalled in
America.

The result was doubtful. One thing, however, was sure: the Negro
governments of the South were now a thing of the past. Not a single
State was left to the Republican party. Florida, Louisiana, and South
Carolina were hanging by the slender thread of doubt, with the
provisions of a returning board in favor of the Republican party. The
returning boards were the creation of local law; their necessity
having grown out of the peculiar methods employed by Democrats in
carrying elections. These boards were empowered to receive and count
the votes cast for presidential electors; and wherever it could be
proven that intimidation and fraud had been used, the votes of such
precincts, counties, etc., were to be thrown out. The three doubtful
States named above were counted for the Republican presidential
electors. Their work was carried before Congress. A high joint
electoral commission was created by law, composed of the ablest men of
the two parties in Congress, with the salt of judicial judgment thrown
in. This commission examined the returns of the three doubtful States,
and decided not to go behind the returns; and, a