Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/677

 1376-?] Hayes elected President. 645 obeyed since the time of Washington, but also seemed to threaten a continuation of all the worst features of Republican supremacy, every conservative and reforming element in the country protested ; and the House of Representatives, by an almost unanimous vote, stigmatised the plan as " unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with peril to our free insti- tutions."" This killed the third term movement, and encouraged all the better elements of the Republican party at the Convention, which met in June, 1876, at Cincinnati, to unite in nominating Governor Hayes of Ohio, whose record showed him to be sound on financial matters and favourable to governmental reform, over Elaine, whose popularity was clouded by a charge of corruption. The platform promised reform, sound finance, and the maintenance of the reconstruction measures. The Democrats, on their part, presented Governor Tilden of New York, a candidate representing the conservative wing of the party, and prominent as a reformer through his recent share in overthrowing the Tammany ring in New York city. Their platform condemned Re- publican corruption in the Federal and " carpet-bag " governments, and denounced the Specie Resumption Act as a hindrance to resumption. The election which followed proved to be one of the most exciting in the history of the country, since an alarming dilemma arose from the fact that in the three remaining " carpet-bag " States the returns, as usual, were in doubt, and these held the balance between the candidates. Since the Senate was Republican and the House Democratic, a partisan insistence by either might prevent any counting of the electoral vote, and might thus leave the country with no legal executive after March 4, 1877. To avoid this danger, the Houses agreed upon a compromise, by which the question of the vote in these three States and in Oregon was submitted to an Electoral Commission composed of five members of each House and five judges of the Supreme Court ; the decision of the Commission to stand unless overruled by both Houses. As it turned out, the Commission, intended to be impartial, proved to consist of eight Republicans and seven Democrats; and it decided every question in favour of the Republicans by a vote of eight to seven. Since the Senate declined to overrule these decisions, they remained valid; and in this way Hayes was declared elected by 185 votes to 184. The anger of the Democrats over this last triumph of the "carpet-bag" system was extreme ; but the nation acquiesced, and Hayes was inaugurated. The whole affair was permeated with blind partisanship and tainted by rumours of corruption, and stands as a discreditable episode for nearly everyone engaged in it with the exception of Hayes himself. The election of Hayes maintained Republican control of the execu- tive ; but although the new President appointed a liberal Cabinet, made admirable reforms in administration, and withdrew Federal troops from the South, the tide kept on running against the party. Hard times continued, intensified in 1877 by a severe railway strike in the Central CH. XX.