winning him his State; the eyes of the Union were on him. The fight in Ohio for honest money had attracted the attention of the entire country and Governor Hayes by the strong way in which he handled this question became a National figure. His party in Ohio were not slow to recognise this and among themselves he was talked about as the next candidate for the Presidency. He, however, smiled at such suggestions, and never for a moment looked towards the White House.

CHAPTER XVI.

PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES (Concluded).

WHEN the Republican Convention of Ohio met in March 1876, the name of Governor Hayes was recommended as the candidate of the party for the Presidency and preparations were made to bring his name prominently before the National Republican Convention which was called to meet at Cincinnati on June 14. On June 15, General Noyes of Ohio, presented the name of Governor Hayes to the Convention. It was not, however, at first received with much enthusiasm. There were a number of other very strong candidates in the field-James G. Blaine, Oliver P. Morton, Benjamin H. Bristow, Roscoe Conkling, and John F. Hartranft. Among so many conflicting forces it was a difficult matter for the convention to come to a decision. James G. Blaine, despite the attempt that had so lately been made to slander his name, was immensely the strongest candidate, and on the first ballot had 285 to Hayes' 61. But as the balloting proceeded the delegates supporting the other candidates, seeing they could not win themselves, determined to defeat Blaine, and on the seventh ballot Hayes received 384 votes and on motion of William P. Frye the nomination was made

unanimous.

The party had considerable confidence in him. His record was a clean one, he had been a distinguished soldier, his principles were sound, and his policy was known to the country through his letter accepting the nomination for the Presidency. He was determined to have genuine civil service reform. Since the days of Andrew Jackson patronage had been the curse of the country. "To the victors belong the spoils " was the cry after every election. He was determined that the civil service should be reformed thoroughly and radically. He realised that in order to make the reforms his country needed he must make it evident to all that he was seeking for no second term. He was undertaking the struggle with his eyes open. He could not but make bitter enemies if he were to carry out the principles he laid down in his letter of acceptance. Believing," he said, "that the restoration of the civil service to the system established by Washington, and followed by the early presidents, can best be accomplished by an Executive, who is under no temptation to use the patronage of his office to promote his own re-election, I desire to perform what I regard as a duty, in stating now my inflexible purpose, if elected, not to be a candidate for election to a second term." He likewise stated his opposition towards an irredeemable paper currency in very much the same language as he had done in his campaign for governor. He likewise expressed himself most strongly with regard to the South and showed a desire to bring about a permanent peace in that part of his country which was still suffering from the Civil war.

In the campaign for the Presidency he was opposed by Samuel J. Tilden of New York, and after a hard campaign the election ended most unsatisfactorily.

Tilden had a large popular vote in his favour, but both sides claimed an electoral majority. The difficulty which arose at this time is very clearly stated in Bryce's The American Commonwealth.

"In 1876," writes that distinguished historian, "Mr. Hayes was the Republican candidate for the presidency, Mr. Tilden the Democratic. The former carried his list of electors in seventeen States, whose aggregate electors numbered 163, and the latter carried his list also in seventeen States whose aggregate electors numbered 184. (As the total number of electors was 369, 184 was within one of being a half of that number). Four States remained out of the total thirty-eight and in each of these four two sets of persons had been chosen by popular vote, each set claiming, on grounds too complicated to be here explained, to be the duly chosen electors from those States respectively. The electoral votes of these four States amounted to 22, so that if in any one of them the Democratic set of electors had been found to have been duly chosen, the Democratic would have secured a majority of electoral votes, whereas even if in all of them Republican electors had been chosen, the Republican electors would have had a majority of one only."

The Republicans claimed all these doubtful States, accusing the Democrats of intimidating voters and tampering with ballot boxes. The situation was a very critical one; the Senate was at the time Republican and the House Democratic, and it looked for a moment as if the country was on the verge of a political war. However, good sense prevailed and an electoral commission of fifteen members, three Republican and two Democratic senators, three Democratic and two Republican representatives, and

five justices of the Supreme Court, two of whom should be Republican, and two Democratic, was appointed. These fourteen members were to select the fifteenth, another judge. It was the intention to select Judge Davis of Illinois, but while the crisis was impending he resigned from the Supreme Bench and was elected to the Senate and Justice Bradley a Republican was chosen. The disputed points were settled by a party vote, eight to seven, in favour of the Republican returns. It was not until the 2nd of March that the count was completed, and Mr. Hayes found himself President of the United States by a majority of 1. Through this struggle Mr. Tilden behaved in a most honourable manner. He believed himself rightfully elected, as did a very large portion of the electors, and had he but taken his stand against the decision of the commission, another war might have been precipitated.

President Hayes was inaugurated on March 5, and in his inaugural address once more emphasised his position on the questions that had called him to the Presidential office. His desire was to see permanent peace in the country and to bring back the Southern States, not by force, but by love. He recognised the difficulties in the way, but he believed that the time was not far distant when "the tremendous revolution" which had passed over them would be recognised as a blessing. The difficulty, he saw, was the race difficulty, and the evils which afflicted the South could, he believed, be remedied only by the united and harmonious efforts of both races. It is now twenty-five years since his inaugural address was delivered, and yet so bitter is the race feeling that the whole South was horrified a short time ago when

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