“I am unaccustomed to political life, and know but little of the manner of conducting a campaign like the present. I believe, however, it is customary for the State Central Committee to assess candidates, in order that they shall defray a proper portion of the expenses incurred for speakers and documents to _enlighten_ the voters upon the political issues of the day. To that extent I am willing and anxious to be taxed; for ‘light and knowledge’ are always desired by the friends of human rights and of public order. “But I trust that all money used for any other purpose in the pending election will come from the pockets of those who now (as during the rebellion) are doing their utmost to aid traitors, and who, still unrepenting, are vindictively striving to secure at the ballot-box what their Southern allies failed to accomplish on the field of battle. If any of our friends misapprehend my true sentiments upon the subject of bribery, corruption, and fraud, I hope you will read them this letter. “Truly yours, “P. T. BARNUM.” And in a postscript he appended a copy of the Connecticut law of bribery in elections. But “the intelligent reading men of New England” apparently could be bought “like sheep in the shambles,” and they poisoned “the body politic of a free and impartial government” by electing W. H. Barnum instead of P. T. Barnum. The forces of corruption, fraud, bribery, and rebellion gained a victory, possibly temporary, but still a victory. After the election some voters in Bridgeport contested the election of William H. Barnum, charging that it had been procured by bribery, the importation of voters from other states, and by the use of forged naturalization papers for foreigners. But they were not successful, and “the noble privilege of the free elective franchise” was brought into disgrace by the presence in the national councils of the Democratic candidate for more than eight years thereafter. Possibly P. T. Barnum’s defeat was not due altogether to fraud, if any fraud was practised. There was much honest opposition to the presence of P. T. Barnum, of the American Museum, in Congress. The opposition was national as well as local. The _New York Nation_, uninspired by the heat of Connecticut factions, felt that Barnum’s place was in a museum, and some Republicans in Connecticut felt that Congress was not a museum. “A circular in opposition to the nomination of P. T. Barnum” was distributed to Connecticut voters; it was made up of excerpts from newspapers throughout the state, and these papers not only opposed showmanship in Congress, but also discussed Barnum’s moral character. The _Hartford Press_ wrote: