at he did not ask for advices until
after the nomination. James C. Carter of the New York bar, who
happened at the time to be with him respecting legal matters, wondered
at his unconcern. On their return from an evening drive Carter
ventured to suggest that he would find telegrams announcing his
nomination. "Not until half-past nine," Tilden replied.[1510]

[Footnote 1510: Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 1, p. 308.]

Nevertheless, the first call of States made the Tilden managers
shiver.[1511] Alabama divided its vote, Colorado caused a murmur of
disappointment, and the slump of Georgia and Illinois, with Missouri's
division, threatened them with heart-failure. The South wabbled, and
promised votes in the North found their way elsewhere. At the close of
the first roll-call Missouri asked if its vote could be changed, and
on receiving an affirmative answer, the Tilden men, pale with worried
excitement, awaited the result. A change to Hancock at that moment
would have been a serious calamity, for nearly one hundred votes
separated Tilden from the necessary two-thirds. When Missouri declared
for the New Yorker, however, the opportunity to turn the tide against
him was lost forever. The second ballot undoubtedly represented his
real strength.[1512] For second place Thomas A. Hendricks had no
opposition.

[Footnote 1511: Francis Kernan presented Tilden's name very
effectively.]

[Footnote 1512: First ballot. Necessary two-thirds, 492. Samuel J.
Tilden of New York, 404-1/2; Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, 133-1/2;
Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania, 75; William Allen of Ohio, 56;
Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, 27; Joel Parker of New Jersey, 18.

Second ballot: Tilden, 535; Hendricks, 60; Hancock, 59; Allen, 54;
Bayard, 11; Parker, 18; Thurman of Ohio, 2.]

The platform, prepared under the eye of Tilden by Manton Marble, the
accomplished editor of the _World_, advocated reform as its keynote
and made historic its vituperative arraignment of the party in power.
On the vital question of the currency it demanded the repeal of the
resumption clause of the Act of 1875, denouncing it as an hindrance to
the resumption of specie payment. The Republicans, wishing to avoid
too sharp a conflict with the soft money sentiment of the West, had
pledged the fulfilment of the Public Credit Act,[1513] approved March
18, 1869, "by a continuous and steady progress to specie payments."
Both declarations savoured of indefiniteness, but Ha