vote, as claimed by Mr. Chandler. It was the first, and thus far has been the only case of a disputed Presidency in our history. The effect of the decision upon the Democratic press of the country was extraordinary. On all hands was renewed the cry of 66 Fraud!" and Hayes was openly charged with being a usurper, profiting by dishonor. The outcry was continued until the Democratic party as a whole, as well as a large percentage of the Republican party, forgot that the Electoral Commission bill

had been first re

*

ported from the Judiciary Committee by a Southern Democrat in a Democratic House, and had been supported by an overwhelming Democratic major

ity. Whatever may have been the rights in the beginning (and rights are not easily determined where purchase on one side and coercion on the other are regarded as legitimate methods†), all must concede that

A MODERN DON QUIXOTE

* Proctor Knott, of Kentucky. The bill is said to have originated with Mr. McCrary, of Iowa.

+ Thomas Nelson Page, who may be accepted as authority on matters pertaining to the South, says:

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In some places the question was seriously debated whether it was worse to use force or fraud, the necessity for one or the other being simply assumed. In others, some negroes substantially auctioned off their votes."-" The Disfranchisement of the Negro," Scribner's Magazine, July, 1904.

with the verdict of the Electoral Commission the Presidency belonged to Rutherford B. Hayes. Yet there are men to-day, of both parties, who have not read, and who would not care to read, a page of the official reports of the controversywho, with no actual knowledge of the facts, sincerely maintain that Samuel J. Tilden was lawfully elected President of the United States, only

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to be denied his ANOTHER SUCH VICTORY AND I AM UNDONE. -PYRRHUS seat through Republican legislative and military power.*

Nast closed the contest pictorially with a humorous caricature of the much battered and bandaged Republican Elephant saying, with Pyrrhus:

"Another such victory and I am undone."

We may fittingly end this chapter with a letter recently received by the writer of these chronicles from a gentleman connected with the National Republican Committee of 1876. Nast himself never referred to the incident which this letter recalls.

* Mr. Tilden received a majority of the popular Presidential vote. In this sense he was the "people's choice." Any other claim of his legal election is based upon nothing more tangible than violent and prolonged assertion.

Perhaps it had passed from his memory. Perhaps he did not consider it worth recording:

Dear Sir:

Roseburg, Ore., July 6, 1904.

At the close of the Hayes-Tilden campaign I was sent to Morristown by the Republican National Committee with a check for $10,000 drawn in favor of Thomas Nast as a recognition of the great services he rendered the committee in that famous campaign, and he declined to receive it.

He said, "You may tell the committee that I am very grateful for the recognition, but as I have been paid by Harper Brothers I cannot accept it."

After spending a pleasant hour with Mr. Nast, I returned to Washington and reported to the committee. To say that Senator Chandler was surprised and disappointed is putting it but mildly. Mr. Hayes smiled and said, "He (Nast) was the most powerful single-handed aid we had."

Very respectfully,

PART FIVE: THE STATESMAN

CHAPTER XL

A DISTINGUISHED GUEST, AND A GREAT LOSS

In the midst of the Tilden-Hayes controversy had come Grant's last Annual Message-a dignified, though rather sad, document of farewell. In it he referred to the mistakes he had made in political appointments. In part, he said:

History shows that no administration, from the time of Washington to the present, has been free from these mistakes; but I leave comparisons to History, claiming only that I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent. It is not probable that public affairs will ever again receive attention from me, further than as a citizen of the republic, always taking a deep interest in the honor, integrity and prosperity of the whole land.

Nast portrayed Columbia as sorrowfully contemplating the patriot's parting words. Later he presented Grant as

Ulysses" leaving official honors all behind-a dignified conception of the hero he had loved so long and defended so well. Only once had the artist criticised the soldier, and the soldier had long honored the artist with his friendship and his confidence.

The bond between them now ripened into intimacy. On May 3, just prior to the celebrated" Trip Around the World," the ex

President, with Mrs. Grant and young Ulysses, made a family visit to the home at Morristown.

The Nasts gave a quiet dinner in honor of their guests. Josiah Fiske and General Corbin were there, and two of the Harper firm. Of course an effort was made to have the affair as perfect as possible. The table was artistically arranged and decorated, the courses had been carefully chosen and came in due sequence, the coffee appeared at last to complete the successful round of refreshment.

Then all at once the host was seized with a mortal agony of spirit. Not being a smoker himself, he had forgotten the cigars! With the most celebrated smoker in the nation at his tablethe man whom he had depicted as puffing serenely when assailed by his enemies-with this great visitor at his board, he had forgotten the cigars! Pale, and with beads of perspiration on his brow, he glanced appealingly at the guest of honor, who smiled reassuringly.

"It's all right, Nast," he said. "I remembered that you don't smoke. Besides, I never go into action without ammunition," and he drew forth a handful of his favorite Havanas.

During the table talk that day the ex-President said: "I am tired of abuse, and of being a servant of the people. I am going to feel once more how it seems to be a sovereign, as every American citizen is."

General Grant was seized with a chill while still seated at the table, which made the visit end rather unhappily—all the more so as he was obliged to take the train that evening and the station platform was crowded with those who were anxious to do him honor. He rallied as best he could and his visit proved a notable event in the little city, long remembered by those who had an opportunity to see, and perhaps to shake the hand of, the foremost "American citizen." Two weeks later he had begun his long triumphal journey around the world.