s well as in Pennsylvania and
Massachusetts, and for the first time since 1861 the House of
Representatives passed into the control of that party. The financial
depression plainly operated to the great advantage of the Democrats,
but in allowing Tilden to pre-empt the reform issue when men were
intent upon smashing rings, the Republicans opened the door for their
destruction. "They [the Republican leaders] have apparently believed
the people would submit to anything and everything," said the _Times_,
"and that the party was indestructible. If a newspaper warned them in
a friendly but firm spirit against the policy of blundering, it was
treated with a mixture of the insolence and arrogance which they
exhibited toward all opposition."[1465]

[Footnote 1465: New York _Times_, November 4, 1874.

Eleven amendments to the Constitution were ratified at this election.
Those relating to political matters required thirty days' residence in
an election district; abolished property qualification, thus removing
all distinction between white and coloured voters; fixed the pay of
legislators at $1500 per year, without limiting the length of a
session; changed the terms of governor and lieutenant-governor from
two to three years, with salaries of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively;
required two-thirds of all the members elected to each house to
override the governor's veto; authorised the veto of individual items
in an appropriation act; and prohibited extra compensation being paid
to a canal contractor.]

CHAPTER XXV

RIVALRY OF TILDEN AND CONKLING

1875

If further evidence of Tilden's supremacy in his party were needed,
the election of Francis Kernan to the United States Senate furnished
it. It had been nearly thirty years since the Democrats of New York
were represented in the Senate, and Tilden sent his staunchest
supporter to take the place of Fenton.[1466] This fidelity disturbed
the members of the Canal ring, who now anxiously awaited the
development of the Governor's policy. The overthrow of the Tammany
ring and the memory of Tweed's fate hung about them like the shadow of
a great fear.

[Footnote 1466: The Republicans voted for ex-Governor Edwin D. Morgan,
the vote standing: Kernan, 87; Morgan, 68; Hoffman, 1.]

Tilden did not strike at once. Treating the matter as he did the Tweed
disclosures, he secretly studied the methods of the Ring, examined
more than one hundred contracts, and employed a civil engineer