[Forty-fifth Congress-Second and third sessions.]

STANLEY MATTHEWS,

Senator from Ohio from October 15, 1877, till March 3, 1879.

June 5, 1878, Mr. Matthews submitted a resolution that a select committee be appointed to consider what connection, if any, he had had with any real or pretended frauds committed in the conduct and returns of the election in the State of Louisiana in 1876, and with any promises of reward made by any one to one James E. Anderson in consideration of any official conduct by said Anderson in relation to said election, and to inquire into all the circumstances of any recommendation by him. self of the said Anderson for appointment to office. The resolution was agreed to. March 1, 1879, the committee reported that they met on the 21st day of June, 1878, for the purpose of examining Mr. Anderson; that he refused to testify; that Congress having adjourned they could not compel him to testify; that the committee met again in December, 1878, and not agreeing to a motion that the Senate be requested to take proceedings to compel Mr. Anderson's attendance, reported to the Senate a resolution that the House of Representatives be requested to transmit to the Senate a copy of Mr. Anderson's testimony relating to Mr. Matthews before a House committee; that the testimony was transmitted and referred to this committee January 28, 1879; that Mr. Matthews was then examined. The committee found unanimously the statements of Mr. Matthews to be true; that he had had no connection with any real or supposed frauds in the election in Louisiana, and that he was not guilty of any corrupt conduct in any of the matters referred to in the testimony, while they regarded his action in respect to Mr. Anderson's effort to obtain an appointment to office, under the circumstances, as wrong and injurious to the public interest. No further action on the subject was taken by the Senate.

The history of the case here given consists of a transcript of the proceedings of the Senate relating to it from Senate Journals 45th Cong., 2d and 3d sess., and the report of the committee from Senate Reports, 45th Cong., 3d sess., vol. 2, No. 867.

There were no debates.

WEDNESDAY, June 5, 1878.

Mr. Matthews rose to a question of privilege, and having addressed the Senate upon the subject of certain statements made elsewhere, calculated to reflect upon his character and standing as a member of the Senate, submitted the following resolution; which was considered by unanimous consent. and agreed to:

Resolved, That a select committee of seven Senators be appointed to inquire into and consider all things touching the matter stated and referred to by the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Matthews] and the events connected therewith, and particularly what connection, if any, that Senator had with any real or pretended frauds or other wrongs committed in the conduct and returns of the election in the State of Louisiana in 1876, and with any promises of protection or reward, if any, made by any one to one James E. Anderson, or others, in consideration of, or connection with, any official conduct by said Anderson or others, in relation to said election or the returns thereof; and into all the circumstances of any recommendation by the said Senator of the said Anderson for appointment to office; and that said committee have power to send for persons and papers, to employ a clerk and stenographer, and have leave to sit during the recess.

Ordered, That the committee be appointed by the President pro tempore.

[Mr. Matthews's remarks are found on page 4119 of the Congressional Record, vol. vii, part 4.]

SATURDAY, June 8, 1878.

The President pro tempore appointed Mr. Edmunds, Mr. Allison, Mr. Ingalls, Mr. Hoar, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Whyte, and Mr. Jones of Florida members of the select committee authorized by the resolution of the 5th instant to inquire into certain matters touching the late Presidential election in Louisiana.

On motion by Mr. Allison,

WEDNESDAY, June 12, 1878.

Ordered, That the select committee appointed to inquire into certain matters touching the late Presidential election in Louisiana have leave to sit during the sessions of the Senate.

WEDNESDAY, June 19, 1878.

Mr. Allison submitted the following resolution; which was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to:

"Resolved, That the select committee appointed under the resolution of the 5th instant to make inquiry concerning the alleged connection of Senator Matthews with matters relative to the late Presidential election in Louisiana, in exercising the power heretofore granted to sit during the recess of Congress, may hold its sessions at such place or places as it shall deem most convenient for the purposes of the investigation."

[Third session of the Forty-fifth Congress.]

TUESDAY, December 10, 1878.

Mr. Allison, from the select committee to inquire into certain matters touching the late Presidential election in Louisiana, reported the following resolution which was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to:

"Resolved, That the House of Representatives be respectfully requested to transmit to the Senate a copy of the testimony of one James E. Anderson relating to the Hon. Stanley Matthews, a member of the Senate from the State of Ohio, understood to have been taken before one of the committees of the House of Representatives."

MONDAY, January 27, 1879.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Adams, its Clerk: "Mr. President, I am directed to communicate to the Senate, in compliance with its request of December 10, 1878, a copy of the testimony of James E. Anderson, given before the committee of the House of Representatives on investigation of alleged frauds in the electoral vote of the States of Louisiana and Florida."

TUESDAY, January 28, 1879. The testimony* of James E. Anderson before a committee of the House of Representatives, yesterday received from the House of Representatives in response to a resolution of the Senate of December 10, 1878, was referred to the select committee to inquire into certain matters touching the late Presidential election in Louisiana, and ordered to be printed.

SATURDAY, March 1, 1879.

Mr. Allison, from the select committee who were directed by a resolution of June 5, 1878, to inquire into certain matters touching the late Presidential election in Louisiana, submitted a report (No. 867) thereon, with the recommendation that they be discharged from the further consideration of the subject.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

MARCH 1, 1879.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. Allison, from the Select Committee to inquire into certain matters touching the late Presidential Election in Louisiana, submitted the following report:

The committee appointed in pursuance of the following resolution adopted by the Senate on the 5th June, 1878—

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Resolved, That a select committee of seven Senators be appointed to inquire into and consider all things touching the matter stated and referred to by the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Matthews], and the events connected therewith, and particularly what connection, if any, that Senator had with any real or pretended frauds or other wrongs committed in the conduct and returns of the election in the State of Louisiana in 1876, and with any promises of protection or reward, if any, made by any one to one James E. Anderson, or others, in consideration of or connection with any official conduct by said Anderson or others, in relation to said election or the returns thereof; and into all the circumstances of any recommendation by the said Senator of the said Anderson for appointment to office; and that said committee have power to send for persons and papers, to employ a clerk and stenographer, and have leave to sit during the recess❞—

submit the following report of their proceedings:

The committee held its first meeting on the 11th June, 1878, and determined, on the 13th of June, to summon James E. Anderson, named in said resolution. Mr. Anderson appeared, but was not examined, for the reason that his presence was requested before a committee of the House, known as the Potter committee, as appears from the following letter addressed to the acting chairman:

Mr. Senator ALLISON,

Chairman, &c.:

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Washington, D. C., June 13, 1878.

Mrs. Jenks is about to be put on the stand, and we would prefer, if entirely agreeable to the Senate committee, that Mr. Anderson should be present during her examination. This is important to the House committee. At any other time take him.

Found in Senate Miscellaneous, 42d Cong., 3d sess., vol. 1, No. 50.

W. R. MORRISON,

Acting Chairman.

The committee again met on the 21st of June, when Anderson, the witness, again appeared and refused to testify; the circumstances of his refusal are fully set forth in the printed proceedings of the committee herewith reported. Congress having adjourned on the 20th day of June, 1878, the committee hac. no power to compel the witness, Anderson, to testify. On motion of Mr. Whyte, the committee adjourned to meet again when called by the chairman of the committee, it being then understood that no meeting would be called during the recess of Congress, as the committee had no power to enforce its orders in vacation. The committee again met on the 10th day of December, 1878. The chairman stated that he had received a telegram from James E. Anderson, dated Eureka, Nev., saying that he would now appear before the committee if summoned. On motion of Mr. Edmunds, it was

"Ordered, That there be reported to the Senate the following:

“Resolved, That the House of Representatives be respectfully requested to transmit to the Senate a copy of the testimony of one James E. Anderson relating to the Hon. Stanley Matthews, a member of the Senate from the State of Ohio, understood to have been taken before one of the committees of the House of Representatives.'

"Mr. Edmunds submitted a motion that James E. Anderson be reported to the Senate as in contempt of its authority for refusing to testify before this committee, and that the Senate be requested to take the proper proceedings to secure his attendance.

"The motion was not agreed to, there being three ayes: Messrs. Edmunds, Davis, and Whyte. The noes were: Messrs. Allison (chairman), Hoar, and Ingalls. Mr. Jones,

absent.

"On motion of Mr. Whyte, the committee adjourned to meet at the call of the chairman"-

It being understood that the committee should await the action of the House on the resolution calling for the testimony of Anderson taken by the House committee, which resolution was reported to the Senate on the 10th of December, 1878, and agreed to. On the 28th day of January, 1879, the House of Representatives transmitted to the Senate the testimony of James E. Anderson in pursuance of the request made by resolution of the Senate heretofore referred to, passed on the 10th day of December, 1878. This testimony was on the 28th day of January, 1879, referred to this committee and ordered to be printed. On the 7th February the committee met pursuant to the call of the chairman"Present: the chairman (Mr. Allison), Mr. Edmunds, Mr. Hoar, Mr. Davis, and Mr. Whyte "

When the following proceedings were had:

"On motion of Mr. Edmunds, Senator Matthews was directed to be notified that the committee had received a copy of the testimony of James E. Anderson before a select committee of the House of Representatives, and was ready to hear what he had to say on the subject.

"The chairman having transmitted such notification, Hon. Stanley Matthews appeared before the committee.

"The CHAIRMAN. Senator Matthews, this committee now has the testimony of James E. Anderson, which, I believe, I called your attention to some days ago and furnished you a copy of; and the committee are ready to hear anything you may wish to say in reference to that testimony.

"Mr. MATTHEWS. I am ready to be sworn.

"Mr. EDMUNDS. I presume, also, the committee is ready to hear you in reference to whether you desire to have Mr. Anderson called for further examination by this committee.

"Mr. MATTHEWs. In regard to the inquiry in respect to my wishes as to whether the committee shall recall Mr. Anderson, I desire to say that it is a matter in which I have no wish, and desire to express none, believing that I ought to leave the matter entirely to the discretion of the committee to do in that matter, and in respect to any other witness, what they ought to do under the duty imposed upon them by the resolution of the Senate.

"Mr. EDMUNDS. We understand you to mean by that, Mr. Matthews, that in your judgment, so far as your own vindication is concerned, you do not desire us to compel him to attend.

"Mr. MATTHEWS. I do not make any request of that kind to the committee, and do not deem it necessary that I should do so for my own vindication. "The CHAIRMAN. Then we will proceed with your examination.

"Hon. STANLEY MATTHEWS sworn and examined.

"The WITNESS. By a reading of the resolution, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, it appears that the committee were appointed to 'inquire into and consider all things touching the matters stated and referred to' by myself in the personal statement which I made to the Senate on the 5th of June last, and reported in the Congressional Record, 'and par

ticularly what connection, if any,' I had 'with any real or pretended frauds or other wrongs committed in the conduct and returns of the election in the State of Louisiana in 1876, and with any promises of protection or reward, if any, made by any one to one James E. Anderson or others, in consideration of or in connection with any official conduct by said Anderson or others in relation to said election or the returns thereof, and into all the circumstances of any recommendation by the said Senator of the said Anderson for appointment to office.'

"In order to enable the committee to rightly understand my relation to the whole subject, and also as a necessary preliminary to any statement I may have to make in reference to the testimony of Mr. Anderson himself, it will be necessary for me to make a statement in respect to the visit that I made to New Orleans in November, 1876. "On the 11th day of November, 1876, which was Saturday, I received a telegram at Cincinnati from the President of the United States, General Grant, requesting me to proceed to New Orleans for the purpose of witnessing, with other gentlemen, the canvass and count of the votes in that State for the Presidential electors. I replied to that telegram to the effect that I would leave Cincinnati for New Orleans in obedience to that request that night. I learned during the course of the day that General Edward F. Noyes, now the United States minister at Paris, and the Hon. Job E. Stevenson, formerly a Representative in Congress from one of the districts in Cincinnati, were also going on the same train, and I met them that night on the car.

"On arriving at Louisville and leaving there, I ascertained that a number of gentlemen prominent in public life and members of the Democratic party were also on their way to New Orleans in connection with the same matter. Among others were Senator McDonald, ex-Senator Trumbull of Illinois, General Palmer of Illinois, a gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Julian, Judge Stallo of Cincinnati, and some other gentlemen, some from Chicago, whose names I do not now recall.

"We reached New Orleans on Monday at or near noon, and proceeded to the St. Charles Hotel, where General Noyes, Mr. Stevenson, and myself took rooms. No other gentlemen of the Republican party who subsequently participated in the proceedings there arrived until the lapse of two or three days.

"In the mean time a communication in writing had been addressed by the Democratic visitors to the Republican visitors, which had been put into my hands and held until the arrival of gentlemen who were expected to act with us, and was replied to after consultation, all of which was made a matter of publication at the time. In the mean time I had seen a great many persons in New Orleans, citizens of that place and of Louisiana, of both political parties, and had heard a great deal from them in reference to the general situation of the State in regard to the recent election, and obtained certain general impressions in respect to it, but did not acquire any knowledge of the details of the matter as it was expected that they might appear.

"In the latter part of the week, not ealier than Friday and possibly on Saturday morning, for the first time I saw any of the members of the returning board. On that occasion I met General Thomas C. Anderson and ex-Governor J. Madison Wells at the custom-house in company on my part with Mr. Sherman, the present Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Stoughton of New York, and some other gentlemen whose names I do not recall. A general conversation ensued on the subject of the political situation in Louisiana and in reference to the general duties that were charged by law upon the returning board and its members, in which there was nothing said inconsistent with a strong expression of a general desire on the part of all the persons present that there should be a fair, open, and lawful canvass and count of the vote, and an expression on the part of those charged with that of a determination to do their duty fully in that respect without reference to the result, and no probable result was then discussed as likely to follow any course that might be adopted, no intimation that it was to come out in any specific way one way or the other.

"The fact was known and referred to that there were present in the city a considerable number of gentlemen representing both political parties, who had come there for the purpose of witnessing the proceedings of the board, and it was strongly urged by Mr. Sherman, Mr. Stoughton, and myself upon the two gentlemen who constituted members of that board that there should be an invitation from the board to representatives of these delegations to be present at their meetings and was acquiesced in immediately by General Anderson and Governor Wells, and I was requested to make a draught of a proper resolution containing such an invitation and request, which I immediately proceeded to do, and which, after some change of phraseology, was considered to be suitable, was delivered into the hands of one or the other of these gentlemen for the purpose of being offered in the board when it should hold its first meeting, and which afterward, upon an examination of their published proceedings, I found to be substantially the one which they did in fact adopt.

"In the mean time it became apparent to me that the proceedings which I had come

down to witness would be prolonged beyond any expectation that I had entertained when I accepted the invitation to attend, and having left my home and business upon a few hours' notice, had not made suitable preparation for any absence such as was necessarily required for that purpose; and I accordingly made my apologies to the gentlemen with whom I was expected to be associated, and left New Orleans on Saturday evening, being November 18, for Cincinnati, where I arrived on Monday morning, the 20th, without having been present at any meeting of the returning-board, without having ever seen any of the documents which were to be presented to them containing returns of the eleetions or other accompanying papers, and without in any way having participated in any of their proceedings beyond what I have already stated. So that in answer to the question as to what connection' I had 'with any real or pretended frauds or other wrongs committed in the conduct and returns of the election in the State of Louisiana in 1876,' as stated in the resolution of investigation, it is apparent that there was no place for any such connection, for I was not present in the State or at the place where anything of the sort was possible and knew nothing in reference to the matter.

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'During that time, as I have already stated, I saw a great many persons of both political parties, citizens of New Orleans, and of course at this time I am not able to say positively whom I saw and whom I did not see. I am quite sure, so far as I can be sure of anything of the sort, that I did not see during my stay in New Orleans Mr. James E. Anderson, for when I afterward saw him it was for the first time, as it appeared to me from his appearance. I did not recognize the fact at that time that I had ever seen him before. I had heard of one Anderson as being a supervisor of registration for the election in East Feliciana Parish, in connection with the fact stated in New Orleans at the time that one of the questions that would arise before the board in reference to the returns of that election would be whether the protest ought to have accompanied the returns, or whether it was valid, although placed upon the returns subsequently, it being stated that the excuse for not putting it upon the return at the time was that it could not be safely done by the officer for fear of his life.

I refer now to the fact that I do not believe I saw Mr. Anderson in New Orleans during that time, for the reason that in a letter which he seems to have produced before the committee of the House of Representatives, addressed to Weber, dated November 20, 1876, and contained in page 15 of his printed testimony as printed for the use of the Senate, he uses my name as if at that time he had had some communication with me or some knowledge of me in reference to the matter as to which he testified, for in that letter he says:

"I am not satisfied, and have no more faith in Sherman, Matthews & Co. than I have in Pitt Kellogg.'

"And in order to rebut the implication arising from his use of my name in that connection, I desire to say that at that time I had no knowledge of the man other than what I have just stated. I had never seen him; I had never had any communication with him, and had never made any communication intended for him, and knew nothing of any communication that he had with anybody else.

'Mr. WHYTE. He swears he never met you until he met you in Cincinnati. "The WITNESS. I believe that is the case. Now, the first time that I ever did see him, according to my memory, assisted by a memorandum, was the 23d day of March, 1877. I get that date not from my memory alone, for I would not be able to refer to the precise date, but upon the envelope containing the paper known as the Nash agreement, the original of which is now in the hands of the committee of the House. I made a pencil memorandum of that day as being the day of its receipt, although I did not make it on the day when I received it. I did not make that memorandum until I received subsequently a letter from Anderson of April 7, 1877, from New Orleans, in which was inclosed the other paper known as the Weber agreement.

"Mr. DAVIS, of Illinois. He puts the date he gave you that as the 22d.

"The WITNESS. I refer to that now because I do not wish to appear to contradict him unnecessarily and where I am not wholly sure that I am accurate.

66 The CHAIRMAN. You fix it at the 23d.

"The WITNESS. The 23d is the memorandum in pencil on the back of this envelope, but having made it not at the time but subsequently to the time when I received the letter of April 7, I may have made an error in my then recollection of the day.

"Mr. Anderson, in his testimony, on page 26, undertakes to give the substance of what passed in our interview on that occasion, and I quote from it as follows. He says:

"I went into a general history of the election in Louisiana. I told him what part I had taken, of the manner in which the election in East Feliciana had been conducted and in the State; told him they had thrown out my parish on a forged protest; that they had made me promises which they had not fulfilled and had no intention of fulfilling; in fact, told him the whole story of the whole thing right through; went into all the details, with the exception that I omitted any mention of Mr. Sherman's name.'