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THE UNION LEAGUE, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 The public mind being free from other exciting topics, the 
 present is a favorable time for a dispassionate consideration of 
 the political situation in Philadelphia, and the complications 
 in which, in that connection, the Union League has become 
 involved ; and such an inquiry is also appropriate now, in view 
 of the pending revision of the fundamental law of the State, 
 and reformatory movements elsewhere; and it is a subject 
 that commends itself to the earnest attention of eve-y one 
 who desires the welfare of this community. 
 
 In order that my position may not be misunderstood, it is 
 proper to premise that the results of our late elections, Na- 
 tional and State, were entirely in accord with my own views. 
 Nor is it necessary to my purpose that I should question but 
 that the persons returned as elected in Philadelphia received 
 a majority of legal votes, though that may really admit of 
 very grave doubt. There were to be filled, however, several 
 offices yielding large and tempting revenues, under the stim- 
 ulus of which, and the impetus which election frauds have 
 gained, it is not to be doubted that there were cast and 
 counted, at the election in this city in October last, many 
 thousands of illegal votes, and that fraudulent practices in 
 the conduct of the election attained a height unparalleled in 
 
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 the annals of our city. Under the old law for the selection of 
 election officers, the Democracy of the Fourth Ward and a 
 few other localities being strong enough to secure all the elec- 
 tion officers and have everything their own way, were able 
 to, and did, frequently turn the political scale by means of 
 what was then familiarly called ballot-box stuffing, and other 
 frauds, resulting frequently, as will be remembered, in con- 
 tested elections which generally went against them. As an 
 offset to this the Republican party, having control of the 
 Legislature, procured the enactment of the registry law, 
 which in effect gave to them the selection of the election 
 officers throughout the city, and election frauds, which had 
 before been confined mostly to a few localities, became gen- 
 oral, and assumed proportions commensurate with the facili- 
 ties thus afforded by one party having virtually the control 
 of the entire machinery of the elections. 
 
 ]^o description can adequately portray the alarming extent 
 to which the elective franchise, the dearest right of our people, 
 has been nullified by fraud. Our elections have become a mere 
 farce. The people of Philadelphia are no longer a free people, 
 enjoying the right of self-government. They are ruled by a 
 combination of men who seek only their own aggrandizement 
 at the expense of the people, and maintain and perpetuate their 
 power by fraud, and a monarchy would be preferable. Imagine 
 the election officers all over the city servants and adherents of 
 a ring of unscrupulous politicians, in league and constant com- 
 munication during the election with outside parties, swelling 
 the list of votes for their party by false personation, repetition, 
 and every species of fraud their infernal ingenuity can invent, 
 and resolved at all events to secure success by false returns, if 
 necessary ! What chance have honest voters against such a 
 combination ? It is not proposed to go into detailed proof of 
 the existence of this state of things ; it is too well known to 
 need it. Nor is it pretended that, with the present system of 
 conducting elections, it would be any better under Democratic 
 rule. Most likely it would be worse, if that were possible. 
 
 To complete the story of our wrongs reference must be made 
 to the vast amounts of the people's money which go annually 
 
in one form or another into the pockets of dishonest officials, 
 
 ^ this forming the chief incentive on their part for poisoning by 
 
 * fraud the fountain and source of all our rights — the elective 
 
 1 franchise — thereby depriving the people of their only means 
 
 of redress. 
 
 My desire is, if possible, to arouse the people of Philadel- 
 phia, and espeeiall} T the well-meaning portion of the members 
 of the Union League, to a proper sense of the danger of the 
 situation. It is a matter of the most serious importance to 
 ourselves and our children. If Republican governments have 
 not the power to purge themselves of such corruption, they 
 cannot endure. Thus far these evils have been confined mostly 
 to our large cities, but if they cannot be checked there, they 
 must soon contaminate the whole country, and be beyond rem- 
 edy, except by a more effective form of government, to be born 
 perhaps of bloodshed and revolution. 
 
 In the dark days of the war, when the institutions in which 
 are centred our hopes for ourselves and our posterity were 
 threatened by rebellion, we turned with a feeling of pride, as 
 well as security, to the Union League ; but alas ! though prov- 
 ing itself a tower of strength against treason, it seems to have 
 succumbed to the more insidious enemy, domestic corruption. 
 Though it gave promise of help in this direction when, two 
 years or more ago, it took one of the first steps in favor of a 
 revision of our State constitution, its voice has since been 
 hushed in ominous silence upon these questions. It is my de- 
 sire to treat this subject with perfect frankness, and, there- 
 fore, I concede the paramount importance of the re-election of 
 General Grant to the Presidency, thereby putting at rest, we 
 may hope forever, the old issues of the war ; and I am willing 
 to make due allowance for the fear, though not felt by my- 
 self, that a failure to carry Pennsylvania in October might 
 have endangered the election in November; but I maintain 
 that there was no reason why the Union League should not 
 have discriminated in favor of local reform in Philadelphia, 
 but, on the contrary, every reason why it should have done 
 so ; and that, failing in this, it should have put itself right 
 when the question wns presented at the late annual meeting, 
 
and that there is now a daily growing necessity, not less for 
 its own sake than that of the people of Philadelphia, that the 
 League should speak out for the right, and exert its utmost 
 power in favor of municipal reform, and to restore the purity 
 of the ballot-box ; and such action is alike demanded by the best 
 interests of the Republican party. 
 
 Having permitted itself to be made the tool of a circle of 
 professional politicians, who have managed to control the Re- 
 publican party in this city, the League has made itself respon- 
 sible for all the frauds that have been perpetrated under their 
 sanction, and made itself a sharer in the disgrace which at- 
 taches to them. It has even so far assumed the responsibili- 
 ties of the Republican party in this city as by its committee 
 to denounce as renegades all Republicans who failed to sup- 
 port the whole ticket, making no exception of the many thou- 
 sands of Republicans, who, from the highest and purest mo- 
 tives, supported a local ticket formed upon a non-partisan 
 basis with a view to much-needed reform. 
 
 In thus suffering itself to be merged in and become the 
 instrument of a mere political party the League has sacrificed 
 its high character and position as an independent organiza- 
 tion, and departed wholly from the purposes for which it was 
 founded. It was organized from motives of the purest and 
 most exalted patriotism, to concentrate and give effect to the 
 Union sentiment of Philadelphia in support of the Govern- 
 ment in its efforts for the suppression of the rebellion. It 
 was well understood among its founders that it was not to 
 be, strictly speaking, a political, and much less a party insti- 
 tution. Its platform was and is broad enough to include all 
 true and loyal men of whatever party, and loyal Democrats 
 as well as Republicans became members. The original arti- 
 cles of the Association set forth its object as follows : 
 
 1. The condition of membership shall be unqualified loyalty to the Govern- 
 ment of the United States, and unwavering support of its efforts for the 
 suppression of the rebellion, 
 
 2. The primary object of the Association shall be to discountenance and 
 rebuke, by moral and social influences, all disloyalty to the Federal Govern- 
 ment, and to that end the associators will use every proper means in public 
 and private. 
 
The preamble to the act of incorporation contains the fol- 
 lowing clause : " Whereas, au Association has been formed 
 in the city of Philadelphia for the purpose of fostering and 
 promoting the love of republican government, aiding in the 
 preservation of the Union of the United States," &c. And 
 the first section of the first article of the by-laws is in these 
 words : " The members of the Union League of Philadelphia 
 shall support the Constitution of the United States, discoun- 
 tenance by moral and social influences all disloyalty to the 
 Federal Government, encourage and maintain respect for its 
 authority, compliance with its laws, and acquiescence in its 
 measures for the enforcement thereof, and for the suppression 
 of insurrection, treason, and rebellion, as duties obligatory 
 upon every American citizen." 
 
 From this review of the declared objects of the League it 
 is very apparent that it was designed to be an independent 
 institution, and not the mere instrument of a political party. 
 These quotations breathe a spirit of pure and lofty patriotism 
 far above the intrigues and the trickery that have ever, in a 
 greater or less degree, characterized political parties, and the 
 disgrace of which the League must expect to share if it stoop 
 to maintain any such coalition. The action of the board of 
 directors in proposing the amendments to the by-laws 
 that were offered at the last annual meeting significantly 
 indicates the lowering tone of the management. In criticiz- 
 ing; the action of the directors, in order not to be misunder- 
 stood, I must say that I know a number of them personally 
 and by reputation well enough to believe that they would not 
 stoop to anything dishonorable, unless by yielding to others, 
 and from want of due consideration. Disgusted with the 
 elements which have been allowed gradually to gain ascen- 
 dency in the League, a number of its best members have 
 resigned, and many more shown a disposition to do so. With 
 a view to check this, so stated by the spokesman of the direc- 
 tors at the annual meeting, they originated and proposed an 
 amendment to the by-laws, increasing the initiation fee from 
 $25 to $100, after their first meeting in January, and limiting 
 the number of members to 2000, thereby holding up in ter- 
 
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 rorem to all disaffected parties the idea that if they withdrew 
 they could not return if they desired, at least without payment 
 of a much larger fee for initiation. This action clearly betrays 
 the trickery of the politician as distinguished from the high- 
 toned manliness and frankness becoming the Union League 
 of 1862. If honesty of purpose, and true loyalty to the char- 
 acter and reputation of the League had been the motive, 
 would not the causes of dissatisfaction have been inquired 
 into and removed, instead of seeking to counteract them by 
 trickery? Again, the by-laws specially provide that the 
 board of directors u shall not permit the opening of a bar for 
 the sale of liquors in the house, or on the premises of the 
 League." Notwithstanding which, on the nights of elections, 
 the directors, in response no doubt to the cravings of the par- 
 ticular class of politicians who seem to have been step by step 
 gaining influence over them, have permitted special arrange- 
 ments to be made for the sale of liquors, with a special corps 
 of attendants in that particular department, thereby convert- 
 ing the League House into a groggery. 
 
 It is of the highest importance to its members, and this 
 community generally, that the League shall maintain its in- 
 dividuality and independence, with an eye single to the public 
 good, as in its earlier days ; but that, at all events, it be defi- 
 nitel}' known what its future course is to be. If it is to be 
 run in the future in the special interest of a ring of politicians 
 who seem to regard it as their especial privilege to govern this 
 city for their own advantage, regardless of the means that 
 may be necessary to maintain their power, let it be known. 
 In the one case it will continue to be an honor to itself, to its 
 founders, and this community, as heretofore. In the other it 
 will become an engine of greater mischief in the future than 
 it has ever been of good in the past. If it is to be a Philadel- 
 phia " Tammany," it should be compelled, as far as can be, by 
 a direct issue made upon the question, to raise the Tammany 
 flag, and allowed to sail under no false colors, so that none 
 may be deceived. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the League has sufficient self-respect 
 remaining to make the effort, through its present authorities, 
 
to throw off the stigma which its political associations have 
 brought upon it ; but if not, then the remedy is with the indi- 
 vidual members through that article of the by-laws which 
 provides for a special meeting, at any time, for any specified 
 object, on the request, in writing, of fifty members, or at the 
 next annual meeting, or whenever opportunity may offer to 
 meet the question. 
 
 Members of the League, a serious responsibility rests with 
 you. Many of you are rarely seen at the League House, and 
 seldom take any further part as members than to pay your 
 annual assessment, but. the influence of your names, as well 
 as your contributions, are being made subservient to a political 
 faction in furtherance of their design to maintain themselves 
 in possession of all the lucrative offices of the city, and to use 
 and pervert them to maintain their own power in opposition 
 alike to your interests and those of the people at large, resist- 
 ing all reforms, and nullifying by fraud the sacred franchise 
 upon which depend all our rights as a free people. Will you 
 suffer the Union League to be thus prostituted? The remedy 
 is in your own hands. That a large majority of the members 
 of the League are in favor of the right, and against the wrong, 
 there can be no doubt. It is only necessary that they should 
 act together, and each one do his duty, as every patriotic citi- 
 zen should. It is not proposed that the League shall identify 
 itself with the Reform party, if there may be said to be such 
 a party more than any other, but that it shall entirely throw 
 off the shackles of party, declare and maintain its individuality 
 and independence, and exert its influence in favor of reform 
 measures, and protect the sacred right of the ballot. 
 
 A Republican Member of the League. 
 
 Philadeli-hia, March, 1873. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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