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 t? 1 
 
THE 
 
 War Claims of the South. 
 
 THE KEW SOUTHEEX CONFEDEEACY, WITH THE 
 
 DEMOCEATIC PAETY AS ITS CLAIM AGEXCY, DB- 
 
 MA]S^DING IXDEMXITY FOE CONQUEST, 
 
 AND THEEATENING A DISPUTED 
 
 PEESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 THE CANDIDACY OF HAYES AND THE RELIEF OF THE 
 REPUBLIC FROM DANGER. 
 
 A^N ADDRESS 
 
 At Cooper Institute, New York, Wednesday Evening, October '2b, 1S76, 
 
 AND LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW 
 
 YORK WORLD REPLYING TO THAT JOURNAL, 
 
 AND TO GOYERNOR TILDEN, 
 
 B y M.; HALSTEAO, 
 
 OF CINCINNATI. 
 
 C I N C I N N ATI: 
 
 ROBERT CLARKE & CO., PRINTERS. 
 
 IS76. 
 
/v 
 
 fO 
 
THE 
 
 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 Fellow-citizexs : 
 
 The October State elections this year have not decided 
 the Presidential election. That has been referred to New- 
 York. I am here to speak of a matter of business con- 
 nected with the election ; and the letter from the Demo- 
 cratic candidate for the Presidency, published this morn- 
 ing, certifies the importance of that business. I propose to 
 speak of the public peril of the war claims of the " Solid 
 South " — of the new Southern Confederacy — with the 
 Democratic party as its claim agency demanding indemnity 
 for conquest, and threatening a disputed Presidential elec- 
 tion, which would reduce the American Republic to the 
 grade of Mexico. I propose also to show that the Southern 
 claims are greater in proportions than the N'ational debt, 
 and that the idea at the root of the matter is the adoption 
 of the Confederate system of finance — the issue of legal- 
 tender paper to pay the claims — a policy that would reduce 
 the finances, the credit, the bonds of the Kation to a level 
 with those of the Southern Confederacy — the level of 
 hopeless bankruptcy. I propose to speak, too, of the re- 
 organization of the Confederate army, equipped with 
 pocket-pistols and shot-guns, to disregard the only condi- 
 tion imposed by the IsTation when the Confederacy was 
 crushed by military force— that of manhood sufirage — and 
 to carry the Republican States of the South for the 
 Democratic party by the deadly derringer. 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 Mr. TiMon. as any one can see by the last issue of Frank 
 Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, is a gentleman in the bloom 
 of early manhood, standing in an attitude that recalls the 
 First Xapoleon. before the door of the Treasury. I am at 
 a loss to know whether it is Mr. Tilden's apparent youth 
 and innocence, or his probable excess of occupation pre- 
 vontiuii: the study of the subject, that has caused his singu- 
 iarlv complete misapprehension of the extent and charac- 
 ter of the Confederate War Claims, and of his own rela- 
 tions to them. As for the restraints that he assumes to 
 :\ himself, in the letter in which he testifies to 
 importance of the War Claims urged by the 
 rnitcd South, the gentleman has forgotten that no longer 
 in the first week of August he reminded his eoun- 
 . when accepting the nomination of the St. Louis 
 Convention, that ** experience had repeatedly exposed the 
 futility of self-imposed restrictions by candidates." It 
 must have been an imperative sense of the necessity of say- 
 ing something, and that quickly, that overcame what we 
 may assume was the natural reluctance of Governor Til- 
 den, after announcing the futility of self-imposed restraints 
 in such cases, to make proclamation of the restraints that 
 he presumes to impose upon himself. 
 
 He tells what he will do if he is elected President re- 
 8pK?cting the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, 
 which do not apply to the Southern claims that we are 
 f- We refer to claims for damasres to Southern 
 , ^ aims that property was taken for the use of the 
 
 array. And the truth is, if we are li\'ing under a Confed- 
 -m of Government, if the Xational soldiers were 
 , -rs upon the soil of the seceded States, the Confed- 
 erate war claims are just and ought to be paid. The sensi- 
 bility of Govenor Tilden on this subject is worthy of all 
 praise. But we nmst take his word for it that such a self- 
 imposed restraint has been shown by experience to be futile. 
 There is one restraint in which I have confidence, and only 
 '■■•"• - to rc-^train the Governor of iN'ew York from 
 i'.nt of the United States. The Governor 
 
WAB CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 of Ohio is the better man for the place. He was himself 
 '• a trespasser upon Southern soil " when it was made sa- 
 cred by secession, and if he is elected President we shall 
 not be troubled by Confederate War Claims. 
 
 " We, the people of the United States," have accom- 
 plished the end of the Constitution, in forming " a more 
 perfect union " than that Confederacy which was the weak- 
 ness of onr fathers in the Revolution. Through prc^perous 
 peace and triumphant war w e have become a mighty Nation . 
 The Xatiou is a Republic, based upon manhood suffrage ; 
 and I propose to discuss the question whether we can afford 
 to place the Geueral Government in the hands of the j;»olit- 
 ical organization whose record promises, and whose atti- 
 tude threatens, a return to that Confederate system, which 
 is identified with the intolerant rule of a sectional class, 
 and illustrated by those chapters of our history that are of 
 evil fame, and whose ** disasters veiled the sun." 
 
 All citizens who are interested in fair play for industry 
 in good works should rejoice in the cry that we must have 
 a change — reform, economy, and " wise finance ; " but in 
 the capacity of an independent citizen it is impo^ible to 
 accept the Democratic party as the agency of reforma- 
 tion. 
 
 The October elections have referred the Presidential 
 contest to S^ew York ; and I, a citizen of the larger and 
 more populous and Republican of the October States, 
 Ohio, am here to address the people of the State of Des- 
 tiny in this year of lofty recollections and hopes, on what 
 I understand to be in the most serious sense a matter of 
 business. 
 
 Indiana was not won by the Republicans in the election 
 on the 10th of this month, because the baleful delusions 
 that grow like i-ag weeds from issues of legal-tender paper 
 had not been dispelled by courageous and competent in- 
 struction of the people in the canvassing of other years ; 
 and because importance was given rather to sentimeutal 
 excitement than to affairs of business growing out of the 
 war. 
 
6 AVAK CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 Ohio was won by tlie Republicans on tlie same day, be- 
 cause the State was faithfully canvassed and the people 
 happily educated on the money questions last year, and be- 
 cause the true meaning of the Consolidated Southern Con- 
 t'ederacy in presenting its bills for war chiims to the Na- 
 tional Treasury, was given through the campaign the 
 uncommon conspicuity its startling importance demanded. 
 
 West Virginia was carried by the Democratic party upon 
 the theory that the Southern war claims would be tenderly 
 nurtured by that party, and made to bring forth golden, 
 or rather greenback fruit in gracious abundance — and so 
 the South is before the country as a united section in behalf 
 of an unprinciitled i>arty; and in the Southern Republicau 
 States the old Confederate arm}', reorganized in derringer 
 cUdis, is engaged in a deadly "-still hunt" for the posses- 
 sion of power that "means business" in an eminent de- 
 gree. 
 
 "Wlien (lermany crushed the militaiy Empire of France 
 she demanded an indemnity for her trouble. The con- 
 (pieror gathered the s[)oil with the glory. The American 
 kepublic trampled down the Southern Confederacy, and 
 tlie Confederates, revived and restored to citizenship, feel 
 that justice requires in their behalf a reversal of all the 
 precedents of warfare, and are coniidently requiring as a 
 peace-ottering from those who overcame them, compensa- 
 tion for losses suffered, — the infliction upon the conqueror 
 of a tine for the <lanuiges that imi)overished the vanquished. 
 This may be described as a novelty, and it adds a fresh 
 point to Wellington's famous remark, that next to defeat 
 the greatest misfortune is victory. 
 
 The Confederates are (piite right al)Out it, however, if 
 they are sound in their theory of the form of our Govern- 
 ment ; and if the Democratic ]>arty has any principle, we 
 untler.Maufl it to be that the Southern Confederacy w^as 
 ri|rht and the Xatiomil Government wrong in the liegin- 
 ning, the course, and the end of the war. If the National 
 Hoklier \vuh u " trespasser" wherever he touched the sacred 
 soil of a Sovereign Southern Slate that, in the exercise of 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 her highest capacity, had withdrawn from the Union — and 
 I understand there is distinguished Democratic authority 
 for this proposition in the State of New York — we can not, 
 of course, get out of the responsihility of paying for all the 
 mischief done — without sneaking out of it, and we must 
 not do that. 
 
 The cloud of the Southern claims is not spectral — it is 
 not a ghost that will vanish when you speak to it ; but it is 
 the overshadowing reality of the political campaign about 
 to close. If we put the Consolidated Southern Confeder- 
 acy in possession of the National Government, we must 
 expect the Southern claims to be allowed, and that they 
 will be pressed to payment as a debt of honor. 
 
 This is not a phantom danger. It is a plain business 
 fact. It is the fruit of the logic, if it has not the flavor of 
 the literature, of the Democratic party. 
 
 Now that organization has no iixed principles, if we ex- 
 cept the general one that the late war was the result of the 
 rebellion of the North against the Divine authority of the 
 South — and in the absence of this special illumination of 
 our history, the South has no grievance for which the Na- 
 tional Government is responsible. Why then the appear- 
 ance of the Solid South in the St. Louis Convention? 
 Why the total indifference in that Convention of the mass 
 of Southern delegates to the terms of the platform and the 
 names of the candidates, save only as they might promise 
 success, and power, signifying in its last analysis money ? 
 
 The Virginian theory of the Constitution once interfered 
 with appropriations by Congress for local enterprises, but 
 a change has passed over the spirit of the Southern dream ; 
 and we do not hear of the constitutional lawyers of Vir- 
 ginia objecting to the appropriation of the uncounted mill- 
 ions wanted for the James Eiver Canal, the climax of 
 which is a tunnel through the Allegheny Mountains seven 
 miles in length, where there would be the total lack of 
 water that in the old story spoiled the mill-seat. We do 
 not hear that the Southwestern experts in the ancient mys- 
 teries of the Constitution find any difficulty in taxing the 
 
8 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 people of the improtected ovei-flowed lands of the Wabash 
 aiul White Rivers of Indiana, and the Scioto and Miami 
 Rivers of Ohio, to build Mississippi levees ; or that they 
 r.-'iuire any stronger argument for constructing a Southern 
 ra.itie liailroad than that avast sum was wasted on the 
 Northern Pacitic line. 
 
 The Solid South seeks money through jobs and claims 
 that we must pronounce preposterous, not only with eager 
 energy, but with perfect sincerity in the opinion that the 
 money belongs in all fairness and righteousness to the 
 Southern people. 
 
 Tlie South has suftered deeply — was desolated and ira- 
 l>overished by the war. The distress of her people has 
 been great, and in defeat and poverty they were entitled 
 to our best sympathy and kimlness and help. It is sorrow- 
 ful that tiiere has been a lack of healing statesmanship. 
 We are all heavy losers through that misfortune. There 
 was, thougli, when the military part of the war was over, a 
 Statesman in the White House, and he was assassinated. 
 Then a Southern man became President, and our first 
 trouble with him was to reduce the j)lethora of his passion 
 for hanging the traitors he knew — perhaps too well, if not 
 wisely. 
 
 We followed the precedent of elevating to our highest 
 civil otfice the most successful of our Generals, and he at 
 !':i-t has ever since been regretful that he accepted the 
 .-iiuiition. Now, I am not of those who have been con- 
 strained by a sense of partisan duty to incessantly applaud 
 the Administration. I wanted a change long ago, but I 
 have been in thorough sympathy and agreement with the 
 President in one particular. He has been in favor of the 
 United States of America ; and when charged with unkind- 
 !ic>s of spirit toward the Southern people, we may well 
 remember tliat it certainly did not appear in the terms he 
 gave Lee at Appomattox, or in his leport, at the close of 
 the war, on the operations of the armies under his com- 
 njand, in wliidj he paid a glowing compliment to Southern 
 •soldiers; and it is pertinent to inquire what encouragement 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 9 
 
 the President and the generous sentiments of the Xorth 
 had, in the treatment that the Southern people gave their 
 General Lougstreet when he was appointed to an office 
 of honor and profit ? 
 
 I do not propose to sing the songs of praise of the Ad- 
 ministration, or to cease from criticism; but it is only fair 
 to say that if the South has been infested by and suffered 
 from the Carpet-bagger and Scalawag, the f^ult is not 
 who]]y or chiefly that of the Administration, or of the 
 people of the States that conquered a peace and saved the 
 Union. And while I claim to be as independent as a jour- 
 nalist can be who is in favor of one side when there are but 
 two sides, I am not in any case in favor of putting the 
 Southern Confederacy on top of the United States. 
 
 I am completely willing that the people of the South 
 should manage their own atlairs, in their own way, "sub- 
 ject only to the Constitution of the United States;" but I 
 wish it understood, when I say "people of the South," that 
 I mean all the people, and recognize no natural right of any 
 race to rule. I would that the people of the South had 
 given more attention to their own affairs. But when the 
 old Confederate politicians prepare, with a crusade of hate 
 and reign of terror, the united South, and propose to 
 "occupy and possess" all the departments of ISTational 
 authority, and to exact from the people at large indemnity 
 for the conquest of the Confederacy, it is something far 
 more menacing to all of us than when the same politicians 
 twenty years ago attempted, not for the sake of slavery, 
 but in the love of the political power associated with 
 slavery, to nationalize the peculiar institution ; — and this 
 grim jjortent of a sectional caste, taking the form of the 
 Solid South, and the name of the Democratic party, should 
 be confronted and overwhelmed by the Solid Xorth — not 
 in hate and tiuy, not under banners of blood, but soberly, 
 discreetly, in self-defense, and in the interests of the public 
 peace and the general welfare ; and so clear is the issue, that 
 it is a shame there is a doubt about the vote of a single 
 county from Maine to Oregon. 
 
10 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 In tlio verv dawn of tlio promise of brighter times of 
 business, in tlie white light of tlie statesniiinlike utterances 
 of the Republican candidate for the Presidency in his letter 
 of acceptance of the Cincinnati nomination, arises the dark- 
 ness of the Solid South ; and unw^holesome sectional dis- 
 sensions have characterized the campaign of this year that 
 we had hoped would be memorable only for happiness — 
 and for the cordial universal celebration of the reality of 
 the Proclamation — of the revered inscription of Independ- 
 ence Bell : Of liberty, throughout the land and unto all the 
 inhabitants thereof. 
 
 "We are told with ostentation that the whole South has 
 accepted the situation, and is reconstructed forever more. 
 The politicians who dragged the people of that section into 
 the Confederacy^ terrorizing the whites — who opposed them 
 at that time as they do the blacks in this — are convinced 
 that they made a mistake in running away from the Na- 
 tional Capital when they held majorities in both houses of 
 Congress. They have ascertaitied that they took the wrong 
 road to reach the supremacy that they believed was their 
 birthright. They propose, therefore, leaving vain regrets 
 for errors past, to remain in tlie Union, and use the Demo- 
 cratic party, their steadfast servant in other days, for their 
 lixed purposes. They will not again flee from the fort, 
 throwing away in imbecile fury the weapons they hold, 
 that they may return in the pride of their nakedness to 
 
 storm Its gates. 
 
 Their desires are as strenuous and their aims as far-reach- 
 ing as ever, but they have acquired a better appreciation of 
 means to their ends. They prefer the inside of things to 
 the outside, and on all questions involving bread and butter, 
 there is an enlargement of understanding and an aptitude 
 in adjustment. 
 
 We are asked what is the motive of these men, and 
 wiicrein is danger to be expected? The abolition of slavery 
 is complete and irreversible! Wiiat shall take its place as 
 a basis of operations for political enterprises of great pith 
 and moment? The answer is, Southern Claims take the 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH, 11 
 
 place of slavery as a huge and dominating sectional inter- 
 est. They mean more money than there was in all the ne- 
 groes in America. It is the flagrant intention that those 
 claims shall ultimately inclnde the slaves emancipated by 
 the sword, and that there shall be added to them the value, 
 according to the estimates of the owners, of the cotton de- 
 stroyed, and the corn, green and dry, in the fields and the 
 cribs, that was consumed by men and beasts in the National 
 service. Then we see coming, like a cloud of grasshoppers, 
 myriads of thousand-dollar mules and pianos, and an end- 
 less array of velvet parlor furniture and rosewood fence- 
 rails. 
 
 The National debt has a conservative influence. Horace 
 Greeley said there was no danger that the debt would ever 
 be repudiated; it was " too big to be repudiated." AVhy, 
 these Soutiiern claims are bigger than the National debt. 
 They are the cement of the Solid South. They include the 
 losses of the South from the begining— interest calculated 
 on all the items. There isn't a Congressman, from the Po- 
 tomac, along the Ohio and the Missouri to the Kansas line, 
 and down to the Gulf and the Rio Grande, who would dare, 
 as a candidate for re-election, to oppose these claims. They 
 are the sacred thing of the Solid South. 
 
 Still, slavery is abolished ! It is abolished, no doubt, so 
 far as the so-called patriarchal relation goes. Individuals 
 will no longer own men, women, and children. The auction 
 block for property in man is overthrown, but it is proposed 
 to make the persons who have been emancipated from the 
 control of masters, Slaves of the States. With this view, 
 the blacks have already been disfranchised by the process 
 of the pocket-pistol in all States in which they are in the 
 majority', with the possible exception of South Carolina; 
 and the glitter of the bayonet in that State as opposed to 
 the derringer, is the token for tremblings and pertubations 
 touchins: the Constitution. These were not felt when 
 United States Marshals called for troops to catch fugitive 
 slaves, but we became accustomed to them in the days when 
 the last Democratic President could find no warrant in law 
 
1'2 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 to resist the seizure of National property by States. The 
 camion of South Carolina thundered upon the Star of the 
 West wlieu carrying provisions to Fort Sumter, and the 
 steamer put out to sea, leaving our soldiers to starve, but 
 the Democratic President could not discover in the Consti- 
 tution that it would do to shoot back. There occurred a 
 change in the administration, and while the Confederate 
 cannon were volleying on the fort, the people gave the Con- 
 stitution an interpretation that should abide with it forever. 
 
 When the war was over, there was no hanging, no con- 
 tiscation of the estates of the architects of rebellion. IsTot- 
 withstaiuling the assassination of Lincoln, the spirit of the 
 Xorth was kindly. There was tenderness of heart in the 
 victors toward the vanquished. After some delays that 
 were unfortunate, there was reconstruction, substantially 
 upon the basis of general amnesty and impartial sulfrage. 
 The one condition exacted before the restoration of the 
 Confederates to the political rights they had thrown away 
 was, that the emancipated slaves should be enfranchised. 
 
 Now, the bcluiviour of the frecduien, while there were 
 armies deciding, in the high debates of battlefields, what 
 their future was to be, should have earned the gratitude 
 and the affection of the Southern whites. Scenes of servile 
 insurrection were not added to the horrors of civil war. 
 
 The black citizens have not been liuiltless. They have 
 looked too much to the Government and too little to them- 
 selves; but their education was more expensive than in- 
 structive. Still, they know some essential things wonderfully 
 well. (Jnceapoorold field haiul in Kentucky put the case in a 
 few words. It was during the agitation of the " amendment " 
 that was 8Ui)p08ed to secure his race the right of suftVage. 
 lie was asked in a tone of fierce derision what he intended 
 to do with himsullwlien he became a voter, a:id he answered, 
 with religious solemnity : " AVell, nuirster, if I gets to vote, 
 I will vote as near as I know for them that stood for me." 
 That is what is the matter with the black voters. They 
 arc the faithful friends of the American Nation, and so far 
 as they know (and they have a pretty keen instinct where 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 13 
 
 the}^ have not knowledge), they are against the restoration, 
 to the position of a ruling class, of the Confederate poli- 
 ticians by whom they, and their masters too, were held in 
 servitude. 
 
 "When the Confederate Generals surrendered, the grand 
 army of the D nited States was disbanded. The everlasting 
 reconstruction of the white people of the South was ac- 
 cepted as accomplished. The negro armed with the ballot 
 — the poor man's proper weapon to defend his humble but 
 precious and sacred interests — was to take care of himself. 
 
 The practical proposition of the Solid South, and the 
 leading idea of the Democratic party, is to-day that the old 
 Confederate army may be reorganized in a private wa}^, 
 with concealed weapons — or with displayed arms if their 
 arrogance is so excited that they scorn mere pocket-pistol 
 warfare — and that this armed force may disfranchise the 
 blacks at pleasure, choose Electors, and elect Congressmen 
 and Legislatures, and take away from the General Govern- 
 ment the only guarantee that in the magnanimous mood of 
 unqualified conquest was exacted. 
 
 If Confederate desperadoes may thus possess Congress 
 and the Presidency too, and the l^ational authorities have 
 no rights that men armed with derringers are bound to re- 
 spect, we ought not to be surprised or make any protest 
 w'hatever, if called upon to pay the bills of the once dear 
 departed but now reinstated Confederacy, even if they 
 amount to more than the French indemnity. And we may 
 conclude, with the rehabilitation of the Confederacy, and 
 its extension to our remotest frontiers, slavery, abolished as 
 a personal matter, is re-established as a State institution ; 
 that a system of State servitude, to be called apprentice- 
 ship, or sonie other and softer name, will speedily be enacted 
 and enforced in the interests of Southern peace ; for if the 
 reign of terror is to be perpetuated and its scope is to be 
 National, it will be necessary to regulate it by law, that 
 inducements to assassination may not be so imperative as 
 to cause the massacre of a race. 
 
 If we must accept this as the prerequisite of peace in the 
 land of the derringer, our gain in the overthrow of the 
 
14 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 Soutberu Confederacy hy force of arms would be tbe privi- 
 leo-e of paying.tbe damages inflicted upon tbe Confederates, 
 in addition to bearing our own burdens; wbile tbe loss of 
 tlie pobticians of tbe Soutb would be tbat of tbe ob- 
 ligation to pay tbeir own bills; and tbey would gain 
 an enlargement of tbe Confederate domain to tbe remotest 
 National limits — a territory wider, witb prerogatives ricber 
 tban tbey ever dared to dream of winning by successful 
 war. " Peace batb ber victories no less renowned tban 
 War. 
 
 Tbe rivers of West Virginia unite ber witb Obio, and tbe 
 mountains divide ber from Old Virginia, but in tbe late 
 election neither tbe rivers nor tbe mountains could retain 
 ber, and sbe gave berself utterly to tbe ancient regime. 
 Siie bad no reason to complain of tbe Republican party 
 witbin ber borders. AVbile tbe Republicans were in power 
 ber attairs were well managed. Wben tbe war was over 
 and gentle peace bad fully returned, tbe Confederates were 
 all cnfrancbised and tlie people bad a " cbange." Every- 
 tbiiig was lovely and of good report, but, as usual, tbe 
 Democratic party bad to come into power. It was " tbe 
 gaunt wolf waiting at tbe door" of tbe State. But tbere 
 is no reform to speak of in connection witb tbe " cbange." 
 On tbe contrary, West Virginia bas been as badly governed 
 ever since as sbe could well bave been if tbe Carpet-bag- 
 gers were in autbority and tbe Scalawags bad given their 
 whole attention to i>ublic business. Just now, if tbe peo- 
 ple tbere wanted a cbange and reform and econom}-, they 
 would bave to try tbe Republican paity ; and, otber tilings 
 being equal, tbey would do it gladly, for tbere is nothing 
 tbat 80 cures a State of longing for Democratic reformation 
 as a brief trial of it. 
 
 It was not love of tbe Southern Confederacy, or of the 
 Democratic party, per se, tiiat fixed tbe place of West Vir- 
 ginia in tbe Tilden colunm. It was the overbearing influ- 
 ence of the Southern War Claims tbat controlled the 
 State. Here" is an extract of a letter from Grafton, West 
 Virginia, stating the facts, — and I bog tbat you will give 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 15 
 
 it your most considerate attention, for it is from a citizen 
 of intelligence and responsibility. He says : 
 
 " In the payment of such claims (Southern War Claims), 
 West Virginia is more largely interested, in proportion to 
 population, than any other State ; and it is because it was 
 believed these claims would be paid by the United States 
 if Tilden is elected, that the State voted so largely Demo- 
 cratic the other day. This is the secret of the result ; this 
 is the bottom fact of the situation in this State. 
 
 " In all the strong Democratic counties there are men 
 of influence who have claims. They have worked for Dem- 
 ocratic success as statesmen with Texas bonds in their 
 pockets, worked for annexation and for the §10,000,000 bill. 
 ' There's millions in it.' Right here in this town I know 
 of men who have these claims for property destroyed or 
 captured, who worked most earnestly and voted for the 
 Democratic ticket on the avowed ground that a Democratic 
 success in the United States would assure the payment of 
 their claims. But for their influence, the Repubhcan gain 
 here would have been even greater than it was. One of 
 these ' claims' is for between seven and eight thousand dol- 
 lars, for property destroyed aud taken by the Union army ; 
 another is for similar damages and for fifteen slaves set 
 free. And so on, all around, from hen-roosts to immortal 
 intellects. Every one of the owners of these 'claims' is 
 an ex-rebel sympathizer, at best. 
 
 "You can judge, hence, how it is in the strong rebel 
 counties, where hatred of the Union is not disguised, and 
 where pretty much everybody is thirsting for revenge. 
 There the enthusiasm in behalf of ' Southern claims,' in 
 behalf of making the Yankee pay all the losses of the 
 South after all. is simply irrepressible. It is not attempted 
 to be concealed, as it is here. And it is this which swept 
 all the frontier counties like a tornado — only this and noth- 
 ing more." 
 
 The writer of this letter inclosed with it a note of iden- 
 tification, and used this language : 
 
 " There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that I here 
 state the true reason for the great Democratic victory in 
 
it) WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 this State. The immense danger thus threatened by the 
 Southern claims is not at all appreciated by the North. If 
 it were, there would be no possibility of Tilden getting a 
 single Northern State." 
 
 During the recent canvass in Ohio, when the Democrats 
 noticed tlie question of the Southern war claims, they, as a 
 rule, asserted that there was a constitutional amendment 
 that prohibited the payment of those claims. You are aware 
 that the fourth clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is the 
 only one that has any relation to the subject, and that it re- 
 fers to the payment of debt " incurred in aid of insurrec- 
 tion or rebellion against the United States," and to " com- 
 pensation for slaves," and is not applicable at all to claims 
 for damages. 
 
 War claims are among the worst results of war, for they 
 can not be cured like wounds inflicted in the shock of bat- 
 tle. They are cancerous, and of ceaseless malignancy in 
 growth. We must be at pains to see of what items those 
 we are discussing consist, and how they develop like tu- 
 mors. Here is — 
 
 " Claim No. 3,107. {Before the Claims Commissioners and 
 (Jisallowed.) January 18, 1875. Referred to the Committee 
 on War Claims, and ordered to be printed. Marie P. Evans, 
 of Orleans Parish, Louisiana. Total amount claimed in orig- 
 inal petition, S272,590 ; in amended petition, $495,355." 
 
 Here are speciiications, as follows: 
 
 No. 1. 82.'> hhds. centrifugal sugar, of average weight of 1,300 
 
 lbs. net per hhd., being 1,072,.")U0 lbs., at 2;3c. per lb $268,125 
 
 No. 2. 400 bbl.s. golden sirup (molasses), at 40 galls, per bbl., 
 
 making 10,000 galls., at $1.50 per gall 24,000 
 
 500 bbls. sugar-house molasses, at 40 galls, per bbl., making 
 
 20,000 galls., at ?1 20,000 
 
 No. :}. ],(M)Ufnii>ty bbls., at $2 2,000 
 
 No. 4. 3,0(MJ cords of dry wood, at $5 15,000 
 
 No, 5. 02 mules, at $200 12,400 
 
 No. G. 15 wagons, at $150 2,250 
 
 No. 7. 3 carts, at $75 225 
 
 No. 8. 3 drays, at $75 225 
 
 No. 9. 3 gas-tanks (iron), at $100 300 
 
 No. 10. 26,000 bush, corn (in ear), at $1 20,000 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 No. 11. .374 tons fodder (corn blade.s) and hay, at $25 9,350 
 
 No. 12. 5 horses, at §200. 1,000 
 
 No. 13. 5 bbls. brandy, at $400 2,000 
 
 The number of the items is tliirty-two ; of these, 'So. 31 is 
 for 145,000 fence rails, made of the most beautiful and ex- 
 pensive timber in the world, no doubt. The only thing 
 that should surprise us in the bill of particulars is that the 
 sixty-two mules were not put at ^1,000 each ! The mod- 
 eration of the claimant has not, however, been appreciated ; 
 for the claim is in the list of the disallowed. The first 
 time it was presented the sum total was but $272,590. The 
 amended petition is for §495,355. The efiect of not pay- 
 ing in the first place is seen in the growth of 500 hogsheads 
 of sugar in the first claim to 1,109 hogsheads in the sec- 
 ond, while the price of the sugar expanded from $200 per 
 hogshead to §325 per hogshead. The 800 cords of wood 
 alleged, in the bill of particulars of 1871, to have been 
 taken, grew to 3,000 cords in 1873. Forty mules, at §150 
 each, had multi[>lied to sixty-two mules, at §200 each. 
 5,000 bushels of corn were developed into 26,600 bushels ; 
 500 [)Ounds of bulk pork, in 1871, grew to 5,000 pounds in 
 1873; and if Tilden is elected, there is no reason to doubt 
 that each item will be multiplied by ten, so that we shall 
 have to pay for 50,000 pounds of bulk pork, and so on 
 through the list. 
 
 Take another example : 
 
 "Xo. 14,103. Charles G. Kerr, Fitzhugh Lee, and 
 George W. C. Lee, executors of Anna M. Fitzhugh, late 
 of Alexandria County, Virginia, deceased. 
 
 " Claim filed May 20, 1872. Value of 125,000 cords oak 
 and pine tiriiber, cut and taken from the estate of Ravens- 
 worth, Fairfax County, by orders of various Quartermas- 
 ters, in 1861, '62, '63, '64, and '65, at §3 per cord, §375,000." 
 
 The entire Ravensworth property, 7,826 acres, was as- 
 sessed at §78,260 before the war and since, and the Com- 
 missioners report the assessed value to be about two-thirds 
 of the actual value; but here are §375,000 worth of wood 
 cut oti:' a tract of laud worth at most §100,000, and the 
 
18 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 value of the land not in the least impaired. The miracle of 
 the loaves and iishes can not be said to rank with this 
 achievement. 
 
 Take the claim of ^frs. Annie Whitmore, of Whitfield 
 county, Georgia, a bill for whose relief Avas kindly presented 
 by the lion. Benoni S. Fuller, of Indiana. The amount 
 of this claim is §840,494. Here are specimen points: 
 
 1 horse, which was by good judges estimated $2,300 
 
 35 liorses. $150 •'>,100 
 
 12 young mules, $175 2,100 
 
 4,250 bushels corn, $1.50 tJ,3T5 
 
 50 tons fodder, $15 "50 
 
 10 tons hay, $20 200 
 
 300 acres corn fodder -"tO 
 
 20 head beef cattle, $.50 1,000 
 
 202 bales of cotton, 500 lbs. per bale, taken for hospital pur- 
 poses. $1 131,000 
 
 1,338 bales of cotton, 500 lbs. per bale, $1 609,000 
 
 4 parlor sets — 1 garnet velvet, 1 satin, 1 .«ilk, 1 stripe, $300 1,200 
 
 1 parlor set, black mohair 200 
 
 1 ])arlor set, green silk velvet 400 
 
 1 parlor set, plaid, stripe, blue, red, and green empress 3)0 
 
 1 piano, Chickering COO 
 
 1 i)iuno, Steinway grand 800 
 
 The Sfiirit of " conciliation, economy, and reform " dis- 
 played in putting down only seven parlor sets of furni- 
 ture — one a garnet velvet and another a green silk velvet 
 — and of estimating an invaluable horse at $2,300 only 
 — should be highly esteemed. Mr. Fuller was re-elected 
 to Congress substantially on the merits of this little claim, 
 in a strong Democratic district in Southern Indiana, and 
 his public career promises to be a brilliant success. 
 
 Among the bills presented to the present House of Rep- 
 resentatives by Mr. Bright, of Tennessee, we will look at 
 two (Tippod from a list of some hundreds of the same 
 general ciiaracter. 
 
 "A bill to pay the Presbyterian church of Mufreesboro, 
 Tennessee, SlO,000, said church having been used as a hos- 
 pital for sick and wounded Union soldiers. 
 
 "A bill to pay Thomas Hoard $58,01)5 for supplies taken 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 19 
 
 and used by the army of the United States from the farm 
 of said Hoard (the battle-ground of Stone River), near 
 Mufreesboro, Tennessee." 
 
 It is stated, by soldiers familiar with the place, that the 
 Presbyterian church at Mufreesboro was not worth more 
 than $5,000 when new, and that it was first occupied and 
 damaged b}^ the Confederates, who used it as a hospital 
 until driven from the town. The bill for damages done on 
 the battle-ground of Stone River implies that the national 
 troops were the only ones who disturbed the valuable prop- 
 erty in that quarter, but the history of the battle does not 
 quite corroborate this- flattering presumption. 
 
 However, if the J^ational soldiers were trespassers 
 throughout the war, the bill is accounted for, and ought to 
 be paid. The next thing, perhaps, will be a bill from the 
 old proprietors of the ground in and about the Anderson- 
 ville prison-pens, for the trees destroyed by the prisoners 
 in their efforts to shelter themselves from the sun and the 
 rains. If we guide our feet by the lamps of the Democracy 
 and along their peculiar paths of peace, what objection can 
 be made to that bill ? 
 
 Persons afiirm, however, that such bills are absurd and 
 incredible, and that payment is impossible; and those who 
 have attempted to impress upon the public the seriousness 
 of the Southern prosecution of war claims have been hooted 
 as phantom-fighters. 
 
 Let us see if there is not every possible proof that could 
 be given in advance of the accession of the Democratic 
 party to power, of the. certainty that these very claims will 
 be sharply pressed by a formidable force. Missouri leads 
 the way in State action. She created a War Claims Com- 
 mission in 1873; and Governor Woodson, in his annual 
 message to the General Assembly, January 6, 1875, says : 
 
 " There were presented to the Board of Commissioners 
 eleven thousand nine hundred and sixty-one (11,961) claims, 
 amounting in the aggregate to $4,844,362.29. Seven thou- 
 sand five hundred and fifty-four (7,554) of those claims 
 were allowed during the time in which the Board had the 
 right to sit, and certificates have been issued therefor, ag- 
 
20 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 gregating the sum of ^2,382,132.67. At the expiration of 
 the time fixed by law for the adjustment of the claims 
 pending before them, there were a great many claims un- 
 acted upon, it proving a physical impossibility for the Com- 
 missioners to examine and pass upon all the claims tiled 
 within the time prescribed by the act." 
 
 This is the first crop, so great that the handling of it 
 was a physical impossibility. As for moral possibilities, any 
 sovereign State can swing millions of them. If the Solid 
 South succeeds in its enterprise, employing the Democratic 
 party to capture the Government, there will be a succession 
 of crops, each larger than all the preceding. In the State 
 of Georgia the preparation of claims is such a business that 
 blank forms to facilitate the work are circulated all over 
 the State, and are an indispensable article of stationery. 
 A citizen of Hamilton county, Ohio, an old Democrat, re- 
 cently returned to his home from Alabama, where he has in- 
 terests, ai\d related that when he told the Alabamians that 
 he would go for Tilden, they talked to him in such a 
 style that he thought it his duty as a good citizen to vote 
 the Republican ticket. They denounced the Thirteenth, 
 Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution 
 as " bayonet amendments." They all said that the Yan- 
 kee armies had marched across their farms, and had a stere- 
 otyi>ed way of closing, "I have my bill made out, sir, and 
 if there is any justice in this country I '11 get every dollar 
 of it." There is no numbering these bills, and the appointed 
 time for pressing them to payment is when the Democratic 
 party takes possession of the Government. 
 
 All the war claims that we have heard of are but the 
 first drops of the shower, and the Southern sky is full of 
 rain. After the election of Tilden, if that is to be, comes 
 the Deluge. 
 
 So impatient were the claimants that they could not wait 
 for a pr(>[(itious time to reduce their hopes to legal writing. 
 Tiiey have for years been making careful surveys, with a 
 view to sapping and mining their way into the ISTational 
 Treasury ; and recently they have been vigorously at work 
 upon a concerted plan of siege, prepared, it is evident, by 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 21 
 
 skilled engineers, who have looked over the whole ground 
 and marked out the approaches. 
 
 Mr. Eitchie, of Maryland, April 13, 1872, made a speech, 
 in which he arraigned the act of July 4, 1864, " which pro- 
 vides for the payment of Southern claims on proof that the 
 pro[)erty was actually taken and used by the United States 
 army, and that the claimant was loyal to the United States." 
 The grounds of his sensitive antagonism to the act were 
 thus defined : 
 
 " First — Because the proof required is too strict. 
 , "Second — Because it does not provide payment for prop- 
 erty damaged and destroyed. 
 
 " Third — Because said act requires proof of loyalty," — 
 On which he says : 
 
 " In the bill I have submitted, proof is required only of 
 the justice and validity of the claim. This may be regarded 
 as a material omission b}' the majority of the House, and 
 if its disposition is such that no additional facilities will be 
 accorded to claimants unless the qualificatiou referred to is 
 added,I would suggest that the bill is within the power of 
 this House for such amendment as it may insist upon. I 
 can only say for myself that in the light of my sworn obli- 
 gation to support the Constitution, as I understand that 
 fundamental charter alike of our power and the rights of 
 the citizen, I could not recognize in any legislation of my 
 offering a discrimination so false in principle, so pernicious 
 in example, and so unjust in operation." 
 
 It will be noted that this gentleman had constitutional 
 scruples on the point of requiring proof of loyalty ! Come 
 down to a later day and a programme more comprehensive. 
 On the 30th of June, 1876, Mr. Cabell, of Virginia, reported 
 from the House Committee on War Claims the bill [H. 
 11., 3,827,] for the relief of Pickrell and Broocks, of Vir- 
 ginia. This bill was recommended by the "War Claims 
 Committee, and appropriates the sum of $3,524.75 to pay 
 these claimants, the net proceeds of tobacco taken from 
 them at Wilmington, :N'orth Carolina, March 21, 1865. 
 The claim is not of great proportions, but the distinguished 
 gentleman from Virginia improved the occasion by laying 
 
•^2 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 down general principles of astounding magnitude. He 
 Bays that as one of the claimants had received a special 
 pardon from President Johnson, and the other having 
 " come within the provisions of the several proclamations 
 and general pardon of amnesties, the proof of such pardon 
 is equivalent to affirmative proof under the statute of cap- 
 tured and abandoned property, that the party never gave 
 aid and comfort to the rebellion." 
 
 AVhen we consider the source and the official promulgation 
 of this sweeping report, we are bound to regard it as good 
 Democratic doctrine. It is recent — it is fresh, and it is. 
 strong. It is, that when Andrew Johnson forgave a rebel 
 his sins, thenceforth the rebel w\as truly loyal, and always 
 liad been so in the eye of the law ! This is certainly the 
 nu>st marvelous regeneration of wdiich there is any account 
 in the books, sacred or profane. 
 
 Mr. Cabell's report from the Committee on "War Claims, 
 goes on to announce that in reference to property taken 
 from Southern owners by the Union armies, "the United 
 States Government stands in the position of a trustee for 
 the owner." 
 
 1 need not pause to speak of the scope of this proposition. 
 It rolls over tlie whole case as the waters cover the great 
 deep, and all the leviathans of the Confederacy can sport 
 therein. 
 
 We will next examine — 
 
 '' House Resolution No. 553, by Hon. W. W. Wilshire, 
 Arkansas — 'To facilitate the adjustment and settlement of 
 claims of citizens of the United States, for stores and sup- 
 plies taken or furnished during the rebellion, for the use of 
 the Army of the United States,' including the use and loss 
 of vessels and boats, 1)y authorizing suits to be instituted in 
 tiie I'nited States Court in the district wherein the property 
 was taken or used, such suits to be tried ' by said Courts in 
 tlu same manner and by the same rules of evidence as that 
 now prescribed by law for the trial of civil causes in the 
 Circuit Courts of the United States.' " 
 
 Tliis would refer each batch of claims to the citizens of 
 the neighborhood that was despoiled, a scheme that would 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 23 
 
 fully meet the requirements of Mr. Cabell, of Virginia, that 
 would avoid lacerating the susceptibilities of Mr. Ritchie, 
 of Maryland, and that would prevent any severity of strain 
 upon a Confederate General who might be Mr. Tilden's 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 Mr. Wilshire would abolish the Southern Claims Com- 
 mission, and all tests of loyalty, and pay the damages as- 
 sessed by juries out of a general appropriation. Of 
 course, he has entire contidence in the spirit of reform and 
 economy and wise finance, that has always animated the 
 juries of Arkansas. 
 
 There are so many resolutions having this general direc- 
 tion and bearing, introduced into the House at its late ses- 
 sion, that I can not attempt reference to them all ; but as we 
 must notice the scheme of the Hon. Haywood Y. Riddle, of 
 Tennessee, to make money plenty and times good in the 
 South, without further labor by the inliabitants, the follow- 
 ing is quoted : 
 
 '' House Resolution I^o. 871, by Hon. H. Y. Riddle, of 
 Tennessee — Provides that the testimony of ' any reputable 
 citizen ' shall be admitted by the Court of Claims and War 
 Department as effectually establishing the fact of appropri- 
 ation of property for the use of the armies of the United 
 States." 
 
 This not onl}' discards the idea that loyalty has anything 
 to do with war claims, but makes one oath by a rebel suffi- 
 cient to establish effectually a claim. 
 
 But Mr. Riddle's brightest achievement, looking to the 
 prosperity of his section, without toil or spinning, is in the 
 introduction, February 28, 1876, of a bill to open the treas- 
 ury of the United States to make money plenty in the 
 South — a bill referred to the Judiciarj' Committee, not, of 
 course, to be reported until it can be favorably moved on. 
 It is— 
 
 " H. R. 2364. A bill directing compensation for the use 
 and occupation of property by the United States army dur- 
 ing the late war : 
 
 " Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 
 
24 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 bled, that the Secretary of AVar be, and he is hereby au- 
 thorized to allow reasonable compensation to all citizens of 
 the United States for the use and occupation of their prop- 
 erty by the United States army, or any part thereof, during 
 the lute civil war, in the same manner and under the same 
 regulations as compensation is now allowed for Quarter- 
 master stores used by said army; provided, however, that 
 the atHdavit of the claimant, supported by the competent 
 testimony of any reputable citizen, shall be sufiicient proof 
 to establish the fact of the use and occupation of such 
 property by said army. But it is not the intention of this 
 act to limit the parties to the amount of proof herein speci- 
 lied ; but other and additional testimony hiay be taken to 
 establish the fact of the use and occupation, and the rental 
 value of the property occupied." 
 
 Mr, Riddle is running for re-election to Congress, and 
 this bill is the princii»al plank in his platform. It is a 
 popular plank. He addressed the people of Jamestown, 
 Tennessee, September 28, and claimed that all losses caused 
 by Federal troops or by the Federal Government should be 
 paid alike ; that " all Southern people are now loyal," and 
 that no distinction should be made in the settlement of 
 claims against the Government, but everybody should be 
 paid; and pledged himself to work to that effect. Ilis 
 meetings have recently been attended by a phonographic 
 reporter, but he declines to speak when there is such an 
 intrusion. He need not talk any more to his constituents, 
 however. They fully understand him. His district is the 
 Fourth Tennessee, and his popularity — growing out of his 
 celebrity as the aflvocate of war claims, on the ground that 
 all citizens are ecpially loyal and always have been, and that 
 there can be no just distinctions in the law — is so great that 
 he has no opi)Ositi<)n. The lion. K. II. Cox, who attempted 
 to compete with him, has retired from the canvass. 
 
 The report that we quote of Mr. Riddle's Jamestown 
 sjtcech is from a business letter, and that gentleman's great 
 jtopularity was accounted for in the remark that the pay- 
 ment of war claims, according to his policy, would " make 
 money i)lcnty and times good in the South." The people 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 25 
 
 of New York may be interested to mark this and inquire, 
 at whose expense the benefactions are to flow from the 
 pecuniary horn-of-pleuty, and who is to have the " usufruct" 
 of the horn ? 
 
 Mr. Ritchie, of Maryland, complained, twelve years ago, 
 that the proof required on Southern claims was too strict, 
 and that damaged property could not be included, while the 
 crowning trouble was an unconstitutional requirement that 
 loyalty should be shown. 
 
 Mr. Cabell, of Virginia, from the Committee of War 
 Claims of the present House, reports that the pardon of a 
 rebel is afiirmative proof that he was always loyal, and de- 
 clares that the United States Government is in the position 
 of a trustee of the Confederate claimants for property 
 taken in the war. 
 
 Mr. AVilshire, of Arkansas, would facilitate the settle- 
 ment of claims by trials by jury, so that the tracks of our 
 armies should be followed by juries of the respective neigh- 
 borhoods through which they passed, agreeing upon dam- 
 ages to be distributed among themselves. 
 
 Mr. Riddle, of Tennessee, would take testimony in claims 
 cases without giving consideration to the question of loy- 
 alty, and he would allow compensation to all citizens of the 
 United States for the use and occupation of their property 
 by the United States army, upon the proposition that all 
 discriminations in tlie law against disloyalists are unjust 
 and offensive. 
 
 Taking together Mr. Ritchie, of Maryland, Mr. Cabell, 
 of Virginia, Mr. Wilshire, of Arkansas, and Mr. Riddle, 
 of Tennessee, it is but just to those gentlemen to say that 
 they seem to have left little in the nature of preliminaries 
 to look after — and there never has been a whisper that 
 they did not have the w^arm approbation of the folks at 
 home. 
 
 The record of Mr. Riddle in Congress seems to his con- 
 stituents a very handsome one. He is credited w^ith a good 
 phrase asserting universal loyalty, and equal rights for all 
 in war claims. There is no better Democratic doctrine 
 than his, for the practical application of it is that wherever 
 
26 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 the Xatioiial armies marched there is a Confederate harvest 
 to be slathered. 
 
 And it woukl be well if these cool and learned gentle- 
 men, who aftect to sneer away this aspect of the claims 
 question, would kiiully condescend to tell the people of 
 New York what ai-gument or attribute the Democratic 
 party has, that would resist the war-claims policy of the 
 Solid South, as it is defined in the legislation that Mr. 
 Kiddle has proposed. 
 
 If we begin by admitting that the Union was a Confed- 
 ei-acy— that the election of Lincoln was an offense — the 
 Southern campaigns John Brown raids on a large scale, 
 and the abolition of slavery and the enfranchisement of 
 the freedmen, capital outrages— we must end by placing 
 the South on an equality with the North in money mat- 
 ters; that is, we must pay the Southern war debts and 
 claims of every name and nature. Or, from our stand- 
 point, we must pay for the war over again, and something 
 more, for the South was the greater sufferer; and if we 
 would conciliate on the basis of having done a wrong, we 
 must not complain if we have to pay an indemnity equal 
 to the damage we have done. 
 
 The Southern people say they desired to go apart, and 
 were compelled to remain. They say to us : " You marched 
 through our country destroying our property, and we w^ere 
 nnable to retaliate. You doubled your money in bonds, 
 while we lost all that we put into our bonds ; and you gave 
 tlio blacks the right to confiscate through taxation the little 
 we bad when the war was over. You forced us into the 
 Union, and we propose to stay. Now, we are as loyal as 
 you are — as good as you are. We are poor. Above all 
 things we need money. Here are the bills for the ruin 
 that you wrought ! If we are equals under the law, the 
 payment of these claims is but fair — and then why should 
 not our cri[»pled boys have pensions as well as yours ?" 
 
 They need the money badly enough. They believe they 
 ought to have it. Is it public policy to pay it? Only a 
 fraction of it could come from the South itself. Do you, 
 ht-re in Now York, think it will be in the interest of Re- 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 27 
 
 form, and especially Economy, to pay your share of it? 
 Are you unwilling to be taxed to this end ? Would you 
 prefer to go with the Greenbackers and issue legal tenders 
 to meet all Southern demands, make money plenty, and 
 give us another experience of ^var times in Wall street? 
 If not, you should take care not to go with the Solid South 
 — the new shape of the Southern Confederacy — in this 
 critical campaign. The Southern excitement touching war 
 claims is not as yet very noisy, but it is intense and pro- 
 found. It has been restrained by every prudential consid- 
 eration that could influence men convinced that they have 
 been wronged and resolved to be righted, and yet it is 
 submitted there is ample testimony before the country to 
 determine the action of prudent citizens. It were easy to 
 specify circumstances in corroboration of the proof until 
 you would wear}' with the recital. A Southern Eepubli- 
 can, writing from the State of Mississippi, October 3,1876, 
 to Hon. Warner M. Bateman, District Attorney of the 
 Southern District of Ohio, says: 
 
 " If we should attempt to organize our party in this 
 State, and advocate the support of Hayes and Wheeler, it 
 wHiuld cause riot and bloodshed all over the State, for the 
 White Line Kebels are determined to carry the State, 
 though w^e have a clear majority of thirty thousand at a 
 fair election. Any excuse to deprive Republicans of their 
 rights as American citizens is a source of great consolation 
 to the White Liners." 
 
 The writer adds, it is the purpose of the controlling spir- 
 its of that State to " remunerate themselves out of the 
 public treasury for losses sustained by the war." If these 
 things occur in the green tree, wdiat may not be expected 
 in the dry wood ? 
 
 Can any people having saving common sense atFord to 
 disregard these claims, the certainty and immensity of 
 which are attested by proposed legislation, manifestly pre- 
 pared to remove all the safeguards of the Treasury, while 
 they are notoriously backed by the passionate and exacting 
 public opinion of the section whence they spring ? So un- 
 equivocal are the claims, and so prodigious are they (the ag- 
 
28 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 grc^ate represented in the various bills of si.ccial and general 
 TegislatiGn exceeding two thousand five hundred millions of 
 dollars)— so distinct are the principles upon which they are 
 based, and so consonant arc those principles with the char- 
 acter of the party that must take the responsihility of 
 tiiein.— while the line of argument by which they are jus- 
 tified is staked out quite to the horizon— that fair notice 
 has been served upon the country that they are to be pros- 
 ecuted with the entire strength of the United South. And 
 it is distinctly indicated that the price of the Southern 
 support of the Democratic party is the service of the party 
 as the claim agency for that section. 
 
 The ready assertion of the average Democratic local pol- 
 itician of the Xorth is that the party would, if placed in 
 control of the Government, be responsible to the country 
 for the success of the Administration, and could not con- 
 sent to consider the war claims in the shape and to the ex- 
 tent that we suggest. It is thus assumed, in the first place, 
 that the Democratic party is, where the Solid South is con- 
 cerned, a free agent. I do not believe it is so. The South 
 has the force of a clear purpose, an inflexible will, an un- 
 appeasable animosity, and the habit of command, as well as 
 a hungry sense of a right to have a square meal at home ; 
 and it will have, as it has had, its way with the party. 
 
 It is said the Democratic party would quickly destroy 
 itself by taking up the Southern claims, and must, in cold- 
 blooded reason, be credited with too strong an instinct of 
 self-preservation to swiftly rush to certain slaughter. But 
 this identieal party, backed by a majority merely in the 
 South, withstood for years the odium of the Fugitive Slave 
 Law, and the ruling caste in it at last felt strong enough to 
 re[ioal the Missouri Compromise and attempt the national- 
 ization of slavery. Give these partisans the whole South 
 with its enlarged representation — every Congressional Dis- 
 trict — and i)lace in their hands the army for reorganization, 
 with the cbance of restoring the Confederate leaders to 
 tiieir old regiments ; let them rebuild the navy and use the 
 vast civil patrcniage of the government, extravagantly 
 extended as it has been in the last sixteen years — add to 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. * 29 
 
 this the "solid vote" that the CatlioHc Telegraph of Cin- 
 cinnati promised tlie party ; let one wing of the Democratic 
 army rest u[»on Hichmond and the otlier upon Rome; and 
 reckon upon the arts of Demagoguery that would harness 
 in one team the fanatics of the Ultramontane and the Com- 
 munist schools — and we are not sure that the Democrac}- — 
 always the regulars in our politics and never subjected to 
 discipline more rigorously than now — could defy the power 
 of enlightened public opinion for a tedious term of years. 
 It is quite certain that if this powerful party is placed in 
 possession of the General Government by the casting vote 
 of the State of New York one week from Tuesday next — 
 and that is precisely the contingency that the people of this 
 State should have in mind — no matter how profligate and 
 reckless the Administration might be, it could not be over- 
 thrown without a long and stormy, and perhaps a danger- 
 ous struggle. 
 
 Give the Democratic party the power that with the help 
 of New York it may grasp, and there would prevail 
 through the whole range of official life, and in the ranks 
 of the long array of those who get their living out of pol- 
 itics, an intolerant assertion of Party Infallibility. The 
 despotism would be of iron grip, and any attempt to dis- 
 turb it would be denounced as resembling old-fashioned 
 Abolitionism in its sectional aspect, as threatening another 
 incendiary raid upon the Holy Confederacy of the Solid 
 South, and as a reckless assault upon the sacred peace of 
 the sunny land that reposes under the undisputed sway of 
 pocket lirearms. 
 
 I trust we shall not now, or ever, try the costly experi- 
 ment of committing the country to this course. But there 
 are good citizens who desire to take this crisis quietly, who 
 are making themselves content with saying that the shrewd 
 men at the head of the Democratic party are too cautious to 
 impose the taxes that would be required to raise the money 
 to pay the Southern war claims. It has not perhaps oc- 
 curred to them — -though many of them, no doubt, take a 
 deep interest in the speedy resumption of specie payments 
 — that the claimants might be content with " more green- 
 
30 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 backs." They have not seen that the Kag-baby and 
 the Solid South with her solemn claims were made for 
 each other. They have not studied the history of the Ohio 
 campaign in 1875, which the inflationists — meaning mis- 
 chief mountain high — started with the expectation of 
 sweeping the country, putting forth as their phitform the 
 Confederate system of finance — the very system that made 
 money so abundant in the South, while the Southern armies 
 were still strong, that a pair of boots cost a thousand dol- 
 lars. The inevitable way to pay the Confederate war claims 
 is with legal-tender paper. Those claims fortuitously offer 
 the solution of the difficulty of the rag-money maniacs in 
 distributing new issues. Bales of thousand-dollar notes 
 will be wanted to pay the toll of our armies on the turn- 
 jtikes in the sacred soil, and to compensate those wdio were 
 conquered for all their losses and sorrows ; and as the cost 
 of producing a thousand-dollar note is not greater than 
 that of a one-dollar note, we shall have big money printed, 
 and W'ith it celebrate our " wise finance " to the ends of the 
 earth. We shall put the stamp of the United States u23on 
 all the paper that the emergency, which can always be 
 found, calls for. In the language of the platform of the 
 immortal Inflationists in Ohio, we shall " make the vol- 
 ume of currency equal to the wants of trade." This 
 will give all the gamblers and speculators, and all the 
 ravenous beasts of prey that consume the substance of 
 the industrious and the poor, a harvest of spoil and 
 a carnival of indulgncee; but there will be plenty of 
 money in the land at last, and the South will ''get even" 
 with the North for the war. The finances of the United 
 States will be equalized with those of the Southern Oonfed- 
 eracy. Confederate bonds and National bonds w'ill belong 
 in a common abyss. The era of the perfect equality of cit- 
 izens and sections will come — when we are all fallen into 
 the bottomless [)it of bankruptcy together. 
 
 Would Governor Tilden, as President of the United 
 States, consent to such a catastrophe? I am not here to 
 speak of the personal character of Governor Tilden. I 
 suppose he is as well known in New York as Governor 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 31 
 
 Hayes in Oliio, and I leave hiiu to 3'on. Grant him all the 
 good qualities his friends believe him to possess, and he 
 conld not be the master of the Democratic part}-. There 
 is a stupendous Devil in that party that will not be mas- 
 tered. As to civil service reform, a Democratic President 
 could not resist the demand to turn everybody out, to make 
 room for as many of his party as possible ; and it is unrea- 
 sonable to hold that the public business conld be seriously 
 thought of. Why, if there was to be a Democratic Presi- 
 dent inaugurated, the crowd of office-seekers around the 
 Public Buildings in Washington would be like that of the 
 sight-seers at the Centennial on Pennsylvania's da3^ Fancy 
 an old gentleman like Governor Tilden, not feeble, perhaps, 
 but certainly not robnst, resisting the mad onset of this 
 hungry multitude, in the name of civil service reform ! 
 The attrition would be too great for any human endur- 
 ance. 
 
 It is remarkable in our annals that there has more than 
 once been a dramatic removal of a President who stood in 
 the way of the pronounced policy of the most advanced 
 thinkers of the party of the Solid South. General Harri- 
 son, having John Tyler behind him, was speedily taken 
 hence. General Taylor, after the development of his op- 
 position to the Cotton States Conspirators, was suddenly 
 called away. James Buchanan was poisoned with the rats 
 at the jSTational Hotel, but through strength of constitution 
 was spared to see that the Illation had no right to preserve 
 itself — and his health was good, while the country was 
 read}' to perish. K Governor Tilden should enter into an 
 unseemly antagonism with the more active and potent in- 
 iluences of his party, I apprehend that his strength would 
 soon be shaken and fretted away in the severe friction of 
 his position, and might fail him altogether; that he would 
 be as unable to withstand, through a Presidential term, the 
 racket of the contending patriots as Harrison was — or that 
 he might find a midsummer's cherry-pie lunch as fatal as 
 Tajdor found it. Even if Governor Tilden means real re- 
 form, we know that his party does not; and so great an 
 interest should not hang by the thread of one life. And it 
 
32 AVAli CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 Tiklen were not, where in the world could his party lind a 
 Kotbrmcr? The people of Xew York arc not, I think, en- 
 amored of the " wise iinance " of the Governor of Indiana, 
 where the doctrine is taught that the leaves of the syca- 
 more, with the United States stamp upon them, are " real 
 money." 
 
 Governor Seymour recommends the people to elect a 
 Democratic President, hy way of keeping up a division of 
 responsibility in the drjKirtments of the Government. I 
 fear, if tlie experiment were tried, that the result would not 
 ai>prove his judgment. It is hard to separate Senates from 
 E.xecutive Power. The Senate of the United States would 
 be moved, as by the attraction of gravitation, to harmony 
 with the White House. 
 
 Then the Supreme Court is not the invulnerable barrier 
 against Executive usurpation and sectional aggression that 
 it stands for in the popular estimation. A very respectable 
 minority of the Judges are Democratic. Others are ap- 
 jiroaching the time of life when not only retirement is 
 thought of, but provision is made for it. The extent of the 
 country, and the accunmlation of business suggest reorgan- 
 ization, and an increase in the num1)er of tlie Judges. 
 
 A Democratic President and House would have the 
 Senate and the Sujireme Court also, within two years, if not 
 earlier. And wlio can believe that in this case — with the 
 united and detei-mincd Confederate South as the bottom 
 fact and the impelling force of the party in power — the 
 amendments to the Constitution could stand ? The equality 
 asserted by tlie politicians of the South — the equality of 
 the Rebellion with the Authorities — the equal rights in their 
 Fathers' House of the Confederate with the National sol- 
 diers — the equal rights of the States that seceded with 
 tliose that adhered — the personal susceptibilities of the 
 vSouthern leaders — the policy of the Feast of the Fatted 
 Calf — do not mean anything less than that the war amend- 
 ments shall be wi[ied from the Constitution. It is not " the 
 Constitution as it is," that commands the veneration of the 
 Democratic party. It is the old Constitution — the Consti- 
 tution as it was, over which they asserted an exclusive right 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 33 
 
 of interpretation, that they revere and vvonld restore — and 
 that they would ai^ain construe in their own, old way. 
 Then Ave would ail be " loyal," except those wlio smote 
 sovereign States to the dust, and they declared the mur- 
 derers of States and the minions of despotism, might at last 
 be forgiven by the exalted Confederates. They could only 
 be forgiven, however, on the ground that their errors were 
 involuntary — that their trespasses upon sacred soil must be 
 charitably charged to youthful enthusiasm and helpless 
 ignorance of the Constitution. And we should all be called 
 to remember that the great and only exponents of that in- 
 strument dwell in the South, entitled to the dignity of a 
 dynasty in the rare enjoyment of Restoration to their do- 
 nunions. There is no capacity within the Democratic party 
 to resist the programme of the Solid South, for, as they 
 concede its justice, the assertion of its inexpediency must 
 be in vain. 
 
 The change that the people desire is a change for the 
 better — a reformation, not a revolution — and the econ- 
 omy called for could hardly be found in doubling the 
 I^ational debt. I believe we could count upon a whole- 
 some change — upon an economical, honorable, high-minded 
 administration, if Governor Hayes were elected President ; 
 and I feel it may be worth while, under the circumstances, 
 to speak of my personal knowledge of the man. I have 
 been acquainted with him about a quarter of a century, and 
 he improves upon acquaintance. He and I lived in the 
 same ward for several years, and belonged to the Cincinnati 
 Literary Club — the only society of which, outside of college 
 and army associations, he ever was a member. 
 
 The story that he was a Know-Kothing, repeated in 
 various forms, does not resemble the truth in any shape it 
 has taken. 
 
 I was in consultation with him in March, 1856, in organ- 
 izing a People's Movement, the primary object of which 
 was to defeat the Know-JSTothing party in Cincinnati. We 
 met in the office of Stephen Molitor, the leader of the 
 Liberal Germans at that time ; and, though it is more than 
 twenty years ago, I remember the apt remark of Hayes, as 
 
34 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 some of tliose enlisted with us were willing themselves to 
 he caiuliilates, that the people would prohahly be more im- 
 pressed with the iitness for office of a man if he was not 
 himself active in making the ticket, lie was to have been 
 called to preside at the meeting that we appointed to pre- 
 sent the cause of Reform to the people, but the Know- 
 Nothings took possession of the hall by a concerted move- 
 ment of delegations from their Lodges; and they had only 
 this measure of success to console themselves withal, for 
 they were defeated in the election of the April following, 
 and their prestige in Cincinnati was broken. 
 
 "When Colonel Hayes came home after the battle of South 
 Mountain, bad!}* wounded, with his shattered arm in a sling, 
 lie was asked to attend a public meeting to aid in getting 
 his ward "out of the dratt." lie at iirst declined to go, 
 hnt as liis ohl neighbors insisted, he consented, and was 
 called u[»on for a speech. His opening remark was that it 
 had been his preference, glad as he was to see those about 
 hirti, not to be present on that occasion, for he was not cer- 
 tain that he symitathized with the object for which they as- 
 sembled. The first duty of the people was to fill up the 
 wasted ranks of the army. If the object of the meeting 
 was to send to the field the number of men that the order 
 for the draft called for in the ward, he was heartily with 
 them; but if it was the policy to clear the ward on paper, 
 without reference to the number of recruits furnished, he 
 did not desire that they should succeed. 
 
 It was immediately ascertained that the object of the 
 meeting was not at all that the able-bodied men of the ward 
 should escape the draft, but to send the material for good 
 soldiers to the front ! It would not have been suspected by 
 any one looking in upon the meeting, that the wounded 
 officer in weather-beaten blue clothes — a common soldier's 
 blouse, with a war-worn eagle on the shoulder; — the officer 
 with a blue eye that kindled as he spoke, and a voice with 
 the ring of martial music in it — was a man likely to be ac- 
 cused of lacking a will and ways of his own. 
 
 Many earnest [leople have for some years made a close 
 study of civil service reform, and the theory is generally 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 35 
 
 accepted that this sort of reform, at least, is desirable. The 
 language of Governor Hayes, in accepting the Cincinnati 
 nomination, is on this subject singularly explicit, and those 
 who had given the methods of the reform their closest at- 
 tention, were struck with the fact that Ha3'es wrote about 
 it as if he had been thinking of it for himself. And so he 
 had. He commenced the work of civil service reform in 
 his first term as Governor of Ohio. 
 
 Understanding experimentally the question, the words of 
 his letter of acceptance sped to the center of the mark like 
 rifle-balls, showing the "white disc" at every shot. One 
 of his well-taken points, after his first election, in 1868, was 
 that minorities should have representation in elective boards. 
 In 1870, he urged upon the Legislature the passage of a law 
 incorporating this " measure of reform," and the law was 
 secured and is retained, proving highh^ useful. He carried 
 the principle of minority representation into his appoint- 
 ments of public boards and oflicers, and did it to an extent 
 that made enemies in his own part}'. He has pursued the 
 same policy in his third gubernatorial term, reappointing 
 nine Democrats, appointees of Governor Allen, to salaried 
 positions in the penal and benevolent institutions of the 
 State. In making out the Supreme Court Commission, he 
 appointed three Democrats, and when the Republican Leg- 
 islature created a Police Board in Cincinnati, the Governor 
 appointed a Democrat on the Board ; and he has had a 
 c)ever faculty in finding a few places for Liberal Republi- 
 cans, who are not now, I understand, in possession of a 
 party of their own! Those who have known Governor 
 Hayes loiigest, and have had the closest opportunities for 
 observation, are the most positive of his friends, in the 
 judgment that if he is elected President, he will have a 
 very large influence in the administration. 
 
 There is already an outcry from the South that those 
 who are unwilling to concede that the w'ar was fought in 
 vain, are narrow and bitter; and the}'' are supposed to have 
 inherited the sectional opprobrium once attached, in the 
 conceit of the Confederates, to the opponents of the exten- 
 sion of slavery — yet there has been nothing since Lincoln 
 
36 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 at Gettysburg, in better temper, or with liner insight, or in 
 happier phrase, than the i)assage relating to the Sonth in 
 the letter of Governor Hayes aceeiiting the Cincinnati nom- 
 ination. His sense ofjnstice and sentiment of generosity — 
 a brave man's respect for the brave, a strong man's sympa- 
 thy with misfortune,— shine through the clear sentences ; 
 and taking him all in all, I feel warranted in hopefulness 
 that if he becomes our Chief Magistrate, we may find in 
 him the gift of statesmanship for the healing of the Nation. 
 Citizens of the State of !N"ew York: The lesson of the 
 war that never should depart from us is, that the American 
 people have no exemption from the ordinary fate of human- 
 ity. If we sin, we must sufter for our sins, like the Empires 
 tliat are tottering and the Nations that have perished. Six- 
 teen years ago we were drifting into war, and, though the 
 current was like the Niagara rai)ids, few among us felt that 
 it was irresistible, and saw the shores of the land of peace 
 and plenty recede, or heard the swelling roar of the cata- 
 ract. Whither are we drifting in these Indian summer 
 days? Upon what portentous stream is the Ship of State? 
 Is it sailing 
 
 "Through channels measureless by man, 
 Down to a sunless sea?" 
 
 There is in the prescribed form of counting the Electoral 
 votes cast, or certified to be cast, for President, an uncer- 
 tainty tljat, in the state of the country, may be fitly de- 
 scribed as a peril. The houses of Congress are already at 
 variance. They quarreled on this subject when the liepub- 
 licans had a majority in both, and the vote of the disputed 
 State made no difference in the general result. The joint 
 rules, including the twenty-second, have been abolished, 
 and there is oidy the Constitutional provision as a guide. 
 In a L'ontingency that is not only not impossible, but not 
 improbMbk', there is certain to be a disagreement involving 
 a disputed Presidential elcetion, whieh would be a calamity 
 without i»recedent and beyond calculation. Thoughtful 
 citizens long ago, feeling this possibility as a i)alpable 
 tliougli distant terror, have prayed that the Presidential 
 elections might always be decisive — and God grant that 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 37 
 
 they may. But we are pressing closely upon the danger in 
 the dark. The October elections have not, as in other 
 days, settled the question of the Presidenc3\ What if the 
 November election also should be inconclusive? What if 
 the result of the question of Tilden or Hayes for President 
 rested upon a Southern State — upon Mississippi or South 
 Carolina, with the Derringer in one and the Bayonet in the 
 other ; and the heated politicians, gathered at Washington, 
 and desperate, should Hy at eacli other's throats, and let 
 slip the dogs of war? A disputed Presidential election 
 would Mexicanize us. There is incalculable ruin in it. If 
 the New York electoral vote is given the Democratic can- 
 didates, we are imminently threatened with this degrada- 
 tion. If New York is Republican, the danger is over. 
 
 The whole duty of the Republicans of the State will be 
 performed, for they know their responsibility, and value 
 their privilege. It would appear also that the good citizens 
 who do not "give up to party what was meant for man- 
 kind," see that the safety of the country demands the de- 
 feat of the Democratic party, and will be happy to admin- 
 ister to it the final stroke of fate, and tlius open with 
 auspicious fortune the Second Century of the Republic. 
 
 THE ONLY POINT IN TILDEN S LETTER WHICH REQUIRES ANALY- 
 SIS REVIEWED — THE SUPREME COURT AND THE CLAIMS — THE 
 DEMOCRATIC WAY TO MAKE TIMES GOOD AND MONEY PLENTY. 
 
 To the Editor of the World : 
 
 In the leading article of this morning's issue of your 
 journal I am called upon as an " expert " in Southern 
 claims, and asked what I have to say in reply to your re- 
 marks on my Cooper Union address. I venture to assume 
 that you want to hear from me, and avail myself with much 
 pleasure of the opportunity that your call affords, to notice 
 certain lines of commentary upon that address, that have 
 a tendency to misdirect the attention of the public. The 
 feeling that I experience of obligation to you for this call 
 is akin to the sense of grateful appreciation that I enjoyed 
 
38 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 of the timeliness of Governor Tilden's letter, in which, on 
 the morning of my deliverance on Southern claims, he 
 kindly testified that the subject to which I was about ad- 
 dressing myself was the business and burning question of 
 the day. 
 
 I do not claim to be an "expert" in Southern claims, 
 but my attention has been for some time directed to them, 
 and I iiave been deeply impressed by their magnitude and 
 by the threatening force that is behind them, while I have 
 been surprised by the lack of general understanding of the 
 extent and imminence of the danger that appears in the 
 levity or indifference with which the matter has until now 
 been treated in this part of the country. Governor Tilden 
 is not a maii who lacks capacity in affairs, and his letter of 
 the 24th shows that while his courage may be shaken he 
 has not lost the clearness of his faculty of apprehension or 
 the cunning of his right hand. In the contingency of 
 Democratic success, if there is anything in the performance 
 of the promises that letter contains, that proves his an- 
 nouncement of the "futility" of the "self-imposed re- 
 straints" of candidates to have been an error in his case — 
 if there happens to be anything within his capacity that 
 liinders the Solid South in its movement to " get even " 
 in money with the JSTorth for the war — I promise to take 
 the sincerest satisfaction in recognizing it, and to give him 
 all the help I can command ; for I am sure in that case he 
 will stand in great need of friends not of his party. 
 
 There arc half a dozen lines only in Governor Tilden's 
 letter that seem to require analysis. The quotations from 
 the Constitution and his message are irrelevant, but he 
 says : 
 
 "No claim for any loss or damage incurred by disJoyal 
 pcr.-oiis arising from the late war, whether covered by the 
 Fourteenth Amendment or not, will be recognized or paid. 
 The cotton tax will not be refunded. I shall deem it my 
 duty to veto every bill providing for the assumption or pay- 
 ment of any such debts, losses, damages, claims, or for the 
 refunding of any such tax." 
 
 Governor Tilden has neglected to notice that the advo- 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 39 
 
 cacy of the war claims in the South is based upon the 
 theory that " we are all loyal now ;" and he has only to 
 accept this favorite Southern doctrine of the day, and the 
 declaration by Mr. Cabell, of Virginia, in his report from 
 the Committee on "War Claims, that the loyalty that results 
 from official pardon is retroactive, to justify himself in not 
 vetoing any of the acts of legislation that he specifies. 
 
 I quoted, in the Cooper Union address, the report, on 
 the 30th of June, 1876, from the House Committee on War 
 Claims that accompanied the bill for the relief of Pickrell 
 and Broocks. Mr. Cabell said in it that when a claimant 
 had a special pardon, and was within the provisions of the 
 several proclamations and general pardon of amnesties, the 
 proof of such pardon was "equivalent to affirmative proof 
 under the statute of captured and abandoned property, that 
 the party never gave aid and comfort to the rebellion," 
 Therefore, any claim preferred by a pardoned rebel would 
 be a loyalist's claim under the law, and Governor Tilden's 
 promise to veto the claims of disloyal persons would not 
 have effect in their cases ; and there are very few rebels 
 now of any other sort. 
 
 Mr. Cabell also stated that the United States Govern- 
 ment stood, for " property taken," in the position of trustee 
 for the owners. The World quotes a decision of Chief 
 Justice Waite, and contends that he holds precisely the 
 doctrine announced by Mr. Cabell. If this were so, it 
 would justly increase the public disquietude about South- 
 ern claims, for it would appear that the highest judicial 
 tribunal in the country had opened wide the gate for the 
 Confederate advance upon the Treasury ; and this would be 
 quick and thorough corroboration of my guarded expres- 
 sions of a fear that the Supreme Court was not to be relied 
 upon as an invulnerable barrier. I thought the process of 
 reorganization would be required before the Court could 
 reach the point that, according to the World, it has already 
 passed. 
 
 With respectful deference, however, to the legal talent 
 of the World, I submit that Waite's decision that the Gov- 
 ernment stands in the position of trustee for persons who, 
 
40 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 under a special act of Congress, were entitled to the pro- 
 ceeds of captured and abandoned property, " and for those 
 whom it (the government) should thereafter recognize as 
 entitled "—words the world is at pains to print in italics- 
 is far from being as comprehensive as Mr. Cabell's report 
 that the Government was the trustee for the owners of all 
 " property taken " for the use of the army, and that a rebel 
 with Andrew Johnson's pardon was in possession of " af- 
 iirmative proof" that he " never gave aid and comfort to 
 the rebellion." I do not care to waste a word in discussing 
 with anybody the political character of the Supreme Court. 
 I am only concerned to show the people that if they place 
 the Democratic party in power, there are no sufficient re- 
 straints to prevent the " Solid South " from making a raid 
 on the Treasury of the United States; and I thank the 
 World for the assistance it has unwittingly given in mak- 
 ing conspicuous this important fact, and throwing under a 
 strong light Mr. Cabell's very significant report. 
 
 Reference is made to the " contrivances of Congress," in 
 18G3, touching "captured and abandoned property," but I 
 am not in the least degree anxious to show that when the 
 liepublicans were in power in Congress they made a per- 
 fect record. I am aware of the misconduct of Republicans 
 in and out of Congress, and have spent a good deal of time 
 and labor in attempting to persuade them of the errors of 
 their ways. The "contrivances" that are of interest at 
 this time are those of the Confederates to obtain out of the 
 people at large compensation for their losses during the 
 
 war, 
 
 In 1872 (April 13), Mr. Ritchie, of Maryland, denounced 
 tlie act of July 4, 1864, that restricted payments for " prop- 
 erty taken " to loyal claimants, because there were strict 
 requirements that proof should be had not only of actual 
 taking, l)ut of loyalty ; and because provision was not nxade 
 to pay for property damaged and destroyed. Mr. "Wilshire, 
 of Arkansas, in House Resolution (last session) No. 553, 
 desires to "facilitate the adjustment and seltlement " of 
 claims, and proposes the abolishment of the Claims Com- 
 mission, and that the jury of the vicinage shall be called 
 
WAK CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 41 
 
 to levy damages. Mr. Riddle, of Tennessee, has introduced 
 a bill directing " compensation for the use and occupation " 
 of property "to all citizens;" and to facilitate getting at 
 the public money, one witness is declared enough to " ef- 
 fectually establish the fact " of the appropriation of prop- 
 erty. These are among the contrivances to turn over the 
 property of the people of the United States to Southern 
 rebels, as "indemnity" for the "aggressive war" made" 
 upon them by the Nation. 
 
 Mr. Riddle, of the Fourth Tennessee District, the author 
 of the bill to expedite the payment of the claims of (Con- 
 federates, has been made so popular by his urgency in their 
 behalf that his competitor has witlidrawn from the canvass, 
 and the legislation that Mr. Riddle proposes is regarded as 
 the way to " make times good and money plenty." Now, 
 Mr. Riddle and Governor Tilden would not be troubled to 
 reach an understanding and co-operate in the interests of 
 " reform and economy." Mr. Riddle would not pay the 
 claims of disloyalists. He, too, would veto such things. 
 He stands upon a broad principle. He discounts Mr. Ca- 
 bell's report that a pardoned rebel has affirmative proof 
 that he was always lo3'al. He says, " all Southern ])eople 
 are loyal now," and always were so in the eye of the law. 
 Can a decision by Chief Justice Waite be found covering 
 this ground also ? Accept it, and Tilden's promises pass 
 away, and the Solid South comes to the front for its in- 
 demnity. 
 
 You tell us : " The great majority of the South does not 
 seek any payment of Southern claims." You are mistaken. 
 There are tens of thousands of war claims carefully pre- 
 pared in the South awaiting, with the Wilshire resolution 
 and the Riddle bill, to accept, according to Mr. Cabell, from 
 their " trustee " pecuniary redress for all grievances. Doug- 
 lass Jerrold said of the soil of Australia, that if you tickled 
 it with a hoe it would laugh with a harvest. It is the pe- 
 culiarity of the Southern soil that wherever it was tickled 
 by a United States bayonet there is an eruption of Con- 
 federate claims ; and the Solid South, if the Democratic 
 party obtains possession of the Government, will speed- 
 
42 ^VAR CLAIMS OF THE SOFTH. 
 
 ilv disentangle the "futile*' technicalities of Governor 
 Tilden's letter, interposed in the newspapers between them 
 and the Treasury when the South was utterly committed 
 to him, and the Presidential election was plainly to be de- 
 cided by Xew York. 
 
 You speak of the already heavy taxation of the South, 
 and that the people of that section would not tax them- 
 selves to pay their own claims. The plea of the South is 
 poverty. But the plan is to establish equality in money 
 matters with the Xorth. Three-fourths of the revenue out 
 of which the claims would be paid must come from the 
 States that adhered to the Union in the war. 
 
 And do you forget that a vast majority of the Western 
 Democrats are fully persuaded that the way to make the 
 people happy and wealthy, to make '• times good and money 
 plenty," is to print *• more greenbacks ?" They desire to 
 "• make the amount of currency equal to the wants of 
 trade." They would have war times in Wall street in 
 time of peace. Governor Tilden yielded the point that the 
 date fixed for resumption should be repealed ; and some 
 knowledge of Western Democrats leads me to believe that 
 if he keeps their favor, he has but taken the first step in a 
 long walk of concessions on the currency question, in 
 which he will have to unlearn the teachings of his forty 
 years of public discussion of that range of subjects. 
 
 In the event of a Democratic Administration, the Solid 
 South and the Solid Mississippi Valley would be united on 
 the basis of more greenbacks to pay Southern Claims and 
 carry out the rebel and inflation programme ; and the fact 
 that the inevitable end must be general repudiation, would 
 not deter, but rather inspire them ; for in the abyss of 
 bankruptcy there would be the equalization of the finances 
 of the Southern Confederacy with the United States. I 
 doubt whether Governor Tilden's bosom would fortify the 
 country like a wall of adamant against the allied powers of 
 the Solid South as a claimant, and the rasr-babv as the mas- 
 tcr of the mysteries of wise finance. 
 
 M. Halsteal. 
 
 Xew York, Friday, October 27, 1876. 
 
WAE CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 43 
 
 THE WORTHLESSXESS OF GOV. TILDEX S RECENT PLEDGE DE-, 
 
 MAXDS BEYOXD MR. TILDEN'S COXTROL A SDfGLE SAMPLE 
 
 IN MISSOURI OF WHAT THE SOUTH ARE DETERMINED TO 
 HATE WITH DEMOCRATIC VICTORY— TILDEX's DEFEAT THE 
 ONLY SAFEGUARD. 
 
 To the Editor of the World : 
 
 In a spirit of reciprocity for your " memorandum " of 
 this morning, I desire to place at your service a few items 
 that will be found of interest to the tax-payers who have 
 had their attention called, by Gov. Tilden's letter and other 
 documents, to the Southern raid upon the Xational Treas- 
 ury with Confederate war claims. 
 
 I was ghid to see Gov. Tilden's letter, and the disclaimers 
 from Southern men of a purpose to press those claims are 
 all welcome ; for those who have studied the question with 
 the greatest attention have the gravest apprehension of its 
 magnitude. Gov. Tilden's letter is proof of the existence 
 of the " public peril " that I attempted to describe in the 
 address that was sufficiently " delivered '"' to serve my pur- 
 poses in preparing it. He certainly did go further than his 
 partisan friends have been accustomed to do, in admitting 
 that there might be Southern claims not covered by the 
 fourteenth amendment. If I have not heretofore done 
 justice to that admission, I propose now to do work meet 
 for repentance of the sin of omission. 
 
 You quote Gov. Tilden as saying : 
 
 " Xo claim for any loss or damage incurred by disloyal 
 persons arising from the late war, whether covered hy the 
 fourteerdh amendment or not, will be recognized or paid." 
 
 The amount of this is that Gov. Tilden oilers us his per- 
 sonal pledge as security against the payment of the claims 
 outside the fourteenth amendment. Without questioning 
 his sincerity — as might be done under the circumstances 
 Avithout extraordinary bitterness of antagonism — I must 
 pronounce the security insufficient. It is well to have it, 
 but it is poor collateral to put up with the amendment. 
 Indeed, I am of opinion that if the Democratic Party takes 
 
44 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 possession of'tlie Government, neither the Constitution nor 
 the President could stand against tlie solid South and resist 
 the war claims of that section for two 3'ears. The four- 
 teenth amendment is not the child of the Democratic Party, 
 and the Democratic President who could withstand the 
 master of his party— Ihe solid South— as a claimant for 
 damages during the war by trespasses on the sacred soil, 
 lias not been invented and certainly has not appeared in 
 Gov. Tilden. 
 
 Tiie passage from Governor Tilden's letter is given above 
 as the Wod'l italicized it. I desire to emphasize the words 
 " disloyal persons," The theory upon which the solid 
 South presses its claims is that there are no such persons. 
 Mr. Cabell, of Virginia, reports from the Conmiittee on 
 War Claims, in a bill granting relief in a tobacco case, that, 
 legally, a pardoned rebel never was a rebel at alb That, I 
 suppose, must be the Democratic law. Mr. Kiddle, of Ten- 
 nessee, says, " we are all loyal now," a phrase that covers the 
 Democratic sentiment. Why, then, does Governor Tilden 
 nsc the expression " disloyal persons " in a letter calling for 
 legal exactness as well as a strictly defined expression of 
 the feeling and judgment of his party ? 
 
 If there arc any [)Crsons not according to law loyal under 
 ' the interpretation that Mr. Cahill makes of pardons, it is 
 the Democratic i)olicy that their loyalty shall be recognized 
 and established. This would leave Mr. Tilden's pledge 
 without application, with the exception of the part alloted 
 to " scrutiny," which is to be done with "jealous care " — 
 words which are not of much value within a fortnight of 
 a Presidential election. 
 
 1 do not believe Gov. Tilden and his lieutenants in labor 
 in this city have understood the full extent of the solici- 
 tu<lc there is in the solid South about war claims, or the 
 dangerous aspirations that have been enkindled with the 
 hopes of Democratic victory ; and the demand that I un- 
 diM'stand to have been made from the Tilden head-quarters 
 for assuriinccs by telegraph from the party leaders in the 
 Soutiiern States that they are not expecting, with the ad- 
 vent (jf the Democratic party to power, to secure payment 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 45 
 
 for loss or damage snftered by them during the late war, is 
 as crnol as it is '' futile." 
 
 I did not notice that Missouri has been heard from in 
 this connection. She has taken action to press, with the 
 sovereign force inherent in a State, the claims of her 
 citizens. Gov. Woodson, in his amiual Message to the 
 General Assembly, Jan. 6, 1875, says : 
 
 " There were presented to the Board of Commissioners 
 11,961 claims, amounting in the aggregate to $4,844,362.29. 
 Seven thousand live hundred and fifty-four of those claims 
 were allowed during the time in which the board had the 
 right to sit, and certificates have been issued therefor aggre- 
 gating the sum of |2,382,1 32.67. At the expiration of the 
 time fixed by law for the adjustment of the claims pending 
 before them, there were a great many claims unacted upon, 
 it prooing a physical impossihillty for the Commissioners to ex- 
 amine and pass upon all the claims filed loitliin the time pre- 
 scribed by the act." 
 
 One of the certificates issued has been negotiated, and 
 has fallen into the hands of the Kepublican National Ex- 
 ecutive Committee. It is hereby marked for identification, 
 and filed as evidence : 
 
 E"o. 52. $55 80. 
 
 It is hereby certified that the State of Missouri is in- 
 debted to Woodford M. Paris in the sum of fifty-five and 
 80-100 dollars on account of supplies furnished. This cer- 
 tificate is not payable by the State until after the claim of 
 said Woodford M. Paris has been presented to the United 
 States Government, and the amount allowed and paid to the 
 State, and then only for the actual amount received from the 
 United States Government. 
 
 City of Jefferson, Mo., Sept. 8, 1874. 
 
 Silas Woodson, Governor of Missouri. 
 
 J. Y. Crafton, Acting Quartermaster General. 
 
 The printed indorsement on the certificate is : " Issued 
 in accordance with the provisions of an act of the General 
 Assembly of the State of Missouri, approved March 19, 
 1874." 
 
46 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 Please to notice Gov. Woodson's pathetic statement that 
 it was pliysically impossible to examine all the claims pre- 
 sented, and, therefore, as the time in which the commission 
 had a right to sit was unfortunately limited, only 7,554 of 
 them could be " scrutinized with jealous care," as it were, 
 and passed upon, that certiticates might be issued. So the 
 first crop of these claims in one State, before a commission 
 restricted to a few months' work, and embarrassed by the 
 necessity of assuming to pay some regard to the loyalty of 
 the claimants, amounted to more than seven thousand live 
 liundred certiticates to be paid through the State Treasury 
 when " i)resented to the United States Government and the 
 amount allowed." This does not seem to be a small 
 matter. 
 
 Xow, if the Statute of Limitations is repealed ; if the 
 Supreme Court of the United States has defined the Trus- 
 teeship of the Government, as the World says it has ; and 
 if it has also declared, as I understand the World to say, 
 that the issue of a special pardon to a rebel proves inno- 
 cence and not guilt — proves not that the pardoned person 
 was a disloyalist, but that he always was loyal — it must be 
 admitted that there is a very broad road leading into the 
 Treasury of the United States from the South. If we add 
 Mr. AVilshire's scheme to " facilitate" claims by authorizing 
 suits to be instituted in the United States Courts, and have 
 a trial "by juries of the vicinage," and if we accept also 
 Mr. Riddle's resolution that the testimony of "any reput- 
 able citizen " sliall be sufiicient to "efiectually establish " a 
 claim, we have certainly facilitated the work of " adjusting " 
 the money out of the Treasury in a remarkable degree, 
 without calling upon Gov. Tilden to veto the Riddle bill or 
 to jyerform any other act equally distressing to his Southern 
 su[)porters. 
 
 It is said that when Gov. Tilden's friends gathered around 
 liim and congratulated him upon his nomination at St. 
 Louis, lie said: "The [leople want reform — that's me;" or 
 words to that effect. This may not be authentic, but it re- 
 sembles the theory of the letter of last week, admitting the 
 existence of a danger, but answering for the candidate him- 
 
WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 self: "Here am I. The country is safe with me. I will 
 veto." 
 
 Too much depends here upon the one-man power. Even 
 if we might trust Gov. Tilden as far as he goes, we can not 
 afford to trust his party. It is the character of the party 
 and not the will of the man that is important. I thought 
 it pertinent, in a former letter, to refer to Gov. Tilden's con- 
 tempt, no longer ago than August last, for the self-imposed 
 restraints upon candidates. He saw their futility then, 
 though he asserts their suiRciency now. The people are 
 likely to accept Gov. Tilden's cooler judgment as to the 
 futility of such restraints; at any rate so far as he is him- 
 self concerned, and to restrain him from a position in which 
 he at least could not prevent infinite mischief. The best 
 and only complete security against Confederate war claims, 
 is to put it out of the power of the Confedenites, in the ca- 
 pacity of United States authorities for another term of four 
 years, to pass upon them and pay them out of the National 
 Treasury, or to bankrupt the country by war issues in' time 
 of peace, of legal-tender paper to pay the claims in question 
 and make money plenty. Mr. Riddle was telling the [)eo- 
 ple of the Fourth^ Tennessee District, until he was visited 
 b}^ a phonographej', that Democratic victory meant the pay- 
 ment of the Southern war claims, and then there would be 
 plenty of money and good times. Perhaps the people of 
 New York are not prepared to approve that programme. 
 If the}' are not, they have but one safe course, and that is 
 to stop the Southern raid upon the Treasury where it is, by 
 defeating the Democratic Party. 
 
 As to the sense of safety that the country should feel 
 under the promises of personal protection that Governor 
 Tilden has given, I quote from his Kent letter, dated Oct. 
 26, 1860, the following passage, which I think may be pro- 
 nounced pertinent and instructive : 
 
 " What will Mr. Lincoln do ? Can he be expected, as 
 President, to understand the state of things in any other 
 sense than that of his own partizan policy ? Can he avoid 
 the attempt to maintain the power of his party by the same 
 means which will have acquired it? Can he emancipate 
 
48 WAR CLAIMS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 himself from tlie dominion of the ideas, associations, and 
 influences which will have accompanied him in his rise to 
 l»()\ver? Can he bo expected to act in any new direction 
 with suliicient breadth of view and iirmness of purpose?" 
 
 The question, '• What will Mr. Tilden do?" is not to be 
 disregarded ; but it is not the question of the daj^, and we 
 should not permit it to become so. His veto might save 
 the country, but we would prefer leaning upon a more cer- 
 tain supi)ort. In his Kent letter he said, after showing the 
 peril of relying upon the possible policy of one man, " I 
 can not, for one, assent to the creation of such a state of 
 things." We can not do better than to apply this doctrine 
 to the case before us ; and I sa}' of him, as he said of Lin- 
 coln, in concluding the letter from which we have been 
 quoting, "defeat him and all our great interests and hopes 
 are unquestionably safe." M. Halstead. 
 
 Xew York, October 29, 187G. 
 
THE 
 
 War Claims of the South. 
 
 THE NEW SOUTHEEN CONFEDEEACY, WITH THE 
 DEMOCEATIC PAETY AS ITS CLAIM AGENCY, DE- 
 MANDING INDEMNITY FOE CONQUEST, 
 AND THEEATENING A DISPUTED 
 PEESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 THE CANDIDACY OF HAYES AND THE RELIEF OF THE 
 REPUBLIC FROM DANGER. 
 
 ^N ADDRESS 
 
 Af Cooper Insdtvte, New York, Wednesday Evening, October 25. 187G. 
 
 AND LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW 
 
 YORK WORLD REPLYING TO THAT .JOURNAL, 
 
 AND TO GOVERNOR TILDEN, 
 
 By M. HALSTEAD, 
 
 OF CIN'CI.NNATI. 
 
 CI N CI N N ATI: 
 
 ROBERT CLARKE & CO., PRINTERS. 
 
 1876. 
 

 
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