"I concur with you in regarding the issue created by the subversion of the election of 1876 as the most transcendent in our history. The example of a reversal of the votes of the people after they have been deposited in the ballot-box, if successful and followed by prosperity to the wrong, would be fatal to the system of elective government. _The hierarchy of office-holders would maintain their possession indefinitely, and every effort of the people to change the administration would be nullified. The government, elective in form, would become imperial in substance precisely as did that of Rome._[24] Such an issue, involving the very existence of our free government, is not to be belittled into a personal grievance. It is to be dealt with as a great public cause. [24] The italics are the editor's. "With assurances of my cordial esteem for yourself personally, "I remain, very truly yours, "(Signed) SAMUEL J. TILDEN." S. J. TILDEN--INTERVIEW WITH "SUN" REPORTER (Draft.) "_Dec. 19, '79._ "A _Sun_ reporter called on Mr. Tilden, showed him a copy of the _Sun_ of Sunday last containing an article copied from the _Star_, and asked if it would be agreeable to him to say whether there was any, and, if so, what foundation for the statements there made about negotiations with him to obtain the electoral vote of the State of South Carolina for $30,000. "Mr. Tilden took the paper, ran his eyes over it, and then said: 'I have no objection to answer your question if my friends of the _Sun_ think the publication worthy of such notice. "'I do not see, on looking this article over, any statement concerning me personally which is not a mere fiction. "'The substance of the story is that I was visited at my house by a gentleman from South Carolina, who told me that the vote of the State had been given to me, but that the Returning Boards had determined to count it against me unless they were paid $30,000; that after declining the proposition, I recalled this agent by a letter addressed to him at his hotel; that on the second interview I referred him to a gentleman in this city; that that gentleman gave him a package containing $30,000, which was sent to Charleston; that the letter had scarcely left the wharf when the agent received another letter from me requesting him to call at my house immediately; that I then insisted upon the immediate return of the package unopened, and that it be restored to the person from whom it was received; that the agents remonstrated, saying: "'"The corrupt men in Columbia and in the State generally have not tried to count Hampton out. They know perfectly well that both you and Hampton are elected and have received a majority of the votes of the people, but they can afford to count you out, but not to count Hampton out, because he and his friends will not stand it." "'That notwithstanding this remonstrance, I persisted in requiring the package to be restored to the person who handed it to the agent.'