ition with us in the matter of
elections."

Such a miscarriage of Republican policy was long a bitter grievance to
the leaders of the party and incited them to action. If they could have
had their desire, they would have used stringent means to remedy the
situation. Measures to enforce the political rights of the freedmen were
frequently agitated, but every force bill which was presented had to
encounter a deep and pervasive opposition not confined by party lines
but manifested even within the Republican party itself. Party platforms
insisted upon the issue, but public opinion steadily disregarded it.
Apparently a fine opportunity to redress this grievance was afforded
by the election of President Harrison in 1888 upon a platform declaring
that the national power of the Democratic party was due to "the
suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullification of the
Constitution and laws of the United States," and demanding "effective
legislation to secure integrity and purity of elections." But, although
they were victorious at the polls that year, the Republican leaders were
unable to embody in legislation the ideal proposed in their platform. Of
the causes of this failure, George F. Hoar gives an instructive
account in his "Autobiography." As chairman of the Senate committee on
privileges and elections he was in a position to know all the details of
the legislative attempts, the failure of which compelled the Republican
leaders to acquiesce in the decision of public opinion against the old
issues and in favor of new issues.

Senator Hoar relates that he made careful preparation of a bill for
holding, under national authority, separate registrations and elections
for members of Congress. But when he consulted his party associates in
the Senate he found most of them averse to an arrangement which would
double the cost of elections and would require citizens to register
at different times for federal elections and for state and municipal
elections. Senator Hoar thereupon abandoned that bill and prepared
another which provided that, upon application to court showing
reasonable grounds, the court should appoint officers from both parties
to supervise the election. The bill adopted a feature of electoral
procedure which in England has had a salutary effect. It was provided
that in case of a dispute concerning an election certificate, the
circuit court of the United States in which the district was situated
should hear the ca