party responsible for it will in due time be rewarded with political annihilation. "We shall therefore deprecate and oppose any action by the House of Representatives looking to any dispute of the regular electoral certificates from any of the States. The responsibility for what is done in the three controverted States is with the Republicans, and there let it rest. All that the House of Representatives can properly do in the premises is to ascertain and determine the precise nature, methods, and extent of the frauds, and then leave the question to the judgment of the country, and to the legal and constitutional remedy afforded by the next elections." SAML. WARD TO TILDEN (WANTS GOVERNOR TO ASSIST EVARTS IN UNVEILING STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER) _"Private._ "BREVOORT HOUSE, _24th Nov., 1876_. "DEAR MR. PRESIDENT-ELECT,--A cat may look at a king, and an old fossil like myself may offer a suggestion to a much wiser man. "I humbly suggest that you assist at Evarts' oration to-morrow, upon the unveiling of the Webster statue in Central Park. "If he meditates mischief your presence will check him, and if he intends preaching from the Constitution it will encourage him. If he carries out the doctrine of State-rights as against Conkling's speech of last winter, he covertly justifies nullification and secession. "Yours faithfully, "SAML. WARD. "_His Excellency Governor Tilden, President-elect._" WM. P. CRAIGHILL TO G. W. MORGAN "BALTO., MD., _Nov. 24, 1876_. "DEAR GENERAL,--Now is a time, it seems to me, when every true lover of our country will desire to do all he can to allay excitement and to reach an honest and fair conclusion upon the question about which all are thinking--Who ought to be the next President? I believe a great majority of the American people, North and South, desire peace and quiet, as well as an honest decision on that question; but there are, unfortunately, some in both sections, and perhaps in Congress, who have nothing to lose and may gain something by turmoil, strife, and excitement. "When the pot boils much froth and scum rise to the surface, which otherwise might never be known to exist. "It appears to me the _crisis_ will be upon us when the two Houses of Congress meet to count or see counted the electoral votes. Disputes must arise about many questions, by reason of the complications now surrounding the situation. Who shall decide between them? The great want is a tribunal to whom may be referred at once, _without debate_ or excitement, all disputed points. This tribunal should not only be honest and impartial and able, but the Congress and the people should _believe_ so. Could not such a tribunal be organized _before the dispute begins_? It might be extraconstitutional, but its decrees could be made binding in this particular case by consent of all concerned.