he work of the Ku-Klux-Klan, a
secret organisation pledged to disfranchise the negro by intimidation,
intensified the bitterness. It is probably true that many reported
atrocities were merely campaign stories. It is likely, too, that horse
thieves and illicit distillers screened their misdeeds behind the
Ku-Klux. It is well understood, also, that ambitious carpet-bag
agitators, proving bad instructors for negroes just emerging from
slavery, added largely to the list of casualties, making crime appear
general throughout the South. But whether violence was universal or
sporadic Republicans believed it a dangerous experiment to commit the
government to the hands of "rebels and copperheads," and in their
contest to avoid such an alleged calamity they emphasised Southern
outrages and resurrected Seymour's speech to the draft rioters in
July, 1863. To give the latter fresh interest Nast published a cartoon
entitled "Matched,"[1194] which represented Grant demanding the
unconditional surrender of Vicksburg, while Seymour, addressing a mob
of foreigners wet with the blood of their victims, called them "my
friends." Nast presented another cartoon which disturbed the
Democracy. It represented John T. Hoffman standing before a screen
behind which a gang of thieves was busily rifling the city treasury.
The face of Hoffman only was depicted, but the picture's serious note
of warning passed for more than a bit of campaign pleasantry. Frank P.
Blair, the Democratic candidate for Vice-President, also furnished a
text for bitter invective because of his declaration that "there is
but one way to restore the government and the Constitution and that is
for the President-elect to declare the Reconstruction Acts null and
void, compel the army to undo its usurpations at the South, disperse
the carpet-bag State governments, allow the white people to reorganise
their own governments and elect senators and representatives."[1195]
Republicans charged that this represented the Democratic policy. On
the other hand, the closing sentence of Grant's brief letter of
acceptance, "Let us have peace," became the shibboleth of his
followers, who claimed that the courteous and deferential spirit shown
at Appomattox would characterise his administration. Indeed, the issue
finally resolved itself to "Blair and Revolution" or "Grant and
Peace," and after a contest of unusual bitterness Republicans carried
the October States, although with greatly reduced majori