Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century | Page 9

unquenchable fire! Then the smoke, arising for a season, shall be swept
away, and nothing but a green earth and a blue sky shall remain for the
emancipated race of man.
THE PERIL OF OUR CENTENNIAL YEAR.
Americans are likely to dwell for a long time upon the glories of our
Centennial of Independence. The year 1876 came and went, and left its
impress on the world. Our great Exposition at Philadelphia was happily
devised. We celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of our
independence, and invited all nations, including Great Britain, to join

us in the festival. The Exposition was successful in a high degree. The
nation was at its best. The warrior President who had led her armies to
victory announced the opening and the close. Great things were seen.
One or two great orations were pronounced, and in particular a great
Centennial poem was contributed by that gifted son of genius, Sidney
Lanier, of Georgia. Nor do we refrain from repeating, after twenty
years, one of his poetic passages:
"Long as thine Art shall love true love; Long as thy Science truth shall
know; Long as thine Eagle harms no Dove; Long as thy Law by law
shall grow; Long as thy God is God above, Thy brother every man
below, So long, dear Land of all my love, Thy name shall shine, thy
fame shall glow!"
With the autumnal frost the great Exposition was concluded; and with
that autumnal frost came a peril the like of which our nation had not
hitherto encountered. The presidential election was held, and ended in a
disputed presidency. We had agreed since the beginning of the century
that ours should be a government by party. Against this policy
Washington had contended stoutly; but after the death of the Father of
his Country, the policy prevailed--as it has continued to prevail more
and more to the present day.
In 1876 a Democratic reaction came on against the long-dominant
Republican party, and Samuel J. Tilden, candidate of the Democracy,
secured a popular majority. The electoral majority remained in dispute.
Both parties claimed the victory. The election was so evenly balanced
in its results--there had been so much irregularity in the voting and
subsequent electoral proceedings in the States of Florida, Louisiana,
South Carolina and Oregon, and the powers of Congress over the votes
of such States were so vaguely defined under existing legislation--that
no certain declaration of the result could be made. The public mind was
confounded with perplexity and excitement, and there began to be
heard the threatenings of civil war.
Perhaps the nation did not realize the danger; but the danger was
present, and threatened to be overwhelming. The Republican party in
possession of the Government was not willing to lose its advantage,
and the Democratic party, declaring its majority to be rightful, was
ready to rise in insurrection. As to the facts in the case, neither Samuel
J. Tilden nor General R.B. Hayes was clearly elected to the presidency.

The Democrats had carried two or three States by the persuasion of
shotguns, and the Republicans with the aid of electoral commissions
had counted in the electoral votes of a State or two which they did not
carry at all. The excitement increased with the approach of winter, and
it was proposed in a leading Democratic journal of the West that a
hundred thousand Democrats should rise and march unarmed on
Washington City, there to influence the decision of the disputed
question.
When Congress convened in December, the whole question of the
disputed presidency came at once before that body for settlement. The
situation was seriously complicated by the political complexion of the
Senate and the House of Representatives. In the former body the
Republicans had a majority sufficient to control its action, while in the
House the Democratic majority was still more decisive and equally
willful.
At length the necessity of doing something became imperative. The
great merchants and manufacturers of the country and the boards of
trade in the principal cities grew clamorous for a peaceable adjustment
of the difficulty. The spirit of compromise gained ground, and it was
agreed to refer the disputed election returns to a joint high commission,
to consist of five members chosen from the United States Senate, five
from the House of Representatives, and five from the Supreme Court.
The judgment of this tribunal was to be final. The commission was
accordingly constituted. The disputed returns were sent, State by State,
to the High Court for decision. That body was itself divided politically,
and every member decided each question according to his politics. The
Republicans had seven votes in the court, the Democrats seven votes,
and one vote, that of Judge Joseph P. Bradley, was said to be
independent. But Judge Bradley was a Republican in his