Some of the objections to the importation of Chinese on the Pacific coast apply to certain types of laborers that have been introduced in the Atlantic States from Hungary and other European countries. Where the labor is contracted for in Europe at a low price and brought to the United States to produce fabrics that are protected by customs duties, a grave injustice is done to the American laborer, and an illegitimate advantage is sought by the manufacturer. Protective duties should help both labor and capital, and the capitalist who is not willing to share the advantage with the laborer is doing much to break down the protective system. That system would indeed receive a fatal blow if it should be demonstrated that it does not secure to the American laborer a better remuneration than the same amount of toil brings in Europe. Happily the cases of abuse referred to are few in number and have perhaps proved beneficial in the lesson they have taught and the warning they have evoked. The allegation that the exclusion of the Chinese is inhuman and unchristian need not be considered in presence of the fact that their admission to the country already provokes conflicts which the laws are unable to restrain. The bitterest of all antagonisms are those which spring from race. Such antagonisms can be prevented by wise foresight more easily than they can be cured after their development is either intentionally or carelessly permitted.

President Johnson made no appointments to the Supreme Bench during his Administration. In 1870 President Grant appointed William Strong of Pennsylvania and Joseph P. Bradley of New Jersey Associate Justices. The former was an addition to the Court; the latter succeeded Robert C. Grier. In 1872 he appointed Ward Hunt of New York to succeed Samuel Nelson. In 1873 he appointed Morrison R. Waite Chief Justice to succeed Salmon P. Chase, who died in May of that year. In 1877 President Hayes appointed John M. Harlan of Kentucky to succeed David Davis, and in 1880 William Woods of Georgia to succeed William Strong (retired). President Hayes nominated Stanley Matthews to succeed Noah Swayne, but the Senate not acting on the nomination, it was renewed by President Garfield, and Mr. Matthews was confirmed in 1881.

CHAPTER XXIX.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1880.-THIRD TERM SUGGESTED. — CHICAGO CONVENTION. — EXCITING Contest. — MANY BALLOTINGS. NOMINATION OF GENERAL GARFIELD. - DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. - NOMINATION OF GENERAL HANCOCK. THE CONTEST. THE RESULT. THE SOLID SOUTH. ITS MEANING. ITS EFFECT. — ITS END.-REVIEW OF THE TWENTY YEARS.-PROGRESS OF THE PEOPLE. - MAJESTY OF THE REPUBLIC.

D

URING the latter years of General Grant's Presidency there had been some suggestion of his election for a third term. The proposition, however, did not meet with favor. Several State Conventions passed resolutions declaring as a matter of principle that two terms should be the limit for any President. General Grant himself discountenanced the movement and eventually ended it for the canvass of 1876 by writing a public letter announcing that he was not and would not be a candidate.

As the election of 1880 approached, the project was revived with every evidence of a more deliberate design and a more determined. and persistent effort on the part of its chief promoters. General Grant had just finished a memorable tour around the world, and had everywhere been received with signal tributes of respect and admiration from the rulers and people of foreign lands. The honors of all countries had stimulated the pride of his own country. He returned to the Pacific shore and traversed the whole continent with the welcome and acclaim of the people whom he had so greatly served in war and in peace. In the flush of this popular enthusiasm some of the foremost men of the Republican party united in a movement to make General Grant the Republican candidate for President. A combination which included Senators Conkling, Cameron and Logan, with their dominant personal influence and political force, and which aimed at the consolidation of the three great States of New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, presented a formidable front.

The leaders of the movement had to a certain extent misappre

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hended public opinion. With all the respect and affection for the illustrious commander of the Union armies, there was a deep and earnest feeling against a third term. This sentiment was not personal to General Grant. The contentions which had marked his Presidential career had died away. The errors charged against him had been well-nigh forgotten, and the real merits and achievements of his Administration were better appreciated than at an earlier period. His absence from the country for three years had softened whatever asperities had grown out of political or factional differences, and had quickened anew the grateful sense of his inestimable services in the war. There was no fear that General Grant would abuse a trust, however frequently or however long he might be invested with it. But the limit of two terms had become an unwritten part of the code of the Republic, and the people felt that to disregard the principle might entail dangers which they would not care to risk. They believed that the example of Washington if now reinforced by the example of Grant would determine the question for the future, and assure a regular and orderly change of rulers, which is the strongest guarantee against the approach of tyranny.

While it was altogether probable that the feeling among the people against a third term would be stimulated by other aspirants to the Presidency, it was altogether impossible that they could create the feeling. The interesting question at issue was whether the precedents of the Government should be discredited. The National Convention was to meet in June, but as early as February State Conventions were called in Pennsylvania and New York to choose delegates, with the intention of securing unanimity in favor of General Grant's nomination. The rights of Congressional districts to select their own delegates had been indirectly affirmed in the National Convention of 1876, when the Unit Rule was overridden and the right of each individual delegate to cast his own vote was established. But against this authoritative monition the design now was to have the States vote as a unit, and accordingly the Conventions in both the great States adopted instructions to that effect. The opposition to this course was very strong, the resolutions being carried in Pennsylvania by a majority of only twenty, while in New York, in a total vote of three hundred and ninety-seven, the majority was but thirtyeight. The delegations of both States included men who were known to be opposed to General Grant's nomination and who represented districts avowedly in accord with that view, but it was hoped by the

leaders that the assumption of the State Conventions to pass instructions might control individual judgment.

The action of the Pennsylvania and New York Conventions increased the public agitation. A strong conviction that their proceedings had been precipitated and did not reflect the true judgment of the Republican masses was rapidly developed in both States. In New York the Tribune, the Albany Journal, the Utica Herald and other influential papers led an earnest protest and opposition. In Pennsylvania the Philadelphia Press, through the zeal of its chief proprietor, Mr. Calvin Wells, a leading iron-manufacturer of Pittsburg, seconded by other strong journals, gave voice to the decided and growing public feeling against acquiescing in any attempt to prevent a perfectly free representation. In the North-West the Chicago Tribune, and in the middle West the Cincinnati Commercial, not only resisted the mode of electing delegates in the large States but directly and vigorously assailed the policy of presenting General Grant for a third term. In the midst of this popular discussion came explicit declarations from individual delegates in both States that they would not be bound by any unit rule and should represent the will of their immediate constituencies. William H. Robertson was the first in New York to make public announcement of this purpose, and James McManes of Philadelphia led the movement in Pennsylvania. The opposition spread to other States that had not yet held their conventions, in many of which the prevailing methods of party action permitted more freedom.

One of the last States to act was Illinois, and her Convention became the arena of a stormy contest. The majority in that body assumed authority to elect all the National delegates, without regard to the voice or vote of Congressional districts; and after a long and stubborn struggle it named a complete delegation, overriding in nine of the districts the duly accredited choice of a clear majority of the undisputed local representatives in each district. This proceeding was justified on the one hand as only the exercise of the supreme power of the State Convention, and condemned on the other as trampling on the right of district representation; and thus the issue in its most distinct form was brought before the National Tribunal for settlement.

A large concourse of delegates and other active Republicans gathered in Chicago in advance of the time appointed for the National Convention. The assemblage is memorable in political annals for its

large number of able men, for its brilliant displays of oratory, for its long duration, and for its arduous struggle. From the United States Senate came Mr. Conkling, General Logan, George F. Hoar, J. Donald Cameron, Preston B. Plumb, William Pitt Kellogg, and Blanche K. Bruce. Of the men soon to enter the Senate were Benjamin H. Harrison of Indiana, Eugene Hale and William P. Frye of Maine, William J. Sewall of New Jersey, Omar D. Conger of Michigan, Dwight M. Sabin of Minnesota, and Philetus Sawyer of Wisconsin. General Garfield, who already held his commission as senator-elect, led the Ohio delegation, with Governor Foster and Ex-Governor Dennison among his colleagues. Five of General Grant's Cabinet Ministers were on the roll of the Convention, Mr. Boutwell of Massachusetts, Mr. Creswell of Maryland, Mr. George H. Williams of Oregon, Mr. Edwards Pierrepont of New York, and Mr. Cameron (already named with the senators). Among other delegates of distinction were Chester A. Arthur of New York, Henry C. Robinson of Connecticut, Governor Martin of Kansas, General Beaver and Colonel Quay of Pennsylvania, William Walter Phelps of New Jersey, William E. Chandler of New Hampshire, Emory A. Storrs of Illinois, Governor Warmoth of Louisiana, Governor Henderson and J. S. Clarkson of Iowa, President Seelye and Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts. Probably no other Convention since that which nominated Mr. Clay in 1844 has contained a larger number of eminent public men.

The two men who from the first especially attracted observation were Mr. Conkling and General Garfield. By intellectual force, by ardent zeal and earnest advocacy, and by common recogni tion, Mr. Conkling was the master spirit and became the acknowledged leader of those who desired the nomination of General Grant. General Garfield bore little part in the management, and was not there to represent the main body of those who opposed General Grant's candidacy. But the anti-Grant delegates, though divided as to candidates, naturally made common cause, and in the parliamentary contests of the Convention the personal and intellectual ascendency of General Garfield made him, though in a less active and aggressive sense, the recognized leader of the opposition. Around the two chiefs clustered the loyalty and the expectations which are always associated with leadership, and the appearance of each, day by day towering above his fellows, was the signal for an outburst of applause from friends and followers.