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Title: Letters and Literary Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden, v. 2

Author: Samuel J. Tilden

Editor: John Bigelow

Release date: November 9, 2014 [eBook #47317]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Julia Neufeld and the Online
        Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS AND LITERARY MEMORIALS OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN, V. 2 ***




Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Julia Neufeld and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net





Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.

The carat character (^) indicates that the following letters
enclosed in curly brackets are superscripted (example: pai^{mts}).


       *       *       *       *       *




  LETTERS
  AND
  LITERARY MEMORIALS
  OF
  SAMUEL J. TILDEN


  EDITED BY
  JOHN BIGELOW, LL.D.

  VOL. 2

  NEW YORK AND LONDON
  HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
  1908




  Copyright, 1908, by Harper & Brothers.

  _All rights reserved._
  Published February, 1908.




LETTERS AND LITERARY MEMORIALS OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN


DAVID A. WELLS TO TILDEN

  "NORWICH, CONN, _Jan'y 6th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I do not know as I can testify of my
admiration of your message better than by saying that I want you to
send me an early copy in pamphlet form for more careful reading and
preservation.

"When the novel which Mr. Sherman and I have been writing (now in
press) comes out, in a week or two, please see how curiously prices
worked on our imaginary island, where the people used something for
currency which had no value as a commodity.

  "Very truly yours,
  "DAVID A. WELLS."

Answered January 10, 1876, by the Governor, that he desired to
submit some of the messages to Mr. Wells, but it was a race against
time. The tables were not completed until the discussion was in the
proof-reading. "Even I was surprised at the surplus of currency
which they evince."


CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

  "FORT WASHINGTON, _Jan'y 12, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN,--In this form I will say nothing
of the proceedings, surprising to me, as they must have been to you,
which have marked the movements toward trying the Tweed civil cases.
I have neither seen nor heard from the present chief of the 'bureau
of municipal correction' since the newspapers began to regale us
with its recent fortunes.

"My object in addressing you is to submit certain suggestions for
consideration.

"When the present leading counsel for Tweed fell into a line of
practice which, steadily pursued for years as it has been, might
well have led to his being dubbed Attorney-General for Rascals, it
was my lot to be much in professional antagonism to him. I found
him to be neither wise, learned, nor, properly speaking, able, but
essentially a trickster. He seems capable of being very troublesome,
and to a _negligent_ or unskilful adversary he may be regarded as
dangerous.

"In dealing with his class, one will generally find a central device
around which all their series of tricks revolve, and from which
all their force and effectiveness are drawn. This man's course and
career furnish an admirable illustration of this fact.

"Our multitude of judges, with equal powers, were perceived by
him to furnish a hopeful quarry. One wicked, weak, or manageable
could be found somewhere. The next item in his scheme for making
judicial proceedings do the work which a bolder thief might seek
to accomplish by piracy, highway robbery, or counterfeiting was to
engage himself in quarrels where an unlimited number of separate
suits by separate plaintiffs might be brought before different
judges--all aimed at the same substantial object. This enabled him
to make almost at random all sorts of harassing movements against
the same parties. Slap-dash, hit or miss, he poured his shot upon
the selected victims, the loss of a suit or failure of a movement
troubling him not, the number of strings to his bow making this of
no more consequence to him than the loss of a single soldier to the
general of an army.

"You are aware that any single stockholder in a private or trading
corporation may file a bill in equity against the corporation
itself, its managing officers, and any one else suggesting
malversation, and, of course, such a suit has all the usual
incidents of receivership, injunctions, etc., etc. With a desperate
Wall Street swindler for plaintiff, an utterly unscrupulous legal
practitioner to direct it, and an unprincipled or manageable judge,
the blackmailing capabilities of such a suit are not slight. And
when you consider that the stock is always in the market, and
that five shares, or, indeed, a single share, may be sufficient to
qualify a plaintiff, you see the readiness with which a lot of these
suits, like a swarm of insects in summer, may harass. It was with
this single scrap of technical knowledge that the Attorney-General
for Scoundrels qualified himself for his office. In a very large
degree he has lived upon it ever since.

"It was in analogy to this right of the stockholder of a private
corporation that some well-intentioned persons devised the scheme
of judicially restraining municipal and other public officers from
improper action. I believe the history of the rise and fall of this
idea may be found in a long argument of mine reported in 'Wetmore
_v._ Story,' _22_ or _23 Barbour_. You have read it and spoken of it
to me. There is no analogy between the cases, and no basis in our
common-law or customary jurisprudence for the pretended right of a
taxpayer thus to intervene. The inconveniences of such a practice
would be enormous. It should not be permitted.

"Using a noted and life-long corruptionist, Charles Devlin, one of
Tweed's bail, the Scoundrel's Attorney-General has brought a suit
of this kind intended to perplex the Ring prosecutions and aid in
misleading the thoughtless readers of their partisan journals.

"I have said that such a suit is wholly without warrant in the
common law, and the claim to sustain it thereby has been by the
highest authority, in every form, judicially exploded; but in two
statutes it may find some color at least of support, and I write in
the hope that these may be at once repealed.

"The first of these is S. 3 of the city tax levy of 1864, ch. 405,
p. 945. It was obtained by Nathaniel Sands, the then leader of
reform, as actuary or general agent of Peter Cooper's Citizens'
Association. His subsequent history is known to you. The other
is ch. 161 of the laws of 1872, p. 467. You were then in the
Legislature, and may have favored its passage; it is not impossible
that I may have failed to condemn it when spoken to, but I never
believed in the utility of such a remedy. A reluctance to throw
cold water on the efforts of our friends sometimes dictates a
prudent silence. But whatever might be said at that time, the law
of 1875, establishing the right of the State, has superseded the
use of any such private taxpayer's action, and this inexpressibly
impudent suit of Devlin shows that the privilege tends to mischief.
I hope you will get some real and earnest reformer belonging to the
Republican party to bring in and push through a bill for the repeal
of both these enactments.

"Another subject may seem to demand attention, and that speedily. In
Polly Bodine's case, some years ago, it was found that the public
journals had so thoroughly imbued the minds of the people with
information or reports and ideas concerning the facts of the case
that under the existing common law touching challenges to the favor
it was hardly possible to get a jury. This must be so in Tweed's
cases. The Legislature then altered the law, but I am told that the
change is confined in its terms to criminal cases. It ought, by
supplemental legislation, to be extended to all cases.

  Yours faithfully,
  "CH. O'CONOR."


BONAMY PRICE TO TILDEN

"2 NORHAM GARDENS, OXFORD, _Jan'y 31, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I hope that the great kindness which you
showed me at New York will be allowed to plead my excuse with you
for trespassing on your time with a few lines.

"I am anxious to tell you of the deep sympathy and interest with
which I have closely watched your public career since I had the
honor of becoming acquainted with you in America, as well as the
strong admiration which it excited in me.

"Never did a man deserve better of his country; and I fervently hope
that the new year will bring the amplest recognition of this fact
from your fellow-countrymen.

  "Yours truly,
  "BONAMY PRICE."


THOMAS COTTMAN TO TILDEN

"NEW YORK, _Feb'y 6th, 1876_.

"DEAR SIR,--I see by the papers this morning that Senator
Francis Kernan had taken steps to reconcile the discordant elements
of the Democratic party of this city. I am convinced of the
unpracticability of the effort without your active interposition.
Success with Tammany as at present organized is entirely out of
the question. John Kelly, as chief, with Ned Gale, Tom Boize,
Frank Spinola, Billy Boyd, and the like as chief counsel, will
inevitably bring disaster upon the party and turn the State over
to the Republicans in the fall. I would in no wise depreciate Mr.
Kelly, whom I regard as a very estimable gentleman. But he has been
most unfortunate in selecting his '_entourage_.' There is no lack
of efficient material in this city for constructing a capital to
the Democratic edifice and insure harmony in all its proportions.
As at present constituted, it is an incongruous mass, ready to
disintegrate and form other affinities. Without some decided action
on your part, there will most certainly be two delegations from
this city to the convention, and the bad blood thus generated will
outcrop in the fall election to the detriment of the party. I
shall leave home to-morrow night for Washington, where I expect to
remain a short time to confer with my Democratic friends from the
different sections of the country. There being quite a number of my
acquaintances representing different constituencies in Congress,
the dissensions of the New York Democracy are certain to form the
leading topic of conversation and the topic upon which the least
satisfaction can be vouchsafed--and the entire responsibility laid
at your door. Your personal friendship for Andrew H. Green might
have been so evinced as not to have provoked antagonism to yourself,
and might have availed by its influence to have kept him from
exciting the wrath of a majority of the voting community. Wickham is
weaker than Green in the popular estimation. Wickham is looked upon
as milk and water, whilst Green is regarded as gall and wormwood,
whilst Kelly is so encumbered with _barnacles_ as to be impervious
to the popular demand for a more democratic form of government than
that now run exclusively for the benefit of favorites.

  Very respectfully yours,
  "THOMAS COTTMAN."


A. E. SILLIMAN TO TILDEN

"Please do not trouble yourself to read until at entire leisure.

  "56 CLINTON ST., BROOKLYN, _Feb. 14, '76_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I am indebted to some kind friend for a copy
of your Message for 1876 (secluded among my books, I do not know
whom); but recollecting your conversations with Mr. Bennett and
myself some years since at Delmonico's, I am fain to believe that I
am one of a number to whom you may have directed it to be sent; but
in the uncertainty deem it more decorous to address you _personally_
in my recognition of the favor. I read the Message at the time of
its appearance with much interest, and was particularly struck
with the strong clearness and distinctness of that portion of it
pertaining to financial affairs, which perhaps is the 'part of the
schooner' I am (or rather ought to be) more particularly conversant
with. We are much indebted to Mr. Chase for the present state of
things--his refusal to recognize the banks as government depositors,
and have a clearing-house for the daily settlement of its debt,
with _enormous_ resulting economy of its _physical_ features (for
instance, the issue of legal-tender notes under such circumstances
need not have exceeded one hundred million)--but mainly for
setting loose under his national bank system a thousand _new_
inflating-machines, called banks, practically unmuzzling the old
banks which he cowed in under its flag. Admitting other causes, in
my opinion it is mainly[1] the bank inflation which has caused the
state of things _culminating_ in 1873; and which crisis, opening the
eyes of the community to its truths on the one side, shows them the
terrors of contraction on the other, and the natural apprehension
of a sudden contraction to a specie basis produces thus, of course,
almost paralysis in all business movement beyond the _immediate_
present. I do not think that the plan for _arbitrary_ resumption in
1879 will be attended with happy effect. 'There is no royal road
to learning,' and assuredly none to specie resumption. We have
slid down the hill with intense velocity; we have got _slowly_ to
trudge up the hill again through the snow if we would have another
slide. I think that if ten years ago we had commenced destroying
the legal tender at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum we would have
avoided _1873_, and have been paying specie now; and I think if we
commence[2] now in that ratio we shall in ten years arrive at the
desired result, relieving the business community from the bugbear
of rapid contraction. The destruction of _20_ million legal-tender
would carry with it _80_ million bank credit--say, an annual
contraction of _100_ million. This, if the country is let alone,
with a decent attention to the economy you suggest, it could have
from the increasing receipts of its industry. In _1873_, as a matter
of _curiosity_, I examined into the statistics of finance for the
periods stated, and it is from them I draw my conclusions above
expressed. I annex a copy, as perhaps your experienced eye will
take in at a glance the gravity of the record. Now, my dear sir, I
hope you will excuse my troubling you with this long note, and not
trouble yourself to answer it. With hopes that you may be blessed in
health, and remain long as the head of your State, I am

  "Very truly your friend and servant,
  "A. E. SILLIMAN.

  [1] The cost of the war being practically packed away in loans.

  [2] "In my opinion, any other than a _very slow_ contraction of the
  excess of credit issue will be followed by a general dislocation of
  existing contracts. They are essentially 'nine-pins,' and if you
  knock over a few they will most likely bring down all the rest."


CAUSE OF FINANCIAL CRISIS IN 1873

  _1862._

  Total _liability_ of all the banks in the United
      States                                              $1024 mills.
    Increase of _capital_ in the preceding nine years       117 mills.
    Increase of _liability_ in the same nine years          248 mills.

  _1872._

  Total _liability_ of national banks, including the
    _State_ banks _only_, of the city of New York         $1759 mills.

    Increase of _liability_ in said ten years $717 mills.
    Increase of _bank capital_ in said ten
      years                                    $78 mills (!)
    Add legal-tender notes and fractional c.                400 mills.
                                                           -----------
       Total                                              $2159 mills.


"_Showing_

"Money means in the hands of the community in excess of that of
1862, _$1117_ mills. And this _$2,159,000,000_ is the _hub_ of the
wheel from which radiates the _individual_ debt of the community,
until it reaches the apple-woman at the corner.

"Perhaps the above may vary, more or less, _20 or 30 mills_.

  "The banks now number, I believe, more than 2200.

  In 1854 the number was      1208
  "  1873  "    "     "       1945

    _Nineteen years_ an increase of      738

  In 1862 the number was      1492
  "  1873  "    "     "       1946

    _Eleven years_ an increase of        454
    _New_ banks with an increase of capital only of _$78 mills_.

"In considering the position, the banks are recognized _as part
of the public_ in their representations of their stockholders,
and it is not intended to dissect out of their liabilities their
_individual_ status."


CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

  "FORT WASHINGTON, _March 16th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I had the honor of addressing you some
time ago concerning the expediency of repealing a section of 1864
and an act of 1867, both of which most absurdly recognized a right
of action in tax-payers for maladministration by public corporations.

"My reason for urging the step at this time is an action by one
Charles Devlin, Tweed's bail, against the Attorney-General and
others, seeking the appointment of a receiver and the transfer
of the Ring suits to the control of the Tweed faction. Tweed's
attorneys are attorneys for the plaintiff in this action, and for
their motions they select as judge Charles Donohue, who, by the
order for a bill of particulars, showed his fidelity to Tweed
principles.

"It is ridiculous that such a suit should be permitted to harass us
and bring our movements under the control of Donohue.

"I have supposed that a real reformer of the Republican party
should be enlisted to push this repeal through, and if you select
such an one I am willing, if put in communication with him, to aid
him in any way that I can, and, if need be, I will go to Albany to
co-operate with him.

"The relations of D. D. Field and Judge Peabody are such that the
latter, though a very correct and honorable man, ought not to be
drawn into this affair. Of course, his son, the member of Assembly,
is subject to the same remark. And as young Mr. Fish and he are
_very_ intimate, and reside together in private joint lodgings, I
would advise that Mr. Fish be not included in any movement on this
subject.

  "Yours truly,
  "CH. O'CONOR."


WHEELER H. PECKHAM TO S. J. TILDEN

  "NEW YORK, _April 15th, 1876_.

"DEAR SIR,--I enclose draft of a bill appropriating
twenty-five thousand dollars for expenses prosecuting the ring
suits.

"The last appropriation was in 1874, ch. 359, laws of that
year--$25,000.

"Of the sum then appropriated but about $8000 are left. The expenses
of the last civil trial of Tweed will more than exhaust this. The
disbursements of that trial are about $3000, and Mr. Carter's very
moderate bill is $5000. That exhausts the appropriation without any
bill for my own services.

"The trial was protracted and expensive beyond expectation. It
consumed the two months of January and February and part of March.
The deft. Tweed is making a case and will appeal, and consequently
further expense must be incurred. The case vs. Sweeney is also
ready for trial, and we expect to try it in May. Active proceedings
are pending against others, which must result in the collection of
very considerable sums of money. Over half a million of dollars has
already been realized and paid over to the city treasury. Under the
circumstances, it seems to me that there should be no hesitation on
the part of the Legislature in passing the bill.

"Of course, the force of my opinion must be weighed in the light of
my own interest. On that account it is proper to add that I have
submitted this proposed law to your consideration at the request of
Mr. O'Conor.

  "Yours truly,
  "WHEELER H. PECKHAM."

"Mr. O'Conor's name is left out of the act by his special
request.--W. H. P."


CHARLES O'CONOR TO GOVERNOR TILDEN

  "NEW YORK, _May 1st, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I write to remind you that great trouble and
inconvenience are likely to result if the repealing acts sent up and
handed to Senator Robertson are not pressed.

  "Yours truly,
  "CH. O'CONOR."


D. A. WELLS TO TILDEN

  "NORWICH, CONN., _May 5th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I have canvassed the political
situation in this State since I last saw you, and think there is
no doubt of your receiving the unanimous support of Connecticut at
St. Louis. Indeed, there is no diversity of sentiment, so far as I
can hear, Loomis, of New London, being the only one of the delegates
whom I should regard as doubtful. Dick Hubbard, of Hartford, who
heads the delegation; Waller, of New London, the Speaker of the
House (who will probably go as a substitute); and Hunter, of
Willimantic, are all to be relied on as warm supporters, and they
will control the delegation if it should need controlling. Barr, of
Hartford, is a tricky fellow, and if you could bring some influence
to bear on him it may be as well, though I am advised that it is not
necessary.

"There is one element of the future that I do not like, and that is
the probable election of Barnum to the Senate from this State in
place of English. Barnum is so unfit, so much of the Tweed order
of men, and a pig-iron protectionist into the bargain, that the
effect of his election will be bad, not only in the State, but
throughout the country. It will be cited everywhere as a proof that
the professions of the party do not amount to anything; I do not,
however, know what you can do about it, or whether it would be
advisable to exert an influence if you could; but it is an event
that is likely to disgust the free-trade element intensely, and
also those who have a deep conviction of the necessity of political
reform. Eaton is probably more responsible for this movement than
any other man, except Barnum.

"Do you think I had better go to the 18th of May conference? I see
nothing antagonistic in it to your interest; neither do I think it
will amount to much. I know the Republican managers have a most
profound contempt for the whole movement, and haven't an idea of
allowing to Bristow to be nominated.

"Command me for any service I can render.

  "Truly yours,
  "DAVID A. WELLS."

  "_Hon. S. J. Tilden._"

Shortly after the inauguration of Mr. Tilden as Governor, in
January, 1875, he sent to the Legislature a special message setting
forth his convictions of the corrupt management of the canals of
the State. This message abounded with specific details of fraud
of so infamous a character that even friends of the implicated
contractors in the Legislature felt constrained to grant the request
of the Governor, and by a concurrent resolution, adopted on the
31st day of March, 1875, authorized him to appoint a committee
of four "to investigate the affairs of the canals of the State,
and especially the matters embraced in the special message of the
Governor, communicated to Legislature on the 19th of March, 1875."

In compliance with this authority, the Governor appointed four
gentlemen, whose names are signed to the following report, two
theretofore having acted with the Republican party and two with the
Democratic. The Governor's commissioners organized at Albany on the
12th of April following; but before they began to take testimony
the friends of the canal jobbers in the Assembly managed to pass
a resolution appointing a commission of that body also to make a
similar investigation, but naming in the resolution commissioners
satisfactory to those who constituted what was known as the "Canal
Ring."

This commission met two or three times, and then offered to the
Governor's commission, under pretext of saving time and expense,
to join them, so that the two commissions should constitute but
one body. Of course this proffer was promptly declined, and the
legislative commission took no more testimony, and was never heard
of again.

The interval between the organization of the Governor's commission,
in April, and the time for the introduction of water into the
canals, near the end of May, was devoted exclusively to an
examination of the most important works in progress or recently
completed in the prism of the canals.

Between the 31st day of July of that year, when the commission
submitted its first report, and the 14th of February, when it
submitted its final report, it issued twelve reports. That which
follows gives a summary of the facts developed by the investigation
which confirm in every detail the charges made in the Governor's
message, besides adding very much to the total amount of confirming
testimony. The reason for this confirmation being so complete was
that the Governor, almost immediately after his election, employed
privately, and at his own expense, an engineer in whose professional
training and experience he could place entire confidence, the late
Mr. Elkanah Sweet, to make an investigation of the recent canal
work, gave him authority to take down any portion of the work to
ascertain how far and in what way it was not in conformity with
the contract, and gave him also authority to inspect all the canal
contracts in the archives of the Canal Board and compare them
with his observations. Upon his report the facts presented in the
Governor's canal message were based. Mr. Sweet, therefore, was
naturally employed by the Governor's commission to make the yet more
thorough and elaborate investigation required of them.

The Governor's canal message, with this incontestable confirmation
of all its allegations, gave him a national fame, and contributed
more than anything he had previously done to make his nomination to
the Presidency a political necessity for the Democratic party.

Several previous efforts to investigate frauds in the operation
of the State canals had been made by the Legislature, but all had
theretofore proved abortive. One reason which contributed largely to
prevent the investigation of the Governor's commission sharing the
same fate was the exclusion of reporters from the meetings of the
board during the examination of witnesses. By this means nothing of
its work was given to the public until the testimony was digested
into an intelligible report of what had been proved. The testimony
was necessarily so largely technical that if given to the press
day by day, as received, the public would have soon tired of the
subject, and, what was worse, the witnesses would have been tempted
to shape their testimony rather to its effects upon the newspaper
public than upon the commissioners. The consequence was that when
the reports appeared they were read, and their impact upon the
public was proportionately prompt, instructive, and penetrating.


_CANAL INVESTIGATING COMMISSION_

FIRST REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR[3]

  "_To his Excellency the Governor, and to the Honorable
  the Legislature of the State of New York_:

"The undersigned commissioners, appointed by the Governor, with the
advice and consent of the Senate, under a concurrent resolution
of the Legislature adopted on the 31st day of March last, 'to
investigate the affairs of the canals of the States, and especially
the matters embraced in the special message of the Governor,
communicated to the Legislature on the 19th day of March, 1875,'
have the honor to submit the following report of the progress of
their investigations:

  [3] The previous reports of which this is a synopsis were made to
  the Legislature.

"Your commissioners, assembled at the capitol, qualified and
organized on the 12th day of April, 1875. The interval between that
time and the opening of the canals, a period of about six weeks,
was devoted exclusively to an examination of the most important
works in progress, or recently completed in the prism of the canals.
When this examination was interrupted by the introduction of water,
near the end of May, your commission returned to the capitol and
proceeded to supplement and enlarge the area of their information by
the examination of witnesses.

"In this work they were unexpectedly embarrassed by a decision of
one of the judges of this district, at Special Term, denying to
them a power, which they supposed to have been conferred upon them
by the legislative authorities, to require the production before
them of the books and papers of witnesses. They directed an appeal
to be taken from this decision, and it was finally reversed at the
General Term, but not until late in the month of November, till when
your commission was obliged to contend with all the inconveniences
resulting from the privation of such a necessary and indispensable
prerogative. The opinion of Justice Learned at the Special Term,
and that of Justice James at the General Term, are annexed to this
report.

"On the 31st of July the commission submitted their first annual
report to the Governor. It relates to a contract for substituting
slope and vertical for bench wall between Port Schuyler and the
lower Mohawk aqueduct. This report was followed at intervals by
eleven others, entitled, respectively, as follows:

"Second report.--H. D. Denison's contract east of the city of Utica.

"Third report.--Hulser's bridge contract.

"Fourth report.--Willard Johnson's lower side cut lock contract at
West Troy.

"Fifth report.--Buffalo contracts and legislative awards.

"Sixth report.--Champlain enlargement; Bullard's bend contract.

"Seventh report.--Buffalo contracts and State officers.

"Eighth report.--The Baxter award.

"Ninth report.--Contract of E. W. Williams for building vertical
wall at Rome.

"Tenth report.--Flagler & Reilley's pending contract at Fort Plain.

"Eleventh report.--Jordan level contracts.

"Twelfth report.--The auditor's traffic in canal certificates.

"A copy of these several reports, together with the testimony taken
before the commission, covering together 2927 pages, are submitted
with this report.

"Several other reports are in course of preparation. One on the
Glen's Fall feeder, a second on the Canal Appraiser's ice awards
at Rochester in 187_, and a third on the W. C. Stevens contract
assigned to Denison, Belden & Co., for dredging the Albany basin,
dated December 31, 1866, will be submitted at an early day.

"Though we have given this investigation our most unremitting and
exclusive attention, we not only have not exhausted the subject, but
there are many matters falling within the range of our inquiry which
we have only been able to touch incidentally. Among these we regret
that the subjects of 'ordinary repairs,' the lateral canals, and the
present system of appraising canal damages are included.

"As we have been able to examine only a limited portion of the work
done on the canals since 1868, of course we have found it impossible
to extend our inquiries beyond that year, though we have abundant
evidence that the mismanagement of the canals dates from a much
earlier period. But the results of our investigation--incomplete
as any investigation made in so short a time must necessarily
have been--will, we think, suffice to indicate with tolerable
distinctness what have been the more mischievous errors in the
management of our canals, and some of their more obvious correctives.

"We propose to-day to submit to you such of the conclusions as we
have reached, with all the testimony we have taken, reserving for a
later day some further recommendations which are under consideration.

"Introductory to such conclusions as we are now prepared to submit
to you, it is proper that we first invite your attention to the
character of our canal property as an investment, and show precisely
how it stands upon the books of the State.

  The total revenues from our system of canals at the close
    of the last fiscal year, including gains resulting from
    the management of the sinking fund, amounted to    $138,507,129.91

  Total payments for canal purposes up to same period,
    including construction                              167,003,357.91
                                                        --------------
      Excess of cost over earnings                      $28,496,228.00

"This sum of $28,000,000 and upwards represents the premium which
the people of this State have paid in taxes during the last
fifty-odd years to secure and encourage the use of these waterways
for purposes of transportation, the equivalent of an annual subsidy
of over $560,000.

  The tolls received from all the canals during the fiscal
  year ending September 30, 1875, amounted to            $1,902,990.64

  There were expended for repairs and maintenance
  during the same period                  $2,247,297.01

  Damages during the same period             305,796.68
                                             ----------   2,553,093.69
                                                          ------------
      Balance against the State                            $650,103.05

"If to this be added the interest on the canal debt, the cost of
collection, and the difference between miscellaneous expenses and
receipts, as set forth in detail in Exhibit B, the loss to the State
from the canals during the last fiscal year will be found to amount
to the enormous sum of $1,412,470.79.

"The cost of repairs and maintenance is so obviously out of all
proportion with the necessities of a system of completed structures
like our canals, which have little that is complicated or perishable
about them, that we are forced to seek the explanation of it in
their administration.

"Our investigation was not long in revealing the fact that the
canals have not been managed upon the principles which would govern
any man in the administration of his private estate. The interests
of the public have been systematically disregarded. The precautions
with which the Legislature has attempted to defend this property
from peculation and fraud, and secure for it faithful and efficient
service, have been deliberately and persistently disregarded; while
the responsibility of its agents has been so divided and distributed
as to leave the State comparatively remediless and at the mercy of
the predatory classes, who have been, if they do not continue to be,
a formidable political power.

"The more conspicuous evidences of mismanagement which our
investigation has disclosed may be divided into three categories:

     "_First_, as to the modes of letting contracts.

     "_Second_, as to the modes of measuring and estimating work to
     the contractors.

     "_Third_, as to the facilities for procuring legislative relief.

"_First_, as to the mode of letting the contracts:

"It seems to have been the practice for years to let contracts
upon conditions which exclude honest contractors and confine this
business, at least as to what are termed 'extraordinary repairs,'
almost exclusively to large capitalists. The large deposits required
from contractors discouraged bidders with small means, while the
encouragement offered to unbalanced bidding, by a neglect to enforce
the faithful performance of the provisions of the contract, have
a tendency to exclude all who bid fair prices, with the honest
intention of giving the State fair work for them. Till since the
commencement of this investigation we do not know of a single
instance in which any forfeiture of his deposit had been enforced
against any contractor; while we believe we do no one any injustice
in saying that no contract has been let since 1868 the provisions of
which have been properly complied with.

"There has been a corresponding disregard of all the provisions of
law regulating the letting of the contracts. The law wisely required
a preliminary survey, with maps, specifications, and estimates to
be made by the division engineer, approved by the State Engineer
and by the Canal Board, before a contract could be let. The purpose
of these precautions was to ascertain the amount and probable cost
of the work as a means of determining the relative merits of the
respective bids, and to serve as a protection against false or
erroneous estimates of engineers. These precautions have been almost
universally neglected. The result has been that the amount of work
and materials required in the actual construction varied so widely
from the quantities let that in nearly every instance the person
receiving the contract proved in the end to have been the highest
instead of the lowest bidder;[4] and we cannot resist the conclusion
that these precautions in many instances were neglected with the
intent to afford greater facilities for defrauding the State. These
evils have been greatly aggravated by the frequent changes of the
engineers on the canals and the loss of knowledge as to work done,
which the removed engineers carried away with them.

  [4] A striking illustration of this may be found in the first report
  of this commission to the Governor, on the Port Schuyler and lower
  Mohawk aqueduct contract.

"_Second_, as to the mode of measuring and estimating work to the
contractors:

"This responsible duty, involving, as it should, a perfect
familiarity with the terms of the contract and with the character
of the work in progress, has been devolved, not by law, but in
practice, entirely upon assistants who are not sworn; who, but in
few instances, have been found to possess a competent knowledge of
engineering; and who, in most cases, appear to owe their positions,
and therefore to have been in a greater or less degree dependent
upon the political favor and influence of the contracting class. It
will be hardly a matter of surprise, therefore, that in not more
than a single instance that has come under our scrutiny have we
found the work faithfully measured, or a single contract closed,
under which the contractor has not received more than he was
entitled to.

"Under these influences, operating in favor of the contractor and
to the prejudice of the State, a system of fraudulent estimates
and measurements has become so established that though in direct
and flagrant violation of the very language of the contract, it is
deliberately defended by those who profit by it, on the ground that
it has been sanctioned by long usage. For example: it has been a
practice of the engineers to allow the contractor for excavating
behind vertical wall, on a slope of one to one, without regard to
the necessity for such excavation, and whether the excavation was
made or not.

"As nearly all vertical wall is constructed in the winter or early
spring, and when the banks are frozen, the cut is usually vertical
or nearly so, and any charge for such excavation is a fraud upon
the State. The contracts also uniformly provide that the contractor
shall be allowed nothing for the filling in of the place supposed to
be excavated behind the walls, if such filling is from earth already
paid for as excavation, unless he is obliged to draw his material
more than 200 feet on the line of the canal. This provision has
also come to be treated as obsolete, and the State seems to have
been uniformly charged not only for excavation which had not been
made, but for filling up the assumed excavation which, had it been
made, the State was not bound to pay for. The profits derived in
this indirect way through the fraudulent connivance of the agents
of the State, has led to an enormous expenditure for works wholly
unnecessary, and which to keep in repair must continue to subject
the State to a very considerable yearly expense.

"One of the principal expenditures upon the canals since 1868
for extraordinary repairs has been made in the construction of
vertical and slope walls which have been, as we think, very unwisely
substituted for the old walls, the capacity of the canals before
their removal having been ample for all their business.

"Between the 1st of January, 1868, and the 1st of July, 1875, there
have been built forty-three and one-third miles, linear measure,
of vertical wall, at a total cost, including the removal of bench
walls which they displaced, of $1,589,885, the cost per linear foot
averaging $6.95.

"These walls, besides costing four or five times as much as the
slope walls, are less durable, much more expensive to keep in
repair, and possess no substantial advantage except in large towns,
the commerce of which requires special facilities for docking.
But of the forty-three and one-third miles built since 1868, it
cannot be pretended that so many as three were needed to meet such
exigencies.

"Without stopping at present to inquire if the business of the canal
justified the removal of the old bench walls at all, it is very
certain that a good slope wall would have been preferable throughout
nine-tenths, at least, of the entire extent upon which vertical wall
has been constructed; and, at the rate paid for slope wall during
this period, would have resulted in an economy to the State of not
less than $1,300,000, or nearly $200,000 a year.

"An important item in the cost of this vertical wall was made up of
the fictitious estimates to which we have already alluded. Assuming
that the State was uniformly charged with fictitious excavation and
embankment along the entire length of this vertical wall--and we
have no satisfactory proof that a single rod of it was entitled to
be excepted--the loss to the State from this source alone cannot be
estimated at less than $230,000.

"We have found all the other more important provisions of these
contracts as uniformly disregarded. We have torn down and carefully
examined the work under more than forty contracts; and we cannot
name one in which the work comes up, even approximately, to the
specifications. The contracts define with great precision the
size and character of the stone to be used, the mode of their
disposition, the thickness and other dimensions of the wall, the
character of the cement and sand, the quality of lining, and what
else is needed to insure durability and a capacity to resist the
shocks from loaded boats to which the walls of canals are constantly
subjected. In no one of the forty-odd contracts that we examined
did we find the stone either in size or disposition; the dimensions
of the wall; the quality of the sand, lime, cement, and gravel, to
correspond with the specifications. The consequences to the State
are not only that it has been called upon to pay for a higher
class of work than it has received, but that it is exposed to a
large annual expenditure to keep these ill-constructed and for the
most part worthless walls in repair. It has been a not uncommon
circumstance for the superintendent to be called upon to repair the
earlier work under a vertical wall contract while other portions of
the structure were still in progress. To keep this class of walls in
repair promises to be one of the principal sources of expense for
the future maintenance of our canals.[5]

  [5] See statement of Professors Michie and Wheeler, of the United
  States Military Academy at West Point, on page 12 of first report of
  this commission to the Governor.

"Nor is this system of fictitious estimates confined to vertical
wall. Since 1868 fifty-three and two-thirds miles of slope wall
have been built. By the terms of the contracts these walls should
have had an average thickness of at least fifteen inches, measured
perpendicularly to the slope. None of the stone composing it should
have been less than twelve inches in length at right angles to the
face, and the rear of the wall was to rest on a base of clean, hard
gravel nine inches thick. The engineers have uniformly estimated
these walls at the specified thickness of fifteen inches, while
in point of fact we have not found on any of our canals a single
stretch of slope wall, constructed since 1868, that would average
over ten inches. Of course, the stones are usually smaller than the
minimum size required by the specifications, and we did not find a
single specimen of the clean, hard gravel lining required by the
contract; so that the State has been made to pay, throughout the
whole forty-three and two-thirds miles of slope wall, for one-third
more of constructed wall than it has received--full prices for a
very inferior quality of stone--and for lining the whole work,
though not a single yard of the required quality appears to have
been ever furnished.

"To confirm our own judgments, and to be sure that we were not
applying an erroneous standard to the work done in the prism of the
canals, we invited Professors Peter S. Michie and J. B. Wheeler, of
the United States Military Academy at West Point, to go over a large
proportion of what we had already visited and to give us the benefit
of their judgment about it. Their report is annexed, and will be
found to accord in all substantial particulars with the opinions
we have felt it our duty to express in our previous report to his
Excellency the Governor, and in this communication, in reference
to all the contract work on the canals that has fallen under our
observation.

"_Third_, as to the facilities afforded by the Legislature to
contractors for procuring legislative relief:

"These facilities appear to have been grossly and corruptly abused
under the discretionary power conferred upon the Canal Board by
the Legislature. Numbers of contracts have been cancelled when
such portions of the work as were let on terms profitable to the
contractor had been executed, while those portions of the work
that were let upon terms more advantageous to the State were left
unexecuted. In such cases it not unfrequently happened that this
remaining work was let to the same parties, under a new contract, at
much higher rates. When the Canal Board was found to turn a deaf ear
to such appeals, these applications for relief would be addressed
directly to the Legislature, where the fear of doing injustice, and
the want of the time and familiarity with the subject necessary for
investigating its details, often permitted the allowance of awards
conceived in fraud and without a single legal or equitable merit.

"An illustration of this class of abuses will be found in the fifth
and seventh reports of this commission to the Governor. For one of
them--the case of the award for the relief of John Hand--George D.
Lord, a member of the Assembly which made the award, is now under
indictment, it appearing that the claim made in his behalf was
altogether fraudulent and the alleged proofs fictitious. Another
award was also made to George D. Lord of $119,000 for alleged losses
under contracts with the State for work in Buffalo harbor. This
was, to all appearances, as much greater an abuse of legislative
credulity, as the amount exceeded that which was realized under
the award to John Hand. The limited technical knowledge of canal
administration possessed by a large majority of State legislators,
and the claims of other important business upon their attention,
make it impossible for them to properly scrutinize appeals of this
character, which are usually pressed by designing men, perfectly
familiar with all the resources for deception which our complicated
canal system afforded, prior to the constitutional amendment of 1874.

"In view of the systematic infidelity of the agents of the State
which this investigation has disclosed, is it surprising that the
expenditures for extraordinary repairs alone on our canals have
amounted, since 1867, to $8,444,827.24, or to nearly as much as the
whole of our canal debt, less the sinking fund, which on the 30th
of September, 1875, was $8,638,314.49? Of these expenditures for
extraordinary repairs it is our belief that fully seventy per cent.
have been inconsiderate, unwise, and unprofitable to the State.[6]

  [6] Cost of extraordinary repairs made since the year 1867,
  including the year 1875:

      Erie and Champlain   $6,602,858 60
      Oswego                  583,555 22
      Cayuga and Seneca       163,480 76
      Chemung                 220,328 34
      Crooked Lake             74,145 93
      Chenango                255,073 77
      Black River             120,410 22
      Genesee Valley          369,478 20
      Oneida Lake              50,063 60
      Baldwinsville             5,432 70
                           -------------
        Total              $8,444,827 34

"The facts which have been brought to light in the course of this
investigation have constrained us already to recommend rigorous
proceedings to be taken against the following parties:

"First.--Against Denison, Belden & Co. for the recovery of large
sums of money which they appear to have received unlawfully under
their contracts for work between Port Schuyler and the lower Mohawk
aqueduct, and for work east of the city of Utica, both on the Erie
Canal. The claims of the State against these parties are fully set
forth in the first and second reports of this commission to the
Governor, and suits are in progress.

"Second.--George D. Lord has been indicted by a grand jury of Erie
County, upon the facts disclosed by this commission, for bribery in
procuring an act of the Legislature for the relief of one John Hand.
The history of this case will be found in the fifth report of this
commission to the Governor.

"Third.--Thaddeus C. Davis, late member of the Board of Canal
Appraisers, has also been indicted for a conspiracy to cheat the
State. The circumstances which made him amenable to the criminal
courts are set forth in the fifth, seventh, and eighth reports of
this commission to the Governor.

"A civil suit has also been instituted against Davis to recover
moneys fraudulently obtained from the State by himself in
conjunction with George D. Lord.

"Fourth.--Indictments have also been found upon the testimony
furnished by the commission against the following other high
officials: Alexander Barkley, ex-canal commissioner; John Kelly,
late superintendent of section No. 12 of the Erie Canal; J.
Frederick Behn, division engineer of the western section; and D.
Clinton Welch, ex-superintendent of section No. 12.

"Fifth.--Upon testimony furnished by this commission, the
commissioners of the canal fund made a requisition upon the Governor
for the removal of Francis S. Thayer, late Auditor of the Canal
Department, and on the twenty-eighth day of December last Mr. Thayer
was suspended upon charges of unlawfully trafficking in canal
certificates and violating his duty as auditor 'in respect to the
public moneys in his charge and subject to his draft.' The charges
preferred by the commission upon which the commissioners of the
canal fund and the Governor acted, together with their proceedings
thereon, respectively, are hereunto annexed.[7] The testimony by
which these charges were established will be found in volume three
of the accompanying testimony, at pages 1140, 2070, 2156, 2162,
2180, 2215, 2226, 2239, 2256, 2305, 2347, 2379, 2381, 2382, 2383,
2385, 2389, 2407, 2414, 2417, 2420, 2422, 2426, 2445, 2460, 2461,
2534, 2560, 2585, 2587.

  [7] See Exhibits D, E, F.

"The following sums in cash, or evidences of indebtedness, obtained
from the State through fraud, have already been reclaimed by and
restored through the commission to the treasury:

  Canal Commissioner's certificates of indebtedness, issued on account
  of the second John Hand award:

  No. 179, dated Feb. 10, 1875                $2,500 00
  No. 181,   "     "       "                   9,355 00
  No. 182,   "     "       "                   4,000 00
  No. 183,   "     "       "                   1,000 00
  No. 185,   "     "       "                   2,000 00

     [Nos. 179, 181, 182, and 185 were returned by Lewis J. Bennett;
     No. 183 was returned by Wm. H. Bowman, Esq.]

  Returned in cash by Lewis J. Bennett,
  on account of the first John Hand award      3,199 50

  Cash returned by Ellis Webster and Son, on
  account of money received on false vouchers    582 68
                                               -----------  ----------
      _Forward_                                             $22,637 18

  _Carried forward_                                         $22,637 18

  Plenary authority conferred upon the Commission
  by the parties interested, to cancel the Canal
  Commissioner's certificates of Feb. 10th, 1875,
  issued on account of the second John Hand
  award, delivered as a gift by Lewis H. Bennett
  to Thad. C. Davis, then Canal Appraiser;
  by Davis given to ex-Canal Commissioner
  Alexander Barkley, who claims to have mailed
  it to Lewis H. Bennett, though it appears
  from the evidence before us that, if mailed,
  it never reached him                           2,000 00

                                                ---------   2,000 00

  Canal Commissioner's certificate, No. 184, issued
  Feb. 10th, 1875, under the second John Hand
  award, to Lewis J. Bennett, for $16,000, by
  him delivered under an agreement to the agent
  of Geo. D. Lord, and rendered void through
  testimony elicited by the Commission          16,000 00

                                                ---------  16,000 00
                                                          $40,637 18

  Accrued interest to February 14, 1876                     2,259 21
                                                          __________

  Total                                                   $42,896 39

     "The following sums are shown by the reports of this commission
     to the Executive to have been estimated to the contractors
     for work that was never performed, or was improperly paid for
     through erroneous classification, and for which the receivers
     should be required to make restitution:

    Denison, Belden & Co.:
  Port Schuyler to lower Mohawk aqueduct                  $157,337 02
    Denison, Belden & Co.:
  East of the city of Utica                                 16,121 35
    Willard Johnson:
  Lower side-cut lock, West Troy                            30,595 65
    Denison, Belden & Co.:
  Bullard's Bend contract                                   85,547 62
    E. W. Williams:
  Building vertical walls at Rome                            3,041 08
    Flagler & Reilley:
  Fort Plain contract                                        5,845 35
    S. D. Keller:
  Jordan Level contract                                     36,568 39
    N. S. Gere:
  Jordan Level contract                                      8,801 90
    Thomas Gale:
  Jordan Level contract                                      6,667 94
    Hiram Candee:
  Jordan Level contract                                     17,567 33
                                                          ___________
                                                          $368,093 63
  Add to this the balance yet due for money paid under
  the first John Hand award                                 30,782 36
                                                          ___________
  Total                                                   $398,875 99

"Large as these sums appear, we are fully impressed with the belief
that they form but a fraction of the amount that is due to the State
from similar sources.

"For the purpose of ascertaining more precisely the extent of this
class of liabilities, and to protect the State in future from the
irregularities and improvidence out of which they have arisen, we
recommend that the Canal Board be clothed with ample powers and
authority for taking testimony.

"A perusal of the testimony and the reports to the Executive
herewith submitted clearly establish the fact that our canals are a
burden to the States less, perhaps, through the imperfection of our
laws, than the mode in which they have been administered.

"Every appropriation for new work and extraordinary repairs on the
canals for the six years from 1867 to 1873 contained a provision
that no part or portion of the money therein appropriated 'for new
work or work on change of plan' should be expended or paid, nor any
contract involving such expenditure and payment be made on behalf of
the States, until the maps, plans, and estimates of such new work
had been submitted to and approved by the Canal Board.

"There has been a law on the statute-books since 1850, yet more
stringent, which provides that 'before any work shall be contracted
for on any canals of the State the division engineer shall cause
to be ascertained, with all practical accuracy, the quantity of
embankment, excavation, and masonry, and the quality and quantity of
all materials to be used, and all other items of work to be placed
under contract, a statement of which, together with maps, plans, and
specifications corresponding with those adopted by the Canal Board,
and on file in the office of the State Engineer and Surveyor, shall
be publicly exhibited to persons proposing for work to be let.'

"These most explicit provisions of law have been very rarely
observed. Contracts have not only been let without the preliminary
surveys, maps, plans, and estimates, but one of the most familiar
abuses on the canals of late years has been to change the plan
of work after the contract is signed, by which the contractor
gets relieved from the unprofitable portions of his work, and is
furnished a pretext for establishing a new scale of prices, in
connivance with the auditing officers. Illustrations of this method
of defrauding the State may be found in several of the reports
submitted to the Executive. The most costly one to the State is
described in our first report. The contract for substituting slope
and vertical wall for the bench wall between the Port Schuyler and
the lower Mohawk aqueduct provided originally for 14,000 cubic yards
of slope wall and only 9000 of vertical wall. As if distrustful
of the influence of the contractor over its own agents, the
Legislature, within six months after the time this work could have
begun, in appropriating money to carry it on, absolutely prohibited
the expenditure of more than five per cent. of the appropriation
for vertical wall. Regardless, however, of this restriction, and
regardless of the terms of the contract which provided for twice as
much slope as vertical wall, nearly ninety-five per cent. of the
cost of the work on that contract was incurred upon vertical wall
and work incident to such construction, while not a single yard of
slope wall was built; and as a consequence, an improvement which
could have been readily and well done for the original appropriation
of $84,645 has already cost the State about half a million for
wretched work, and is still far from completion. No attention was
ever paid to the provision of the act requiring the change of plan
from slope to vertical wall, with the maps, plans, and estimates for
such new work to be submitted to and approved by the Canal Board,
and advertised and let to the lowest bidder.

"Nor does the infidelity of the State's agents appear to have
stopped here. While the records of the canal commissioners and of
the Canal Board certify that the preliminary surveys, maps, plans,
specifications, estimates, etc., required by law were actually
produced before them and approved by them and by the State Engineer;
in point of fact, no such precautions for the protection of the
State, so far as we have been able to ascertain, were actually
taken.[8]

  [8] See first report to the Executive, pages 15, 16, and 17.

"It is obvious that the abuses to which we have invited your
attention cannot be remedied except:

"_First_, by concentrating responsibility for the administration of
the canals in fewer hands;

"_Second_, by lodging somewhere a more efficient power for the
suspension or removal of offenders;

"_Third_, by providing more specific, complete, and efficient laws
for preventing and punishing abuses when disclosed; and,

"_Fourth_, by providing for the vigorous prosecution and punishment
of unfaithful servants.

"Under the present organization the responsibility for a
non-compliance with the provisions of the laws for the repair
and maintenance of the canals is so distributed between nine
State officers, composing the Canal Board, and the auditor, the
superintendents, the division, resident and assistant Engineers,
that it is nearly impossible to bring any one of them to justice,
unless all, or at least a large majority, are of accord in that
purpose. Could one person be held responsible for the acts of
all of his subordinates, the remedy would be simple and probably
adequate. Should the people ratify the proposed amendment of the
Constitution, which is designed to clothe a new officer, to be
called Superintendent of Public Works, with the powers now vested
in the canal commissioners, together with other powers necessary to
his functions, this evil of divided responsibility will be greatly
diminished. At present the powers of removal and suspension of
unfaithful officers are altogether inadequate.

"We recommend, in addition, that the division and resident
engineers, and such others engineers as it may be necessary, in the
opinion of the State Engineer and Surveyor, to employ temporarily
upon any particular work, should be appointed by the State Engineer
and Surveyor, with the approval of the Canal Board, subject to
removal by the State Engineer and Surveyor alone. In case of
every such temporary employment, we would recommend that the rate
of compensation be fixed by the Canal Board before such person
employed enters upon duty; that he be required to file the usual
oath of office, and that he be only paid by the auditor of the Canal
Department upon his oath to the correctness of the items charged for
expenses and time, and a certificate of the approval of the State
Engineer and Surveyor attached.

"No modification of the Constitution or of the law, however, will
ever work any substantial reform unless adequate provision is made
in some way for a more vigorous prosecution of unfaithful servants.
The law is no protection unless its penalties are enforced against
those who violate it; the justice that sleeps might as well be dead.
Had the laws been enforced promptly when they had been notoriously
violated, our canals would not only now be out of debt, but a
fruitful source of revenue to the State. It is our conviction that
the Legislature will do well to see if this arm of the government
ought not to be strengthened. The evidence here submitted will
show that very large sums of money have been taken annually from
the State by the fraudulent connivance of the State agents with
contractors, which should be reclaimed and restored to the treasury
and an example made of all the parties participating in the
robberies. The preparation of the testimony in these prosecutions,
covering, as it must in most cases, a series of years, the actions
of a large number of public officers, and servants, and involving a
scientific examination of great varieties of work and a familiarity
with the principles of engineering and the field work of the
engineers, and with the accounts preserved in our public archives,
will involve an amount of labor and expense for which at present
there is no adequate provision.

"The commission was occupied in the taking of testimony until after
the present session of the Legislature had commenced. The testimony
could not be written out by the stenographer and put into the hands
of the printer until the latter part of the month of January. This
will explain any apparent delay in the transmission of this report,
there being obvious inconveniences in sending part in print and
part in manuscript. There has been no delay in its preparation,
except what was the natural and inevitable result of efforts of
the commission to render its contents readily accessible to your
Excellency and to the legislative bodies.

"For the expenses of the commission the sum of $30,000 was
appropriated by the last Legislature. The expenses will exceed this
sum about $5000, for which we respectfully ask an appropriation.
For greater convenience in presenting the testimony taken, we had
it printed at a cost of over $4000. This, together with the legal
expenses growing out of the proceedings to establish the authority
of the commission to compel the production of books and papers and
the witnesses to testify, occasioned this deficiency.

  "JOHN BIGELOW,
  "D. MAGONE, JR.,
  "A. E. ORR,
  "JOHN D. VAN BUREN, JR.

  "ALBANY, _February 14, 1876_."


"EXHIBIT D.

"The commission to investigate the affairs of the canals of the
State present to the honorable commissioners of the canal fund:

"That Hon. Francis S. Thayer, Auditor of the Canal Department, has
violated his duty as such auditor 'in respect to the public moneys
in his charge and subject to his draft':

"_First._--In that, on the 21st day of July, 1874, he procured the
passage of a resolution by the commissioners of the canal fund
whereby $200,000 of the sinking fund was directed to be invested in
the taxes to be levied pursuant to chapter 462 of the laws of 1874;
and after procuring the passage of such resolution did set apart
said sum in violation of the Constitution. That the auditor's motive
was to benefit George D. Lord. That in carrying out such intent the
auditor paid $120,497.02 of said sum of $200,000, so set apart,
within two days thereafter to Thad. C. Davis, as the agent of George
D. Lord. That this was a violation of the Constitution, see article
seven, sections two and thirteen. That the auditor is responsible
for this misapplication of money, see his testimony, pages 2544,
2546.

"_Second._--In that, on or about the 1st day of December, 1874,
there being money subject to the warrant of the auditor for
that purpose, the said auditor refused payment to S. R. Wells,
administrator, of an award in his favor for $5207.50 on the false
pretence that he had no funds, and immediately after such refusal
negotiated the purchase, and did purchase, the said award at about
$200 less than it called for of principal and interest, and on the
9th day of February, 1875, audited the said claim at the sum of
$5454.92, and drew his warrant therefor in favor of George A. Stone,
as assignee.

"George A. Stone had no interest in the transaction, and the auditor
testifies that it was purchased for his brother-in-law, E. J. McKie.
As to the evidence of this charge, see testimony of S. R. Wells,
page 37 (folio 513 to folio 517); testimony of D. Willers, Jr., page
42 (folios 571 and 572); testimony of the auditor, pages 2507-2511;
that the profit went to the benefit of the auditor, see pages 2595.

"_Third._--In that, on the 11th day of March, 1875, there being
money subject to the warrant of the auditor for that purpose, the
said auditor refused payment to George M. Case of an award in his
favor for $9768.71, on the false pretence that he had no funds, and,
immediately after such refusal, negotiated the purchase, and did
purchase, the said award, including accrued interest, at $10,510.73,
and did on the twentieth day of May thereafter audit said claim for
the full amount thereof, including interest, to wit, $10,730.60, and
drew his warrant therefor in favor of George A. Stone, assignee.

"George A. Stone had no interest in the purchase, as appeared by his
testimony, pages 2160-2229, and the auditor testified that he made
the purchase for his brother-in-law, E. J. McKie.

"As to the evidence, see testimony of Auditor Thayer, pages 2507,
2586, 2595.

"_Fourth._--In that, on the 15th day of March, 1875, the auditor
purchased a certificate in favor of E. H. French for $1184.26 at a
discount of $24.64. It was paid May twentieth thereafter at its full
face. As to evidence of this transaction, see testimony of Auditor
Thayer, same pages and folios referred to above as to George M.
Case's certificate.

"_Fifth._--In that, on the 12th day of April, 1875, the auditor
purchased sixteen canal commissioners' certificates, amounting in
the aggregate to $29,962, from Nehemiah L. Osborne at a discount of
seven per cent. per annum from the face thereof, but for what length
of time the discount was made we are unable to ascertain, further
than that the time was in excess of the time between the purchase
and payment by the auditor.

"These certificates were paid May 20, 1875, to George A. Stone. That
the auditor derived a personal advantage from this transaction, see
testimony of George A. Stone and of Auditor Thayer, pages 2229, 2595.

"_Sixth._--In that, on the 28th day of April, 1875, the auditor
purchased from H. D. Denison five canal commissioners' certificates,
of the aggregate amount of $49,610, at a discount of seven per
cent. per annum, but for what time he discounted them we have not
been able to ascertain, further than that it was in excess of
the time between the purchase and payment. On the twentieth day
of May thereafter the auditor audited said certificates and drew
his warrant for the payment thereof in favor of George A. Stone,
assignee, at $50,542.06, and the amount gained went to the personal
advantage of the auditor. As to evidence of this transaction, see
testimony of George A. Stone, page 2229; Francis S. Thayer, page
2476.

"_Seventh._--In that, on the 29th day of April, 1875, the auditor
purchased from H. D. Denison six canal commissioners' certificates,
of the aggregate amount of $30,687, at a discount of seven per cent.
per annum, but for what length of time he discounted them we have
not been able to ascertain, further than that it was greater than
the time between the purchase and payment; that on the twentieth
day of May thereafter the auditor audited these certificates and
drew his warrant therefor in favor of George A. Stone at $31,153.03.
That the personal gain from this transaction went to the personal
advantage of Francis S. Thayer, see his testimony, page 2595.

"_Eighth._--That the auditor drew his warrant in payment for a
canal commissioners' certificate, in favor of John D. Hamilton, for
$38,000, on the 28th day of June, 1875, in violation of law in this:
that he paid it without the sworn certificate of an engineer, as
required by statute.

"_Ninth._--In this, that the auditor, in June, 1875, purchased a
canal commissioners' certificate, subject to his own audit, from
James P. Buck, for $6496.28, at a discount of ten per cent. For the
evidence of specification, see testimony of James P. Buck, page 2216.

"The auditor claims he made this purchase for his brother-in-law, E.
J. McKie.

"_Tenth._-In this, that on the 2d day of July, 1875, the auditor
purchased canal commissioners' certificates, subject to his own
audit, to the amount of $49,953.91, at a discount of eight per
cent. and accrued interest, in favor of the purchaser. For evidence
of this purchase, see testimony of Willard Johnson, page 2386;
testimony of F. S. Thayer, page 2514.

"_Eleventh._--In that, in addition to those above enumerated, the
auditor purchased, between the 9th day of March and the 14th day of
July, 1875, canal commissioners' drafts and certificates, subject
to his own audit, to the amount of $64,959.81, all of which he
afterward audited and drew his warrants in payment thereof. As to
the evidence of these several transactions, see testimony of George
A. Stone, page 2241; that the auditor derived a direct personal
advantage from these transactions, see testimony of Francis S.
Thayer, page 2595.

  "JOHN BIGELOW,
  "A. E. ORR,
  "JOHN D. VAN BUREN, JR.,
  "D. MAGONE, JR.,
          "_Commissioners_."


"EXHIBIT E

"COPY OF THE REQUISITION OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE CANAL FUND

"The undersigned hereby certify that, at a meeting of the
commissioners of the canal fund, held at the Canal Department, in
the city of Albany, on the 28th day of December, 1875, at 10 o'clock
A. M.,

"Present--William Dorsheimer, Lieutenant-Governor; Diedrich Willers,
Jr., Secretary of State; Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Thomas
Raines, Treasurer; Daniel Pratt, Attorney-General,

"The following proceedings were had:

"On motion of the Attorney-General, it was

"_Resolved_, That a requisition is made upon his Excellency the
Governor to suspend Francis S. Thayer, the auditor of the Canal
Department, and to appoint a suitable person to perform his duties,
if it shall be made to appear to him that the said auditor has
violated his duty in respect to the public moneys in his charge and
subject to his draft, the particulars of which alleged violations
of duty appear in the report of the commission to investigate the
affairs of the canals of the State, which has been submitted to this
board, and which is herewith transmitted.

"The members of the board who voted in favor of the adoption
of said resolution were as follows: The Lieutenant-Governor,
Attorney-General, and Secretary of State. The Comptroller voted in
the negative. The Treasurer was not present when the vote was taken,
by reason of illness.

  "WILLIAM DORSHEIMER,
  "_Lieutenant-Governor_.

  "DANIEL PRATT,
  "_Attorney-General_.

  "DIEDRICH WILLERS, JR.,
  "_Secretary of State_."


"EXHIBIT F

"EXECUTIVE ORDER FOR THE SUSPENSION OF AUDITOR THAYER

  "STATE OF NEW YORK: EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
  "ALBANY, _December, 1875_.

"_Whereas_, The commissioners of the canal fund, by their
requisition hereto annexed, have required or recommended the
suspension from office of Francis S. Thayer, the auditor of the
Canal Department; and, whereas, it has been made to appear to me
that the said Francis S. Thayer, as such auditor, has violated his
duty in respect to the public moneys in his charge and subject to
his draft;

"Now, therefore, in pursuance of the provisions of section 2, of
chapter 783 of the laws of 1857, I do hereby suspend the said
Francis S. Thayer from his office as auditor of the Canal Department.

"In witness whereof, I hereunto set my name and cause to be affixed
the privy seal of the State this 28th day of December, 1875.

  {  State of New York.   }
  {     Excelsior.        }         "SAMUEL J. TILDEN."
  { Executive Privy Seal. }

  "By the Governor,
  "CHAS. STEBBINS,
  "_Private Secretary_.

"Indorsed: Order by Samuel J. Tilden, Governor, suspending Francis
S. Thayer, auditor of the Canal Department.

"Filed December 28, 1875, at four and a half o'clock P.M.

  "DIEDRICH WILLERS, JR.,
  "_Secretary of State_."


A. E. ORR TO TILDEN

  "NEW YORK, _May 19, '76_.

"GOVERNOR TILDEN,--We ended our work on the commission last
Tuesday.

"I regret that I could not see you and say farewell, and wish you
God-speed in the work with which you are so prominently identified.

"I leave in the faith that fearless honesty will place its heel
on fraud and corruption, and that you will be the standard-bearer
selected at St. Louis and surely prove victorious in November next.

"The best men of each party are beginning to see the necessity for
just such action, and you are daily receiving numerous recruits.

"Don't give way an inch.

  "Very respectfully, your friend,
  "A. E. ORR."


"MR. TILDEN AND THE DEMOCRATS

     [_From the New York "Tribune" (Republican) of May 27, 1876._]

"Mr. Tilden is by no means the only Democrat at the East whom good
citizens might rejoice to see nominated for the Presidency. His name
would undoubtedly do honor to the ticket to be made at St. Louis;
but it is not essential to the credit of the party, and if some
of his own political brethren are bitterly opposed to him, that
is, in one sense, a family affair, over which the outside world
need not greatly vex itself. As an indication of the tendencies
of the Democratic party, however, the causes of the hostility to
Tilden becomes a matter of national concern. The first serious
manifestation of enmity came from Tammany Hall, and it finds
expression in the columns of the _Express_, where it is alleged that
Gov. Tilden has made use of his position to organize a personal
party. But this is such a strange complaint to come from the Tammany
Hall autocracy that there must be something more behind it. The
_World_, whose change of proprietorship is generally interpreted as
a blow at Mr. Tilden's pretensions, has not a word to say against
the Governor; it only insists, with good sense and good temper, that
there are other eminent Democrats whose merits and whose chances are
entitled to consideration. But on Wednesday a conference of leading
Democratic politicians was held at Albany to consider how Mr. Tilden
could be most conveniently thrown overboard, and from them it
would seem that we ought to obtain some light upon the interesting
question which neither the _World_, nor the _Express_, nor Tammany
has seen fit to answer. There were present at this conference
Chief-Justice Church and Justice Allen, ex-Lieut.-Gov. Beach,
ex-Gov. Hoffman, ex-Speaker Littlejohn, and other well-known men,
and the judgment of the meeting is understood to have been unanimous
that Mr. Tilden, having alienated a large faction of the Democracy,
is not the man for St. Louis.

"We mean no reflection upon the integrity of any of these estimable
gentlemen, but it is a significant fact that pretty nearly all the
most reputable Democrats whose names have been, either rightly or
wrongly, connected with the Tweed and Canal Rings, were found on
Wednesday in their company. It was probably not the fault of Judge
Church and Judge Allen that the Canal Ring and what was left of the
old Tammany Ring united in 1874 to run them both against Tilden,
first one and then the other, in the canvass for the nomination; but
it was certainly their misfortune. That fight of the Rings against
Tilden was a matter of notoriety, and the nomination of our present
Governor, instead of Judge Church or his cousin, Judge Allen, was
generally recognized throughout the State as a triumph of the better
elements of the Democracy over the thieves and corruptionists. It
seems to be the same fight that is renewed now. Judge Allen is
known as the author of the much-criticised decision of the Court of
Appeals which released Tweed from Blackwell's Island. Mr. Beach is
remembered as the gentleman who made such a strange exhibition of
himself last Summer by publishing a card in which he intemperately
denounced a report of the canal investigating commission as
"unfounded in every particular," and who then, being subpoenaed by
the commission, swallowed his card and convicted himself of official
neglect out of his own mouth. The history and affiliations of
ex-Gov. Hoffman are well enough known.

"Altogether, it may be said that the Albany conference only brought
to the front the men who have always been recognized as Governor
Tilden's enemies and rivals, and who, from their peculiar positions,
could not be his friends, not because they are not personally good
men, but because a reform movement cannot be carried on in New York
without hurting their allies and adherents. And if we go outside
the State we find the anti-Tilden sentiment confined to the Western
inflationists and communists, who hate every man that believes
in a dollar, and are perfectly frank in the declaration of their
sentiments. Now, as we have said before, the Democratic party
is not so poor that it can name no one for the Presidency whose
fitness is not so marked as Mr. Tilden's; but if he is to be thrown
overboard the country has a right to insist that the reasons for his
rejection shall be made quite clear; otherwise it is sure to draw
unpleasant conclusions. The Democratic candidate, whoever he may be,
must be a man whom repudiators, canal thieves, and the relics of the
old Tammany cannot support."


THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL CONFERENCE OF 1876

     [_From the "Sun," April 7, 1900._]

"A man with half a memory writes a long letter to the _Evening
Post_ of this city recalling the circumstances of the once-famous
Fifth Avenue Hotel Conference of May, 1876. He thinks the political
situation is ripe for another such demonstration on the part of
eminent citizens who do not want to vote for McKinley again, yet
view with apprehension the probability that Bryan will be the
alternative choice. There is as much time now before the two great
nominating conventions, he points out, as there was when Carl Schurz
and others met in the Fifth Avenue Hotel to save the country. A
quarter of a century has considerably idealized his mental picture
of that conference and its results. This is his description of it
now:

"'It was a gathering of the foremost patriots in the nation,
regardless of party affiliations, to discuss the political situation
and suggest to the country a programme for the Presidential canvass
which was soon to begin. There were philosophers and scholars of the
first rank, eminent lawyers, and brilliant editors, and men who had
won renown in many a fierce campaign as "practical" politicians and
popular leaders. The call which brought them together distinctly
disavowed the idea of nominating a candidate or framing a platform,
except, possibly, in the barest outlines. The whole purpose of the
conference was to end at one stroke some of the false conditions
against which the conscience and intelligence of the country were in
revolt, but not to pull down anything for which it was not prepared
to offer something better as a substitute.'

"This conference to which the writer in the _Evening Post_ refers
in terms of reverence, amounting almost to awe, met at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel on May 16, 1876, in response to a call signed by
Mr. Schurz and a few others. There were present about two hundred
gentlemen, mostly of the type which afterward came to be known as
the Mugwump; that is to say, the type addicted to proclaiming its
superior intelligence and conscience in political affairs. As might
be expected, the Hon. Carl Schurz, the Flying Dutchman of American
politics, was the most conspicuous figure. He made the principal
speech, and he was chairman of the committee which prepared and
reported a pretentious 'address to the country.' This address to the
country constituted the sole fruit of the conference's deliberations.

"Let us supplement the half-memory of the man who wants another
such demonstration of the foremost patriots, philosophers, and
scholars, under the leadership once more, as we assume from the
tone of his letter, of the Hon. Carl Schurz. At the time the
conference met there was nothing murky in the political situation.
On the Republican side the nomination of Governor Hayes, of Ohio,
was clearly indicated. The _Sun_ had predicted it long before the
patriots and philosophers assembled. Mr. Blaine was an aggressive
candidate, and there was some third-term talk about Gen. Grant;
but the Conkling-Blaine feud and the Bristow disaffection already
rendered practically certain the nomination of a compromise
candidate not identified with either faction, and the logic of the
situation pointed directly to Governor Hayes. On the other side
everything was shaping towards the event which occurred at St.
Louis six weeks later, the nomination on the second ballot, by far
more than the required two-thirds majority, of Samuel J. Tilden,
a statesman and reformer representing with singular closeness the
ideal which was declared to be in the minds of Mr. Carl Schurz and
his associates.

"That celebrated address which Mr. Schurz drafted, with the
assistance of the intelligence and conscience of the country, could
scarcely have called more pointedly for Tilden and barred out Hayes
as the President desired by the foremost patriots, philosophers,
and scholars, had it mentioned their names. We quote from Mr. Carl
Schurz's address to the country:

"'We shall support no candidate who, however favorably judged by his
nearest friends, is not publicly known to possess those qualities of
mind and character which the stern task of genuine reform requires,
for the American people cannot now afford to risk the future of the
republic in experiments on merely supposed virtue or rumored ability
to be trusted on the strength of private recommendations.

"'The man to be intrusted with the Presidency this year must have
deserved not only the confidence of honest men, but also the fear
and hatred of the thieves.

"'The country must now have a President whose name is already a
watchword of reform, whose capacity and courage for the work are
matters of record rather than promise.'

"There was much more of the same sort in the address which Mr.
Schurz signed and the Fifth Avenue Hotel conference issued. Within
a few weeks the Republican party nominated the man whose capacity
and courage for the work of reform were matters of promise only,
and the Democracy put up the statesman already publicly known to
possess those qualities of mind and character which the stern task
of genuine reform required.

"What was the sequel? A few weeks later the Hon. Carl Schurz, the
author of all the high-sounding professions in the address to the
country, was hard at work persuading citizens of the Mugwump type
to cast their votes for Hayes and against Tilden; and a few months
later, after Mr. Hayes had failed to secure a majority of the
electoral vote, but had been counted into the office to which Mr.
Tilden was elected, the Hon. Carl Schurz, reformer and leader of the
Fifth Avenue Hotel conference, got his pay for partisan activity;
it came in the shape of a Cabinet appointment, which he promptly
accepted.

"Such is the true story of the May conference of 1876."


JOHN T. MORGAN TO MONTGOMERY BLAIR

  "_Confidential._

  "SELMA, ALA., _June 3d, 1876_.

  "HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR.

"DEAR SIR,--I have had two valued favors from you--the last
of 25th May. I was chosen as a State elector, and also as a State
delegate to St. Louis by our recent convention. It was very large,
fully representative, unusually able, and harmonious. The delegation
to St. Louis is very able, comprising many of our best men. No
instructions were given. I did not even hear much discussion of
candidates. The great leading thought is success, and to gain this
every man will sacrifice all his preferences for any particular
candidate. I think I may state safely (but I do it in personal
confidence) that not more than two of our twenty delegates favor
now the nomination of any other person but Mr. Tilden. One of these
stated to the convention that he was under no pledges to any man.
This state of opinion is the result of close scrutiny of the drift
of sentiment in the Northern States, and especially in New York. The
recent movement of Church and Kelly and others has deceived no one
here.

"I am satisfied that Alabama will be very reluctant to take such a
lead as would have the appearance of dictating the candidate to the
Northern States. The North ought to settle its differences about the
minor and purely political question of currency laws and allow us
to unite with them in demanding a pure government which will give
them a chance for life. If they force us to choose, however, we will
certainly be directed solely by the consideration of 'success.'
We can't afford to risk anything to gratify a predilection. If
you could, Bayard would get the State. I was at Montgomery at the
time you refer to as a member of the convention of 1861. I do not
remember that Mr. Bayard was there. I feel satisfied he was not
there.

"As his friend I would prefer to see him wait a time and mature more
thoroughly his great powers in the school of experience. Still, he
would now be a most acceptable President to all the people of the
Southern States.

"My conviction remains unshaken that Mr. Tilden is the strongest
man in N. Y.; that he is an honest Democrat from principle; that he
acts squarely on his convictions in everything; that his record is
one to inspire confidence in the people; that he will attack fraud
and corruption wherever he meets them, without fear or hesitancy;
and that his good sense, and the best interests of his own State,
will lead him to give to the country with which the great commercial
cities are so intimately associated in the means of prosperity,
_peace and protection_, while it is working out with honest toil its
redemption from poverty and distress. This is all we need. We do not
wish the power that springs merely from the weight of numbers in the
electoral colleges. We wish no offices, or, rather, we need none,
and our wisest men will be glad if we get but few. Let us alone,
and we will soon become richer than we have ever been.

"Genl. E. W. Peters, who is Col. Denison's law partner, is in our
delegation, and will probably be our chairman. He is a hard-money
Democrat, and is much impressed with the necessity of Mr. Tilden's
nomination as a matter of success.

  "Very truly yours,
  "JNO. T. MORGAN."

On the 28th of June the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis
nominated Mr. Tilden for President.

The whole vote on the second ballot was 738; necessary to a choice,
492. Tilden had 535; Hendricks, of Indiana, 66; Allen, of Ohio, 54;
Parker, of New Jersey, 18; Hancock, of Pennsylvania, 59; Bayard, of
Delaware, 11; Thurman, of Ohio, 2. Indiana seconded Pennsylvania's
motion to make Mr. Tilden's nomination unanimous, and it was adopted.

In the month of June, 1876, Governor Tilden received a note from
a citizen of Minnesota complaining that he could get no evidence
of any success achieved by the Governor in his war upon the Canal
Ring, and that it was thrown in the face of the people out there
that nothing had been accomplished. His letter concludes as follows:
"Now, if ever I have seen any disposition of these cases of
corruption it has escaped my memory, and to be prepared to answer
our assailants on their only one point, with an earnest desire
to convert them to Tilden and reform, is solely the object of my
writing."

To this letter Tilden wrote the following reply, dated June 15,
1876: "Your letter of June 12th has been handed to me. In reply, I
would like to state that it takes time to obtain the evidence and
prepare the actions, civil and criminal, in such cases as those
against the members of the Canal Ring. The machinery of justice
under the State government has not the unity and efficiency that
it has under the Federal government, where the district attorneys
and marshals are appointed by the Chief Executive instead of being
elected in their localities. On the whole, however, these cases
have proceeded with more rapidity than could have been expected
under the circumstances. You will have become, doubtless, aware
before this reaches you that George D. Lord was convicted a few
days since at Buffalo. The principal civil suit against Beldon,
Denison & Co. is set down for trial on the 12th of July. The trial
was put off for a few weeks by the court against the opposition of
the Attorney-General. The most important thing, of course, was to
break up the system, and that has been done. A secondary object is
to deter from the commission of similar offences in future, and that
work is going on satisfactorily."


P. H. SMITH TO TILDEN (TELEGRAM)

  "SPRINGFIELD, ILL., _June 21, 1876_.

  "TO GOV. SAM. J. TILDEN,
  "_15 Gramercy_.

"The Chicago _Times_ to-day says that you were chairman of platform
committee in eighteen hundred and sixty-four which put forth the
famous peace resolution pronouncing the war as a failure. Please
telegraph the fact. Large majority of this convention for you.

  "P. H. SMITH."


MANTON MARBLE TO PERRY H. SMITH (TELEGRAM)

  "_June 21, 1876._

  "TO PERRY H. SMITH,
  "_Springfield_.

"Your telegram shown me. Governor Tilden was not chairman of
platform committee of Chicago convention. James Guthrie was. Tilden
opposed resolution containing phrase speaking of war as having thus
far failed to restore the Union in committee; got it stricken out;
refused to agree to resolution with it in. It was then irregularly
restored. Tilden refused to agree to resolutions at all stages,
and sent messages by me to McClellan advising him to discard it in
letter of acceptance. Tilden made speech in New York delegation
against resolution, which was briefly reported by me in _World_, and
is copied in _Courier-Journal_ telegraphs. I was present in New York
delegation and at meetings of committee or in adjoining room."

At the Democratic convention of the State of New York, held at
Utica, May, 1876, Governor Tilden was recommended as a candidate
for President to the National Democratic Convention, to be held at
St. Louis on the 26th of June following. At the meeting of that
convention an informal ballot disclosed such a decided partiality
for Mr. Tilden over either of the other candidates that he was
nominated on the next ballot.


MAJOR-GENERAL HOOKER TO TILDEN

  "GARDEN CITY, L. I., _June 29th, '76_.

  "To his Excellency, GOV. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I cannot refrain from offering you my
sincere congratulations on your nomination to the exalted office
of the President of the United States. As a quiet observer of the
political events of the nation, I know of no one in my day that has
afforded me so much satisfaction, and sincerely hope and believe
that the wisdom shown by the selection at St. Louis will be fully
ratified by the great mass of our people in November next. We
require reform in politics, religion, and morals, and I am convinced
that we will receive them generously at your hands. The whole
government of the nation has been corrupt--desperately corrupt--and
the honor and glory of applying the antidote, I am convinced, will
belong to you. If the fact of your nomination does not enhance the
material values of the nation I am sure your election will do it.
Already I seem to breathe a new atmosphere, as is the case with
every well-wisher of the country.

  Sincerely yours,
  "J. HOOKER."


CLARKSON N. POTTER TO TILDEN

"61 WALL ST., N. Y., _June 29, '76_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Your letter was well received yesterday
at Union College, and I am glad you sent it.

"I got down last evening just in time to hear of your nomination
in the street and take into your house the news. Heaven grant you
may be elected. The country needs that, far more than you do or can
desire it.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "CLARKSON N. POTTER."


WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER TO TILDEN

  "NEW YORK, _June 29, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN,--I congratulate you most
heartily. Whatever may be the fortunes or the fate of the coming
struggle, there is nothing but satisfaction to your old friends in
your well-earned victory at St. Louis, and you can well understand
how specially gratifying it is to

  "Yours sincerely,
  "WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER."


ROBERT B. MINTURN TO TILDEN

  "NEW BRIGHTON, STATEN ISLAND, _July 3, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN,--No one has been more delighted
than I by your nomination; and you, knowing how much I have
desired it, may have been surprised at not receiving any word of
congratulation from me.

"The truth is that, at a time when the mails and the wires have
been burdened with messages of felicitation for you, it seemed
that you would scarcely care to have any formal expression from
those of whose regard and support you were already assured. I may
have been wrong in this feeling, and perhaps I should at once have
written to tell you how much I was rejoiced at your nomination,
and how thoroughly I have admired your noble fight against the
worst constituents of our politics--culminating in your victory,
at the St. Louis convention, over all the jobbing elements of the
party, which were strengthened by a most unprecedented and venomous
opposition from your own State.

"My gratification at your nomination has, however (I must confess),
been mingled with deep regret at the phrase in the platform which
denounces the resumption clause of the act of 1875. I know as well
as any one the fraudulent character of that act--I know that the
Cincinnati convention refused to endorse it--but, nevertheless, I
feel that it was a solemn pledge of the national faith, a pledge
which cannot be repudiated without discredit, not to say, disgrace.

"The act of 1875 was a settlement--unsatisfactory and inadequate,
no doubt--but still a settlement which, in every point of view,
should (as it seems to me) be respected. If present legislation
is inadequate to carry it into effect, fresh legislation should
be provided. If the time that remains is now too short to make
effectual provision for resumption, the period should be extended to
admit of proper preparation. But to say (as the platform does) that
the resumption clause is itself an obstacle to resumption, and to
propose its naked repeal, is (as it seems to me) to talk nonsense,
and, what is worse, very dishonorable and disgraceful nonsense.

"Knowing how thoroughly sound you are on this subject, I cannot but
believe that you will take some occasion (probably in your letter of
acceptance) to relieve yourself and your supporters from the odium
of permitting the phrase to pass without explanation. I observe
that Mr. Hendricks exults in the expression, as being equivalent
to an abandonment of any policy looking towards resumption by the
government. But the phrase is capable of receiving a different
interpretation, as was shown by one of the Ohio delegates in
the convention, who said that it might be taken to express a
disapproval of the resumption clause only because it did not
contain sufficiently vigorous provisions for a sufficiently early
resumption. But if nothing should be said by you, I am satisfied
that the interpretation of Mr. Hendricks is the sense which will be
affixed to the platform both by friends and foes; and it is a sense
which (in my judgment) will do very great harm, and, indeed, is
already working mischief.

"I trust that you will not consider it impertinent in me to write
thus strongly and with so much frankness. I feel very strongly that
the conservative sentiment of this country will not willingly see
the settlement of 1875 rudely and thoughtlessly repudiated; and I
am confident that not only is this the real feeling of the country,
but that it is a noble and honorable sentiment which cannot with
impunity be disregarded by those who represent a reform of politics.

"You may be very sure, my dear Mr. Tilden, that if I had not a very
genuine confidence in you, and an earnest desire for your success, I
should not have ventured to write you thus. Pray take this view of
my letter, and believe me,

  "Yours most sincerely,
  "ROBT. B. MINTURN.

  "_His Excellency S. J. Tilden, &c., &c., &c._"

WHITELAW REID TO BIGELOW

"_Personal._

  "NEW YORK, 23 PARK AVE., _July 9, '76_.

"MY DEAR MR. BIGELOW,--I am sorry that I missed you on
Saturday. I had just run over to the Phelps' to assist them in some
of their final preparations in sailing again for Europe. You know
they took my niece over, returned with her to nurse her, went with
me to the West to bury her, and are now just starting back to try to
get up their own health again.

"I would like very much to talk over the political situation with
you. I am exceedingly sorry that the Hendricks nomination and
the platform seem to shut us up to the support of Hayes. At the
same time, I feel like congratulating the independent press and
honest men of all parties on the great reform they have succeeded
in securing in forcing unobjectionable nominations from the
Republicans, and compelling the Democrats to take Tilden. It does
not seem to me by any means clear that he will not be elected. If
he is we ought all to pray night and day that his health may be
preserved to protect us against Hendricks.

  "Very truly yours,
  "WHITELAW REID."


GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS TO GOVERNOR TILDEN

  "NEW YORK, _July 10, '76_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Gov. Hayes leaves to you a clear field.
Since reading his letter I am the more confirmed in the views which
I hurriedly expressed on Saturday. You now have a great opportunity
to do two things: first, to make the country see that the resumption
of specie payments means _measures_, and not _barren promises_; that
the attitude of the Republicans in regard to specie payments is like
the attitude of the government in regard to its notes--the holder
asks for payment, and he gets another paper promise; the country
asks to have specie payments restored, and it gets the law wh. says
it shall be done in 1879, but takes no step towards a fulfilment
of the pledge. Secondly, you now have a grand opportunity to show
the inflationists of our own party that they indulge a false alarm
about contraction; that the very gist of the problem is to avoid
contraction that will hurt anybody by putting the finances of the
govt. into a condition to supply a circulating medium that will
appreciate in value from the moment of the enactment of the very
first measure, and will go on appreciating until it becomes at par
with gold in the market and in the purchasing and paying power.

"Let the people see that you are not, as your rival certainly
is, a mere puppet in the hands of others. Speak, speak as if
_ex-cathedra_; for your position is now one that will cause anything
you say, that appears to come from _conscious power to handle the
subject_, to sink deep in the public mind. Your opponent not only
shows no such conscious power, but he shows that he possesses no
more of it than a child; in which respect, indeed, he is a good
average representative of his party. Now is your time to strike a
blow that will be felt.

  "Yours very truly,

  "_Gov. Tilden._

  GEO. TICKNOR CURTIS."


C. H. McCORMICK TO TILDEN

  "SPRING HOUSE, RICHFIELD SPRINGS, N. Y., _July 11, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Your kind expressions of me when at your
house yesterday have induced me to make a suggestion to you in
_confidence_.

"If uncommitted on the question, and if you could do no better (of
course) as Secretary of the Treasury, I venture to submit that in
that important [post] I might be able to command confidence to a
large extent where I am known.

"With your views as expressed, one word from _you_ at St. Louis
would have given me the nomination for the 'second place.' I suppose
the place above mentioned is of more importance to the public in
a 'reform' point of view than the second place. These things,
Govr., are only for your consideration, with neither claims nor
representations on my part, only asking that if not approved they
will not further be thought of.

"When I left St. L., Gen. Preston, of Ky., and other influential
friends from other States requested permission to use my name for
the V.-P. shd. Govr. H. on any account decline, etc.

  In much haste,
  "Your frd. & obt. St.,
  "C. H. MCCORMICK."


TILDEN TO S. S. COX

  "STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
  "ALBANY, _July 22, 1876_.

"DEAR MR. COX,--Your note of the 15th came several days
ago, but I have since that time been so exceptionally occupied that
I could not give any attention to my correspondence.

"I did, however, immediately direct the messages you desired to be
at once sent, and I now will answer your inquiry in respect to the
statement of Federal taxation for the year 1870, contained in my
last annual message.

"The year taken is that which ends on the 30th of June, 1870, being
most nearly identical with that in which and for which the census
statements are made.

"The statement is of taxation and not of expenditures. All the
statements in the comparative tables are of taxation. In the long
run, unfortunately, the expenditures equal the taxes. At any rate,
the comparison is a comparison of taxation.

"If you will refer to the first page of the report of the Secretary
of the Treasury for December 5, 1870, you will find the receipts for
the year ending June 30, 1870, stated as follows:

  From customs (in gold)                      $194,538,374 44
    "  internal revenues                             185,128,859 07
    "  sales of public lands                           3,350,481 76
    "  miscellaneous sources                          28,237,762 06
                                                    ---------------
  Total                                             $411,255,477 33

"To reduce the gold revenue from the customs to currency requires
the addition of the premium on gold. The gentleman to whom I
intrusted that computation made an average which fixed the premium
at 24 per cent. That is no doubt considerably below the real premium
at the times when the revenues were collected.

"The amount of the premium is $46,689,209.86. From that should be
deducted premium received on the sales of gold which form the larger
part of the 28,000,000 of receipts from miscellaneous sources, and
amount to $15,294,137.37, leaving a balance of $31,395,072.49--

                                                     $31,395,072 49
  Add                                                411,255,477 63
                                                   ----------------
                                                    $442,650,550 12
  Add to that the amount collected by Postmasters     15,141,623 71
                                                   ----------------
      Total                                         $457,792,173 83

"The estimate of the amount drawn from the people by taxation by the
Federal government, contained in the table to which you refer, is
made in round numbers $450,000,000.

"There can be no doubt it is below the truth.

  "Very respectfully yours."


HENDRICKS TO TILDEN (TELEGRAM)

  "_Cleveland, O._

  "REC'D AT ALBANY, _July 15, 1876_.

  "TO GOVERNOR TILDEN,
  "_Albany, N. Y._

"I have spent the afternoon here and seen many Democrats. Our gains
are large, and we can carry Ohio, but all say it is worth thousands
of votes to repeal the resumption clause on some terms. I think you
should urge a proper measure of repeal.

  "T. A. HENDRICKS."


ABRAM S. HEWITT TO TILDEN

  "HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, _July 26th, 1867_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--We have got over another day, thanks
to an election case, without action on the silver bill. We believe
now that we shall be able to defeat action, if not vote down the
measure. It has been a hard fight, and, if we win, it will be due to
considerations of expediency rather than of principles on the part
of the Southern members.

"The object of this note is mainly to suggest something in regard to
the civil-service plank. A very intelligent newspaper man says that
the real issue is not so much in the personnel of the clerks as in
the modes and machinery of administration in the several departments
of the Govt. In other words, that the abuses are largely due to the
defective organization of the department, that the business has
outgrown the methods and machinery devised by Hamilton, and that it
is the framework of the government machine which needs reformation,
reconstruction, and adaptation to the requirements of the public
business. In this view, the mere appointment and discharge of a few
clerks is of but little consequence, compared with such a reform in
the mode of conducting the public business.

"This crude statement seems to contain the germ of a position in
politics in regard to civil service, far higher and more practical
than the declaration of Hayes.

"The P. S. dept. may be instanced to illustrate the state of
affairs. When it was a small affair it was not of such consequence,
and before the days of railroads and telegraphs indispensable,
perhaps, that it should use its receipts to pay its expenses and
pay over to the Treasury any balance that might remain at the end
of the fiscal year. Now, however, when the receipts are very great,
they should be paid all into the Treasury, and the expenses drawn
thence by warrant, as in other departments of the government. This
is not the case, but the Postmaster-General, having the control
of the money, authorizes and allows expenditures, such as repairs
and improvements to buildings, amounting to large sums, without
any authority from Congress, such as is necessary in the other
departments for such outlays.

"So the bookkeeping of the government is not in accordance
with the experience of the times, but is crude, old-fashioned,
unsatisfactory, and even contradictory. Now a broad declaration from
you that you will endeavor to reform these abuses which are of a
gravity far greater than the incompetence or negligence of clerks,
and that this reform is the most urgent and will receive careful
attention would, I think, strike the public favorably.

  "Faithfully y'rs,
  "ABRAM S. HEWITT.

"Scott Wicks, of Ill., one of our best members, and who stood by us
on the banking and currency committee, has lost his renomination in
consequence. It is a severe blow to him and to me, and if we win he
must be taken care of. He is a first-class man.

"I do not think you begin to appreciate the bitterness of these
Western inflationists."


ABRAM S. HEWITT TO TILDEN

  "_Personal and private._

  "SUNDAY, 8 P.M., WASHINGTON, _Aug. 6, '76_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I have been very unwell all day,
caused by the nervous exhaustion of yesterday's work in the House.
And yet I will try to give you some idea of the situation and the
results. The banking and currency committee decided to report
the repeal of the resumption date on Friday. I persuaded them
to wait till Saturday, hoping that your letter would come and
change the situation. The letter did come, but the committee were
perfectly fixed in their determination to report. I tried to get
them to substitute a commission to inquire and report in December
on the whole resumption question. They offered to accept this as
an amendment, but not as a substitute. To this the hard-money
New England men would not agree, and so I decided to offer my
substitute, as we could well vote for repeal pure and simple,
without measures of preparation. We had a debate of two hours.
You will find what I said in the _Record_. After the debate was
over they declined to let my substitute be offered. The House was
determined to get a vote on it, and so no quorum voted on the
motion for the previous question. This brought them to terms, and
they allowed the substitute to be offered. It was lost by twelve
majority. If the House had been full it would have carried. The vote
then recurred on the repeal, and it was carried by 20 majority, all
the hard-money men voting against it. There was no hard feeling, and
no bitterness remains. The hard-money men have made their record,
and the soft-money men have got the repeal, and no longer any excuse
for not carrying their States. I think that the matter is in the
best possible shape. The party is committed to specie payments by
the platform and your admirable letter, and by Hendricks' mushy
acquiescence.

"Immediately afterwards we passed a concurrent resolution
establishing a commission to consider the silver question and the
resumption of specie payments. So that we can say that we have made
provision for investigation and the elaboration of a practical
scheme for resumption.

"On the whole, I now think that the matter has been managed as well
as the difficulties of the situation would admit.

"Your letter gives general satisfaction, especially to the Southern
members, who [are] loud in its praise.

"I hope that Congress will adjourn this week, so that we may
organize for the campaign. I have in preparation all the necessary
documents to show the frauds and corruption of the administration,
and if we have means to circulate them I anticipate the best results.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "ABRAM S. HEWITT."

Considering the friendly and very intimate relations which had
subsisted between Mr. Bryant and Mr. Tilden from the latter's
early boyhood, it was natural that the Governor should inspire the
request contained in the following letter from one of his nephews.
The correspondence which ensued, and its results, will be found
in Bigelow's _Life of Tilden_, Volume I., page 300. It is proper
to repeat here that Mr. Bryant, at the time he wrote his letter
declining to be named as one of the Tilden electors, was only a
proprietor of half of the _Evening Post_ property, and his partner,
Mr. Henderson, feared the effect upon the prosperity of the paper
which would be likely to result from the appearance of its editor in
such conspicuous relations with the Democratic party. Mr. Bryant,
however, went so far as to give instructions, which were pretty
carefully observed, to permit nothing personally hostile to Mr.
Tilden to appear in the columns of the _Post_ during the canvass,
and voted for him at the election.

Besides the reasons here stated for Mr. Bryant's embarrassing
attitude towards Mr. Tilden, there were others communicated to Mr.
Tilden a few weeks later by Miss Julia Bryant in the note succeeding
Mr. Pelton's.


W. T. PELTON TO JOHN BIGELOW

  "(_August, 1876._)

"MY DEAR MR. BIGELOW,--It seems very desirable that Mr.
Bryant should be put on as one of the electors at large, and we must
know that he will not decline if nominated. Will you undertake to
communicate with him at once? I would suggest that you write him and
send a messenger with the letter to Cummington--or perhaps it would
be better to write Mr. Godwin, who is there, or was a few days ago.
Of course, you can state as strongly as you please how much it is
desired _here_ that he accept.

"Can't you send Monday morn, train, so as to get reply early.

  "Sincerely yrs.,
  "W. T. PELTON.

  "_Satrdy. evg._"


JULIA BRYANT TO TILDEN

  "ROSLYN, _Sept. 30, '76_.

"DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I am very, very sorry that you and your
friends and your enemies will not see the article in regard to the
slanders about your income tax which my father wrote at Cummington
last Saturday. He bestowed much time upon it, read it to me, and
pronounced it himself 'a good article,' and sent it on Monday to Mr.
Sperry,[9] with the injunction to publish it entire, whatever might
have appeared previously on the subject in the _Evening Post_.

  [9] Mr. Sperry was Mr. Henderson's son-in-law, and at the time
  managing editor of the _Evening Post_.

"After our return here this week a letter came from Mr. Sperry
begging my father most earnestly _not_ to publish the article,
as it would certainly be followed by abuse of Mr. Henderson in
the _Times_--abuse more virulent than ever before--because in
this article the _Times_ was attacked, although indirectly, and
most _severely censured_. It was _urged_ that my father should
not persist in publishing what would cause such distress to Mr.
Henderson, already so worn by his troubles. On this score my father
felt that he must yield, but he did it most unwillingly and quite
ungraciously.

"I am anxious, however, that you should know what has passed; and
should know, also, that my father, averse as he is to such constant
watchfulness, has had much to combat in keeping attacks on you out
of the papers, and has insisted that you should not be treated in
the _Evening Post_ otherwise than with respect. You may think that
he has not exerted himself in your behalf, as he might have done
for an old and esteemed friend, and one who has done him such good
service; but, truly, it has required no small effort on his part to
keep the paper as moderate as it is.

"He knows that I am writing this now.

"I am obliged to finish in great haste, as I am just going to town.

  Yours truly,
  "JULIA BRYANT."


TILDEN TO MISS HUNT

  "138 EAGLE ST., ALBANY, _Aug. 8th, 1876_.

"DEAR MISS HUNT,--I lately learned by chance that it is to
you that I am indebted for a copy of the new edition of the works
of Ed. Livingston on criminal jurisprudence. No information as to
the source of the presentation had ever before reached me. I ought,
perhaps, to have caused inquiry to be made into that matter, but in
the rush of things amid which I have lived, did not. The work which
has fallen on me in my present career has been constantly outgrowing
my help and my own capacity for attention to the secondary things;
and I must confess in myself a tendency to become more and more
absorbed, with increasing intensity and increasing persistence,
in the parts of the work on which its success depends as on the
turning-points of battle--a habit not favorable to secondary things,
very unfavorable to the human machine, but surprisingly serviceable
to the work which gets the benefit of it.

"I will now say what I would have contrived the opportunity to say
earlier, if I had ever known to whom it should have been addressed.

"It is impossible to appreciate more highly than I do the character,
abilities, and services to his country and to the world of Ed.
Livingston. And then, I have always taken a special interest in the
man. Among my early recollections is this of him: He used to come
to Lebanon Springs, which is on the edge of the beautiful valley in
which I was born and passed my youth. My father's acquaintance with
him was the occasion of my seeing him and retaining a recollection
of his form and features. His taste for antiquarian researches led
him to dig open some mounds in the neighborhood and leaving on the
rustic mind some impression of eccentricity. My father had been more
intimate with the chancellor, and deprived from him a taste for
Merino sheep, and shared in his importations.

"I need not add with how much interest I read Mr. Hunt's biography
of Ed. Livingston, which is itself a delicious portrayal of a most
attractive character.

"I beg you to accept my thanks for the volumes you were so kind as
to send me, and believe me,

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


MISS HUNT TO TILDEN

  "MONTGOMERY PLACE, BARRYTOWN-ON-HUDSON, _Aug. 10th_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN,--Your kind note has reached me
safely, while mine, sent with the books, never arrived at its
destination, as it should have done.

"My aunt, Mrs. Barton, in a spirit of filial piety, had preserved
a number of copies for the purpose of presenting them in suitable
quarters. But before she could accomplish the object Mrs. Barton
herself suddenly died. The duty having consequently devolved on me
of distributing the volumes, I felt special satisfaction in offering
you a copy of them, who, as the Governor of the native State of
Edward Livingston, are so conspicuous for wisdom and devotion to the
cause of public reform.

"May I venture to add a few words, and to say that at such a moment
as this it is quite impossible not to feel the deepest interest in
the work which you tell me has proved so absorbing to yourself. It
is, indeed, your high fortune to lead in the reform all over our
country, and no one, watching the drift of the national canvass in
your favor, can fail to be full of hope and belief in the future.

"Should you ever come in our neighborhood, I beg that you will not
pass us by. It would be a great gratification to me to have the
pleasure of receiving you at Montgomery Place.

  "LOUISE LIVINGSTON HUNT."


TILDEN TO HON. JOHN BRAGG, MOBILE

  "138 EAGLE STREET, ALBANY, _Aug. 11th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Mrs. Van Buren has been so kind as to send
me your letter to her. I am glad to renew an acquaintance which,
although slight, has not wholly passed from my recollection.

"You mention an inquiry of yours in 1872, whether I had entirely
abandoned public life. In the sense of official life, I can scarcely
be said ever to have any. Tho' I have given almost half my life to
public affairs, it has been as a private citizen. In 1846 I went to
the Assembly for a special object, to help Mr. Wright in a crisis of
his administration, and retired. In 1872 I went again to the same
body to obtain the impeachment and removal of corrupt judges who
swayed the administration of justice in the metropolis, and again
retired. In 1846, and again in 1867, I served in conventions to
revise the State Constitution. That is all in that long period.

"I never destined myself to a public career. I did not come into
my present trust until I found myself unable in any other way to
have it on the side of reforms I had begun three years before, and
to which I had surrendered my professional business, attention to
my affairs, and my peace and comfort. I had felt gloomily the decay
of all my early ideals of my country, and engaged in the effort to
restore them in the city and State in which I live, with no idea
of any result to myself except of sacrifice. The logic of events
has brought me into my present situation. I have been tempted to do
so much to satisfy the curiosity of an old acquaintance, and, as I
stop, I do not know but I have provoked more than I have satisfied.

"At any rate, it is a real pleasure to refresh what remains of a
set of early associations. I think you were something of a pet of
Mr. Van Buren, as I was also. He would have been interested in the
course of present events; and puzzled about me, for he told me, near
the close of his life, when he had observed me for thirty years,
that I was the most unambitious man he had ever known.

"I will send you a pamphlet which will give you some idea of the
events in this State to which I have alluded.

"With much esteem, I am very truly yours,

  "S. J. TILDEN.

  "_Hon. John Bragg, Mobile, Ala._"


SIDNEY WEBSTER TO TILDEN

  "NEWPORT, _12 August, 1876_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR,--Since reading your admirable letter of
acceptance I have begun two letters to you to say how sincerely I
congratulated you, but have destroyed both, chiefly moved thereto by
memories of my young days, when I had occasion to know how pestered
a candidate for the Presidency is by letters from friends which have
no business importance, but which, nevertheless, either consume his
precious time by the reading or are turned over to the files. This
letter now begun _may_ have a better fate!

"I cannot see how an acceptance-letter could have been framed
better adapted to the imperative needs of the situation. Repeal of
the law of 1875 was on the platform, and you had to deal with it.
'Contraction' is a red rag to our friends in the West and South, and
that must be accepted. And along the Atlantic coast are they who
fancy their pecuniary salvation depends on _instantly_ lifting the
greenback to an equality with gold, and these could not be lost
sight of. And, finally, you had to keep in mind a _policy_ which you
could 'work' when you enter the White House next March.

"There was possibly a little peril in departing from the traditional
acceptance-letter of fine phrases and loyalty to the platform; but
you did wisely to incur that peril, for I do think your letter has
practically eliminated the financial issue from the canvass--has
prevented an alarming sectional conflict and bad blood between
debtors and creditors--and will in the end convince all reasonable
people you purpose to 'resume' as rapidly as human power can. And
besides this (which may seem a contradiction), I believe you have
given a hint to those who are in pecuniary distress and sorrow, and
would like inflated business to lift them, as they think, out of
their misery, that they had better join hands with the Democracy.

"My idea of the canvass is that the independent voters will soon
come to think there is little difference in the purposes of you and
Governor Hayes, and the only question is which of you is likely
to be most able to carry them out. That, of course, leads to an
inquiry into the personal qualities of the two candidates and the
temper of the party behind each. On both of those inquiries you
_ought_ to win, and you will (excepting in a contingency to which
I will presently refer) win. If the independent voters appreciated
your mental and moral fibre as I do, they would not doubt as to the
first; and as to the second, our party is new in power, ambitious
to establish a dynasty, and is extremely amenable to reason and
fair-dealing.

"I was a little sorry you said anything of a second term. You cannot
accomplish much if it is known you won't have a second, and a good
way to treat Hayes would be to suggest that he resign at the end of
two years (if elected), or never be inaugurated.

"My forecast of the situation is that 'the machine' will squelch
the reformer (but of that we can judge better after the Republican
_State_ nominations); that the financial issue will drop to the
rear; and the Republican managers will endeavor to force on us the
Southern question and obscure the reform issue. I hope our friends
will not dally with the Southern question, but say (defiantly and
offensively, if need be) that they will give no moral sympathy or
support to those who seek to deprive the negroes of any of their
political rights or embarrass the free exercise of them. Rightly or
wrongly, they are citizens, and we at the North must look upon them
as such. Under the recent decisions of the Supreme Court (which are
correct) the Federal govt., certainly the President, can do little;
but it does seem to me that your moral influence, if judicially
manifested in a letter for publication (as it would be by you),
would do good in every respect.

"I have written, as you see--_currente calmo_--and at too great
length, for all I wished to express was my appreciation of the
wisdom of your acceptance-letter, and my belief in your triumphant
victory.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "SIDNEY WEBSTER."


PARKE GODWIN TO JOHN BIGELOW

  "CUMMINGTON, _Aug. 28th, '76_.

"MY DEAR BIGELOW,--I don't know what Mr. Bryant has
written, but I presume he has not consented. John and I have both
tried to get him to pronounce himself publicly, but he will not,
tho' saying that he means to vote for Tilden all the while. I
presume he feels himself bound in some way to the E. P. I hope to be
in Alb'y on Wednesday or Thursday with Minna!

  "Yours very truly,
  "PARKE GODWIN."


F. O. PRINCE TO TILDEN

  "BOSTON, _Augt. 28, 1876_.

"DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I am much concerned touching the matter
about which Messrs. Avery and Collins and myself conferred with you
a few days at Albany.

"Although the Fenian sympathizers seem disposed to oppose the
nomination of Mr. A.,[10] I think their opposition can be
controlled; but a certain candidate, who has hitherto expressed
himself willing to waive any claims he may have for the nomination
in favor of our man, has now changed his mind and wants it.

  [10] Charles Francis Adams, our minister to England during the Civil
  War.

"We fear he will cause such discord in the convention as to prevent
our offering the nomination to Mr. A. upon the terms upon which
he consents to accept it. These are, that it should be made with
reasonable unanimity.

"We can carry the convention for our candidate, but not, probably,
with such general consent as would be required.

"We have had several interviews with the party causing the trouble,
and tried our best to impress upon him the importance of nominating
Mr. A. for the sake of our cause _outside_ of Massachusetts, but to
no effect.

"If we fail in this matter I shall feel that we have lost some of
our chances for success.

"Congratulating you upon the auspicious outlook elsewhere,

  "I am, very truly, y'rs,
  "F. O. PRINCE."


CHARLES F. ADAMS TO BIGELOW

  "ADAMS BUILDING, 23 COURT ST., BOSTON, _January 10, 1906_.

"MY DEAR MR. BIGELOW,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of
your favor of yesterday, the 9th.

"The extract you make from the letter of F. O. Prince is quite
intelligible to me. I remember all the circumstances.

"Mr. Tilden was very anxious, indeed, that my father should be the
Democratic candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 1876. Mr. F.
O. Prince was then chairman, I think, of the Democratic committee;
at any rate, he was influential. Mr. Tilden, as you very well know,
was never at a loss when it came to handling men.

"Mr. Tilden worked through Mr. Prince to accomplish his end. William
A. Gaston, afterwards Governor, desired the nomination. It is he
who is referred to as a 'certain candidate.' My father was wholly
unwilling to accept the nomination unless it came to him unsought,
and with 'reasonable unanimity.' The Irish were strongly opposed
to him. Their dislike, or rather personal antipathy, to him dated
far back--as far, indeed, as 1840, when the questions relating to
the burning of the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown were before the
General Court of Massachusetts, of which my father was a member.

"Considerable pressure had to be brought to bear upon Mr. Gaston,
who finally consented to withdraw, and did, although not with very
good grace, nominate my father at the convention. His nomination,
of course, gave a certain prestige to the ticket. As a popular
candidate in that election my father did not prove a success. A
considerable Irish element refused to vote for him.

"It is rather strange to reflect that all these events occurred now
thirty-one years ago--nearly the lifetime of a generation; but it
is the Irish opposition to which Mr. Prince refers as the 'Fenian
sympathizers.' They proved quite irreconcilable. The whole thing is
now ancient history.

  "Believe me, etc.,
  "CHARLES F. ADAMS."


JOHN BIGELOW TO AN INQUIRER

(MR. TILDEN'S WAR RECORD)

  _"Sept. 1876._

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have an abiding faith that a falsehood
never hurts any but those who propagate it. It is also my conviction
that no man can pay a much greater homage to another than to
deliberately misrepresent him. It is a cowardly confession of
weakness and of inferiority. With this sort of homage no public
man in this country, so far as I know, has ever been so liberally
favored as Mr. Tilden. But two short years ago and there was no
American of equal political prominence who could to a greater
extent be said to receive the praises of his countrymen, without
distinction of party, nor one, perhaps, who had enjoyed fewer of the
advantages of adverse criticism. From the moment, however, that he
loomed above the horizon as a probable candidate for the Presidency
until now, the invention of his political adversaries has been taxed
to the utmost to feed whatever appetite remained unsatisfied for
calumny and scandal.

"Most of these inventions are so improbable and monstrous that
they perish in coming to the birth. As, however, you seem to think
the charge of disloyalty during the war has been raised to the
dignity of an exception by the recent letter of Gen. Dix, which you
enclose, I cheerfully comply with your request to furnish what I
trust you and those other Republican friends in Maine, with whom it
has been my privilege in times past to co-operate, will regard as a
satisfactory answer, not only to the insinuation of Gen. Dix, but
to any and every other charge or insinuation that has been or may
be made in impeachment of the loyalty or patriotic devotion of Mr.
Tilden to the Union, whether before, during, or since the war of the
rebellion. To make this perfectly clear I may be obliged to ask your
patience, but I will try not to abuse it.

"Let me first dispose of the statement of Gen. Dix that 'Mr. Tilden
did not unite in the call for the great Union meeting in New York,
after the attack and surrender of Fort Sumter; but he refused to
attend it, though urgently solicited to by one of his own political
friends.'

"The most charitable construction to be put upon this statement is
that the writer had been misinformed; he certainly could have had no
personal knowledge upon the subject. It was publicly contradicted
when it first appeared in print; it is not true in point of fact;
and, if it had been, it would not follow, by any means, that Mr.
Tilden did not sympathize in the objects of the meeting.

"Mr. Tilden received a formal written invitation, bearing date the
18th of April, inviting him to act as an officer of the meeting in
question. As soon as he found himself at liberty he went to the
proper quarter to ascertain what resolutions were to be proposed,
and, on being satisfied in regard to them, then and there assented
to the use of his name as one of the officers of the meeting. He
not only assented to such use of his name, but was himself in
actual attendance upon the meeting; and not only did he attend this
meeting, but only two days later he attended another meeting of the
New York bar, which was called for a similar purpose, and took part
in its deliberations.

"Now let me state to you precisely the attitude which Mr. Tilden
occupied during the war, and why he manifested so much caution in
any action which might possibly influence the course of events at
that critical moment.

"It has been my privilege to know Mr. Tilden familiarly, not to say
intimately, during his entire public life, embracing a period of
nearly or quite forty years. During that time, though we frequently
differed about processes, and were often enlisted under opposing
political organizations, and though we took widely different views
of the fittest way to meet the storm which had been brewing since
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, it never occurred to me for
one moment to suppose there was any man in the country less tolerant
than he of the doctrine of secession, or prepared to make greater
sacrifices to preserve our Union and the republican institutions
which had been bequeathed to us.

"At the comparatively youthful age of eighteen years Mr. Tilden had
acquired settled opinions upon and shared in the public discussions
of the subject of secession. In a speech at a Union meeting, held
in Union Square, at which Gen. Dix presided, and Hamilton Fish,
William H. Aspinwall, James Brown, Andrew Carrigan, and many other
Republicans were vice-presidents, on the 17th of September, 1866,
Mr. Tilden, in vindication of President Johnson, incidentally
alluded to his early investigation of the subject of secession, and
to the conclusion to which he then arrived. He said:

"'The Constitution of the United States is, by its own terms,
declared to be perpetual. The government created by it acts within
the sphere of its powers directly upon each individual citizen. No
State is authorized, in any contingency, to suspend or obstruct that
action, or to exempt any citizen from the obligation to obedience.
Any pretended act of nullification or secession whereby such effect
is anticipated to be produced is absolutely void. The offence of the
individual citizen, violating the lawful authority of the United
States, is precisely the same as if no such pretended authority ever
existed.'

"On the subject of slavery, Mr. Tilden's opinions were no less
fixed. Though never what used to be known as an Abolitionist,
neither was he ever the advocate or apologist of servile labor.
In the controversy which grew out of our territorial acquisitions
from Mexico in 1847, he was for doing everything to secure those
Territories the benefit of the social and industrial institutions
of the North. In that sense he acted in 1848 in opposing the
extension of slavery into any of the free Territories by the act of
the Federal government; and again, in 1854, when the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise was under consideration in Congress, and the
flames of sectional controversy broke out afresh, Mr. Tilden was
open and decided in his opposition to the repeal, in reference to
which he stated in a letter to Wm. Kent in 1860:

"'I used all my influence, at whatever sacrifice of relations,
against the repeal ... because I thought a theoretical conformity
to even a wise system dearly purchased by breaking the tradition of
ancient pacification on such a question and between such parties.'

"Accustomed as I was to converse with Mr. Tilden freely upon all
public questions, even when our views were most at variance, having
always been in the habit of reading everything which I knew to come
from his pen, I feel that I may safely challenge anybody to produce
a particle of evidence, either oral or in print, of any sympathy on
his part either with secession or with slavery, or any evidence that
in the course he felt it his duty to pursue he was not actuated by
his best judgment as to what was wise and right for the government
and for the welfare of his country. After the breach with the South
in 1854, I think I am competent to affirm that he had no partisan
relations whatever with slave-holding States. In a letter to the
_Evening Post_, written in February, 1863, he speaks of being
taunted by Senator Preston King as an object of proscription by the
South, and of being asked if he thought his name could pass the
Senate of the United States.

"'I answered,' said Mr. Tilden, 'that it was a matter of very little
consequence to me whether it could or not; but that it was of great
consequence to me that I should do what I thought best for the
country.'

"Every act and every expression of his during the war, so far as
it has come under my cognizance, was in full accordance with this
position, and, what is more, in entire harmony with the whole tenor
of his life.

"Better than any person that I knew, he comprehended the
irreconcilability of the forces that were arraying themselves
against each other in the country. Exaggerating, perhaps, the danger
of attempting to rule the country by a sectional party, he deemed it
the part of wise statesmanship to postpone as long as possible, in
the hope, through the mediatorial offices of time and its inevitable
changes, of avoiding a collision.

"No one contested the force of his reasoning on this subject; but
they derided his apprehensions of a civil war. So preposterous
did they appear to the impassioned multitude in the North, that I
remember myself to have been asked by one of his personal friends
whether he was quite in his right mind on the subject.

"In 1860, after the failure of the Democratic party at
Charleston--though he was then and had been for several years
withdrawn from political life--he did not hesitate openly to
proclaim his conviction that the dissolution of the Democratic
party and the attempt to govern the country by a party like the
Republican, having no affiliation in the Southern States, would
inevitably result in civil war. He was asked to fill a vacancy
in the delegation from New York at the adjourned meeting of the
Democratic convention of that year in Baltimore. In that body
he made two speeches, in which he portrayed, as an inevitable
consequence of a sectional division of the Democratic party, a
corresponding division of the States and an armed conflict. These
speeches were described by those who heard them as inspired by
a solemn sense of patriotic duty and a most vivid perception of
impending dangers. After the election of Mr. Lincoln, and when the
dangers he had foretold were becoming realities, he took part in
several conferences in which Hamilton Fish, the late Charles H.
Marshall, the late Daniel Lord, Moses H. Grinnell, the late Wm. B.
Astor, Moses Taylor, William B. Duncan, Richard M. Blatchford, A. A.
Low, and other gentlemen of more or less prominence participated;
and on two of these occasions he made speeches in which he sought
to impress upon his hearers a juster sense than was generally
entertained of the threatened dangers, and of the fittest means of
averting them.

"Earnestly as Mr. Tilden labored to avert the war and to thwart the
measures which seemed to him calculated to precipitate it; anxious
as he had been to contribute no fresh ingredient of hatred to the
seething caldron; when, without any responsibility on his part, the
war came, he never for a moment hesitated as to the course he was
to pursue. He felt it to be the duty of every citizen to sustain
the government in its resistance to territorial dismemberment. To
those who thought, as did many then calling themselves Republicans,
that on the whole it would be as well to consent to a peaceful
separation, Mr. Tilden always answered that peaceful separation was
an illusion; that the questions in controversy would be rendered
infinitely more difficult by separation, and new ones still more
difficult would be created; that, if the antagonized parties could
not agree upon peace within the Union, they certainly would not
have peace without the Union. They never could agree upon terms
of separation, nor could they agree upon the relations to subsist
between them after the separation; and, however lamentable might
be the consequences, force could be the only arbiter of their
differences.

"Though Mr. Tilden was opposed to any illusory concessions to the
spirit of disunion; though he was satisfied, after the attack on
Fort Sumter, that the differences between the two sections could
only be settled by the last argument of kings; and though he was
disposed to do everything in his power to make that argument as
effective and decisive as possible--his co-operation with the
administration of President Lincoln was qualified by a fixed
difference of opinion upon several points.

"This opinion was in accord with the view Mr. Tilden had frequently
expressed on other occasions, and was also in accord with the
opinion which he subsequently gave when his advice was solicited by
the then Secretary of War. The week preceding and the week following
Mr. Stanton's assuming the duties of Secretary of War, and at his
invitation, Mr. Tilden had frequent conferences with him, at the
first of which he is reported to me to have said in substance: 'You
have no right to expect a great military genius to come to your
assistance. The whole human race have been able to furnish such men
only once in a century or two; you can only count on the average
military talent; you have three times the available population and
perhaps nine times the industrial resources of your antagonist;
though you occupy the exterior line, you have an immense advantage
in the superior capacity of your railways to move men and supplies.
What you have to do is to make your advantages available; you
must make your combinations so as to concentrate your forces and
organize ample reserves to be ready to precipitate them on critical
points. In the probable absence of military genius you must rely on
overwhelming numbers, wisely concentrated.' Mr. Stanton appeared
to adopt these views, but unhappily they did not prevail in the
councils of the government.

"A year and a half later, when Mr. Tilden, accompanied by ex-Gov.
Morgan, visited Washington for the purpose of securing greater
harmony of action between the Federal and State government, Mr.
Stanton, in a conversation with Mr. Tilden, referred to this advice,
and added: 'I beg you to remember I always agreed with you.' I refer
the more freely to the deference which Mr. Stanton testified to Mr.
Tilden's judgment in these matters, because it is known not only to
the Hon. Peter H. Watson, then Assistant Secretary of War, but to
some, at least, of the members of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet who are now
living.

"On the subject of the finances, an element so vital to the
successful prosecution of a war, Mr. Tilden's views were at variance
with those adopted by the administration; he had more faith in
the people, in their readiness to bear the burdens and make the
sacrifices which the occasion required, than was manifested by the
authorities at Washington. Before their financial policy was fully
determined upon he advised that the money for carrying on the war
should be chiefly drawn from loans to be supplemented by taxes,
and no more Treasury notes not bearing interest issued than were
barely necessary to supply the new uses created by the government
in its own payments. He was of the opinion that if these measures
were promptly adopted, so that the supply should keep pace with the
wants of the government, the war might be carried on without any
serious embarrassment, without any exorbitant inflation of prices,
and without any extreme depreciation of the government bonds. In
discussing the financial situation of our own State in his first
message to the Legislature in 1875, Gov. Tilden briefly restated the
views which he then entertained and expressed upon this subject.

"Though Mr. Tilden foresaw the disastrous consequences of the policy
which prevailed at Washington, the wild inflation of prices, the
ruinous depreciation of government securities, the extravagant
premium on gold, and the certainty that the continuation of that
policy would lead, as it has done, to incalculable disaster; and
believing, as he did, that it might even endanger the ability
of the government to continue the war, he rigorously abstained
from any public discussion of them that might tend to create
the discredit which he apprehended, and restricted himself to
private remonstrances with the more influential friends of the
administration.

"While doing all he could to counteract what he deemed the errors
of the government, both in the management of the war and of the
finances, he was determined neither to be made responsible for nor
to be compromised by either. His attitude throughout that pregnant
period of our history was, so far as possible for a private citizen
holding no official or even active relations with any political
party, that of patriotic constitutional opposition to supposed
errors of administrative policy, openly co-operating with all the
measures of the government of which he approved, and privately
discouraging those of which he disapproved.

"At the same time he said, in a speech:

"'That in a time of war we could not deal with our government,
although disapproving of its policy, without more reserve than was
necessary in debating an administrative question during a period
of peace; that the reason was that, if we should paralyze the arm
of our own government, we yet could not stay the arm of the public
enemy striking at us through it; that it was this peculiarity which
had sometimes caused minorities to be suppressed in the presence of
public danger, and made such periods perilous to civil liberty.'

"Mr. Tilden was more solicitous than almost any other prominent man
in the country to avert the war, because he saw more clearly than
most men the grave proportions it was likely to assume; and when
it broke out he did not associate himself publicly with the party
which he had thought had unwisely precipitated it, because he could
not entirely approve of the methods by which they were conducting
it. I have yet to see one particle of authentic evidence that, when
the war had become inevitable, Mr. Tilden did not do everything
that might have been reasonably expected of him to make all the
resources of the country available for its vigorous and successful
prosecution. Happily my own convictions on this point are confirmed
by abundant testimony, some of which it may be a satisfaction to
your friends that I recapitulate:

"On the occasion of presenting a stand of colors to the
Thirty-seventh Regiment of New York State Volunteers on the 22d of
June, 1861, Mr. Tilden was among the speakers, 'and,' says John T.
Agnew, who was also present and took part in the ceremony, 'made a
stirring appeal to the officers and men of the regiment; a speech
not excelled in patriotism by any public speaker during the war of
the rebellion.'

"At even an earlier period Mr. Tilden made a journey to Washington,
at the request of Brig.-Gen. Ewing, in the especial interest of the
Seventy-ninth Regiment of Highlanders.

"The Hon. J. D. Caton, formerly Chief-Justice of the State of
Illinois, and the bosom friend of President Lincoln, in a recent
letter to the Hon. Mr. Hewitt, which has already been published,
says that during the war of the rebellion he had several interviews
with Gov. Tilden on the subject of the war, and ever found him
ardent and earnest in its support.

"The Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, who, during the war, was in constant
intercourse with the War Department, and much depended upon by
its chief for his advice at the period, was also in almost daily
intercourse with Mr. Tilden. In a recent speech in Congress, which
has already become famous, he indignantly repelled the idea that Mr.
Tilden ever manifested any sympathy with disunion.

"In October, 1862, Mr. Tilden prepared, in behalf of the Democratic
party, a declaration of its adhesion to the Union, and of the war to
preserve it. This declaration was made in substance as written, and
in so authentic and authoritative a form as to produce a profound
popular impression, both in the South as well as in the North. I
have examined the manuscript, which has fortunately been preserved,
and, with a perfect familiarity with the Governor's handwriting,
have no difficulty in verifying its authenticity.

"In 1864, Mr. Tilden, though absorbed by his profession and holding
no relations with the public not shared by any private citizen,
found himself appointed a delegate to the Democratic National
Convention at Chicago. He deemed it his duty to attend. In the
delegation he made a speech, the substance of which was briefly
reported. The points of it were:

"1. Opposition to any declaration in favor of an armistice.

"2. He insisted that the adjustment of the controversy pending
between the North and the South, on any other basis than the
restoration of the Union, was manifestly impossible.

"At this convention Mr. Tilden used all his influence to resist,
though ineffectually, the adoption of certain expressions in the
platform that might have a tendency to discourage the further
prosecution of the war; he always refused to acquiesce in them, and
subsequently sent a message to Gen. McClellan, the nominee of the
convention, urging him to disregard them in his letter of acceptance.

"To these evidences of Mr. Tilden's earnestness in the prosecution
of the war, let me add one more, which is perhaps more conclusive
than all the rest.

"All the members of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet were perfectly cognizant
of his position during the war, and were in the habit of soliciting
his advice; and two of the three who still survive, and with whom
Mr. Lincoln had the most intimate and durable relations, are now
publicly advocating his election to the Presidency.

"I wish you to realize, as I do, how utterly wanton and shameless is
this attempt to associate Mr. Tilden's name with the enemies of his
government, and how desperate must be any cause which has to rely
upon such methods for success.

"As it seemed to be my duty as a journalist to oppose and often to
criticise the course pursued by Mr. Tilden, both before and during
the war, I feel it but simple justice to him to bear this testimony
to the honorable and patriotic motives with which I never doubted
him to be animated.

  "JOHN BIGELOW.

  "_Highland Falls, Orange County, New York._"


NELSON J. WATERBURY TO TILDEN

  "NO. 152 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, _Sept. 1, 1876_.

  "GOV. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--I wish to direct your attention to four acts
of Kelly at Saratoga hostile to our success--not for effect upon
him, but that they may enter into your mind in respect to action
affecting the cause:

"1. He showed disregard of success in placing himself at the head of
the electoral ticket.

"2. He tried to defeat the party by his attack upon the Liberal
Republicans.

"3. He made a deadly effort to foreclose success by forcing Potter.

"4. He never, during the whole convention, said a word to encourage
the Presidential canvass.

  "Yours truly,
  "NELSON J. WATERBURY."


SAMUEL HAND[11] TO TILDEN

  _"Confidential._

  "SATURDAY EVENING, _Sept. 9th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I had supposed, after what was said at
Saratoga, Tuesday and Wednesday, that our friends tacitly agreed
with me that the idea of bringing my name forward for Governor
should not be seriously entertained, and therefore I did not think
it necessary or becoming to take any further steps about. But I
learn, on my return from the North, from Mr. Manning and others,
that the project is assuming definite shape and may, unless at once
ended, be carried to a nomination.

  [11] Mr. Horatio Seymour having refused to accept a nomination for
  Governor to succeed Governor Tilden, Mr. Hand, a leading barrister
  at Albany, was urged by Mr. Tilden and his friends to accept such
  nomination.

"I appreciate how high the office is, and of what importance and
conspicuousness, and am sensible how much it is beyond anything to
which I could at present naturally aspire. I feel gratified that I
should have been thought of at all in connection with so great a
trust, and am especially proud that you should have deemed me fit
successor.

"The more I reflect, however, the more convinced I am that _it will
not do_.

"I feel certain that under the present circumstances my nomination
would be a mistake, and _know_ that it might be fatal.

"Aside from these public considerations, I have private reasons
which you would admit sufficient, if I could trouble you with them,
to prevent my acceptance of the nomination. I should deeply regret
it if these, in fact, interfered with the success of our party, but
I am sure such is not the case. I regard them as insuperable, and I
have written Mr. Manning a note, of which he can make public use,
declining to have my name used at the convention.

"I write this that you may first and at the earliest moment know of
my conclusion.

  "Yours with the greatest respect,
  "SAMUEL HAND."


THE SHERIFF OF NEW YORK CITY TO TILDEN

  "SHERIFF'S OFFICE, CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK,
  "_September 14, 1876_.

  "To his Excellency SAMUEL J. TILDEN,
  "_Governor of the State of New York_:

"The recent publications in the newspapers of the capture of William
M. Tweed, at Vigo, in Spain, are confirmed by a private telegram
received by me.

"There are several indictments for forgery, found by the Grand Jury
of this county, against said Tweed, which were untried at the time
of his escape on the 4th day of December last.

"He was also at that time in my custody, under an order of arrest,
issued in a suit commenced against him by the people of the State of
New York, in which a judgment has since been perfected in an amount
over $6,000,000, the execution on which has been returned wholly
unsatisfied.

"It is said that the government of Spain are willing to surrender
said Tweed to the authorities of this county.

"May I ask you to present the subject to the government of the
United States, so that prompt and efficient measures may be taken to
secure his surrender?

  "I remain,
  "Your obdt. Servant,
  "WM. C. CONNOR,
  "_Sheriff_."


GOVERNOR TILDEN TO HAMILTON FISH

(APPLICATION FOR ARREST OF WM. M. TWEED, A FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE)

  "CITY OF NEW YORK, _Sept. 19th, 1876_.

"SIR,--I transmit herewith for the use of your department
a copy of the official application made to me by the Sheriff of
the City and County of New York concerning the case of William M.
Tweed, a fugitive from the justice of this State, who is understood
to be at this time held in custody as such at Vigo by the Spanish
government.

"Owing to my being in this city, this document did not come to my
knowledge until late yesterday, and, although advised that the
Attorney-General of this State has already addressed you to the
same effect, I deem it proper now to superadd my earnest request
that the government of the United States may employ its efficient
and perfectly adequate powers to induce a delivery of this great
criminal into the hands of the sheriff at this city.

  "Yours respectfully,
  "(Sd.) SAMUEL J. TILDEN,
  "_Governor of the State of New York_.

  "_Hon. Hamilton Fish_,
  "_Secretary of State of the United States_."


L. P. WALKER TO TILDEN

  "NEW YORK, _Sept. 19, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--As a Southern man, whose interest in your
election is greater than your own, because it involves the right
to live, I beg permission to make a single suggestion, the result
of general intercourse here for the last ten days with gentlemen
from all sections of the country. The politicians, as a rule, are
not overzealous for your success. Could they separate their fate
from yours this feeling would be openly manifested. Your self-poise
offends their vanity, and they are controlled where they think they
should direct. It was the confidence of the people in this phase of
your character, as much, even, as the spirit of reform, that secured
you the nomination at St. Louis. It certainly greatly influenced my
action. Still, I think, if you will allow me to say it, it might
be proper for you to recognize and act upon certain suggestions
that have been made with reference to the campaign in Indiana. Your
election may not depend upon the result in that State in October,
but it will be so urged and considered generally, and I am very
sure that you have not overlooked this possibility. The suggestion
I wish to make is that you would in some proper way manifest such
interest in that election as to satisfy your friends in that State
and elsewhere that you appreciate the importance of carrying that
State in October. My excuse for this letter is the fact, known to
you, that I was an original Tilden man, and, I will add, I have seen
no reason to regret it.

"I shall leave to-day for Alabama, carrying with me the conviction
that your election is almost an assured fact. God grant it. With
high respect, yours very truly,

  "L. P. WALKER."


ACTING SECRETARY OF STATE TO GOVERNOR TILDEN

  "DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON,
  _21st September, 1876_.

  "To his Excellency SAMUEL J. TILDEN,
  _Governor of the State of New York, Albany_.

"SIR,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
from New York of the 19th inst., accompanied by a copy of one
addressed to you by the Sheriff of the City and County of New York,
concerning the case of William M. Tweed, a fugitive from the justice
of that State. In reply, I have to assure you that it may not be
doubted that if the person adverted to should come into custody
of authorities of this government he will be received for the
purpose of being transferred to the proper authorities of New York,
agreeably to your Excellency's request.

  "I am, Your Excellency's Obedient Servant,
  "(Sd.) W. HUNTER,
  "_Acting Secretary_."


W. C. BRYANT TO JOHN BIGELOW

  "CUMMINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, _September 21st, 1876_.

"DEAR BIGELOW,--The attacks on the personal character of
Mr. Tilden are shameful. There was no need of asking me to see that
a fair and just treatment of his statement in refutation of the
story about the income tax should be accorded to him in the _Evening
Post_. I wrote to Mr. Sperry yesterday on the subject, telling him
that I thought that the paper should express as great indignation
at the slander, as soon as its refutation should be made public, as
if the Republican candidate had been the subject of it. I only wish
that the opportunity for such an expression had been given a little
earlier.

  "Yours very truly,
  "W. C. BRYANT."


CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

  "NEW YORK, _Sept. 22d, 1876_.

  "To his Excellency SAMUEL J. TILDEN,

  "_Governor of the State of New York_.

"SIR,--It is probable that William M. Tweed, a noted
delinquent, who went abroad many months since, will be tendered to
the custody of the Sheriff of the City and County of New York within
a few days.

"At the time of his departure the same sheriff held him in formal
custody under an order of arrest in a civil action requiring bail in
$3,000,000. Since his departure judgment has been recovered against
him in that action at the suit of the State to an amount exceeding
$6,000,000.

"For his negligence in permitting the escape there was, in fact, no
ordinary civil remedy against the sheriff except a very trivial and
inadequate one on his official bond. The proper steps for securing
this measure of redress have been pursued with all proper diligence;
and, until this time, there did not seem to be any utility in
prosecuting any other line of action. But as Tweed may be again in
custody at an early period, it has now become important to consider
what course should be adopted for the purpose of rendering that
custody safe and secure. As already stated, the remedies allowed
by law against the delinquent custodian who allows his prisoner
to escape are totally inadequate. Consequently, should Tweed be
again in legal custody, there will be no effective security for his
detention to meet the awards of civil and criminal justice, except
what may be afforded by the personal and official fidelity and
vigilance of the custodian.

"Your predecessor, Governor John A. Dix, made a public and official
remonstrance against the palpable favoritism displayed towards
this person in his then existing custody as a prisoner in the
Penitentiary. During the same year the Sheriff of the City and
County of New York, by gross negligence, suffered the escape of
Genet, a convict of the same general class as Tweed.

"With these circumstances to excite vigilance, the present sheriff
nevertheless allowed Tweed to enjoy a sort of free custody,
precisely similar to that which had been accorded to Genet; and
Tweed, availing himself of the facility, left the State.

"Would it be proper, on Tweed's return, to place him in charge of
the same officer? I think you will answer this question in the
negative.

"The Constitution, arts. 10, secs. 1 and 5, together with the act
of 1848, Edmonds Statutes, vol. 3, p. 330, affords to you as Chief
Executive the means of meeting the exigency. You can, on brief
notice to him, remove the present sheriff and appoint a perfectly
reliable custodian to receive the prisoner.

"Perhaps all the office I ought to assume in this matter properly
ends here. But, when one acts at all in an important affair,
he ought to do all that his best judgment dictates towards
accomplishing the object in view.

"The history of Tweed's prosecutions, imprisonments, judicial
releases, and ultimate deliverance from custody is well known to
you and the public. To it I refer for a justification of my further
remarks.

"The person whom you may appoint to fill the place made vacant by a
removal of the present sheriff can hold only until the end of the
present year. A new sheriff, elected by the people, with full notice
of their needs in November next, will enter on his duties on the 1st
of January, 1877. For the short term of about three months created
by the removal, I take leave to recommend the appointment of General
Francis C. Barlow. His persistent hostility to official swindlers,
and his zealous activity in prosecuting Tweed to conviction, are
well known to you. Tweed would not escape from his hands. I have
consulted no one on this subject, nor have I any knowledge that
General Barlow would accept the office. Should he do so, you will
have well performed your duty; and, in any event, your tender of
the appointment will effectually refute all assertions that you owe
Tweed favor, or fear his disclosures.

  "Yours, &c.,
  "CH. O'CONOR."


WM. M. TWEED PLACED AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE NEW YORK AUTHORITIES

  "DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, _Oct. 10, 1876_.

  "To his Excellency SAMUEL J. TILDEN,
  "_Governor of the State of New York_.

"SIR,--Referring to the letter which your Excellency
addressed to me from the city of New York on the 19th Septr. last,
with reference to the case of William M. Tweed, at that time
understood to be held in custody by the Spanish government, and to
the acknowledgment of that letter by the Acting Secretary of State
on the 21st ultimo, I have the honor to state that in the month of
July last there were received in this department duly authenticated
copies of two indictments, found in the Court of General Sessions
for the city and county of New York, against William M. Tweed and
others for forgery and other offences.

"In the month of June last a person believed to be Tweed, but
passing under the name of John Secor, had clandestinely landed on
the island of Cuba, and the authorities of that island, with the
sanctions of the Spanish government at Madrid, purposed to deliver
him to the United States, but he escaped from the island on or about
the 27th day of July, and sailed for a port in Spain.

"The Captain-General of Cuba despatched a steamer in pursuit, which
failed to intercept his flight, and on his arrival at Vigo he was
immediately arrested and placed in confinement.

"Instead of returning him to Cuba, the Spanish government decided
to deliver him directly to the United States, and placed him on
board the U. S. steamer _Franklin_, which left the port of Vigo on
or about the 28th day of September with Tweed, _alias_ Secor, on
board, under orders to sail for the port of New York, where she
may be expected to arrive some time from the 20th to the last of
this month. After the news of the arrest in Spain became known,
the sheriff of the city and county of New York also addressed me a
letter, stating that he had process against Tweed, requiring the
custody of his person in the county of New York, from which he
escaped in December last, and requesting such action on the part of
the government as will secure his return to answer the behest of
the process in his hands, and offering to bear all the necessary
expenses of conveying him to New York.

"The uncertainty at that time attending a surrender by the Spanish
government prevented any definite reply to the sheriff, or any more
positive answer on the subject than that which was addressed to you
on the 21st September.

"But now, as the person referred to has been actually delivered by
the Spanish government to the government of the United States, and
as no doubt seems to exist that this person, calling himself Secor,
is William M. Tweed, the President, in pursuance of the intention
with which he decided to receive him, deems it proper to place him
at the disposal of the authority of the State of New York, and
instructs me for that purpose to inform your Excellency, as Governor
of the State, that on the arrival of the _Franklin_ orders will
be given to the naval officers for the delivery of Tweed into the
custody of the sheriff of the city and county of New York, such
being the disposition theretofore requested by you in your letter.

"Inasmuch as such orders must necessarily pass through the proper
channels of the Navy Department and should be explicit, and in New
York awaiting the arrival of the steamer, to be executed immediately
upon such arrival, I venture to request the earliest possible
expression of any particulars or details which you may desire
carried out to insure the proper transfer of the custody of this
person into the hands of the authorities of New York, so that the
instructions may be in the proper hands by the 20th of this month;
and I venture to suggest that it may greatly tend to facilitate the
matter if no public information be given as to the details of the
matter.

  "I have the honor to be,
  "Your Excellency's obedient Servant,
  "HAMILTON FISH."


HORATIO SEYMOUR TO GOV. TILDEN

  "UTICA, _October 25, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have reason to know that your opponents
in and out of the party count upon the large towns to defeat you.
They rely upon distress among Democrats, hard times, and the use
of money. The word 'reform' is not popular with working-men. To
them it means less money spent and less work. Most of these men are
Catholics. You will see that the Republicans have dropped the school
question. I think it important that some quiet, judicious person
should visit the large towns and see the leading Irishmen and call
their minds back to the hostility of Hayes and the Republicans to
their nationality and religion. There is danger of a loss of vote
among the class.

"I am still out of health, and I write with difficulty. I gain
slowly, but I do not expect to enjoy hereafter full health and vigor.

  I am truly yours, &c.,
  "HORATIO SEYMOUR."


C. B. SMITH TO TILDEN

  "RICHMOND, IND., _Oct. 27th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR OLD CLASSMATE,--Permit me to thank you for your
letter on the 'rebel claims.' It is worthy of you, and that is
saying, in the estimation of all your old friends, _all_ that
can be said in its praise. It is indeed noble and strong, while
it crushes with the force of fate. It spikes the last gun of the
administration. It is indeed a triumph and a victory.

"We are all proud of you, and look forward with joyful and confident
anticipations of soon seeing you the Chief Magistrate of this great
nation. Your mission is a great and noble one, but you are equal
to every possible condition and emergency. I firmly believe this
era has raised you up to bring the nation back to its old historic
thought respecting honesty and economy, and make it fit for honest
men to live in.

"Pardon my familiarity and earnestness, for the feelings of boyhood
are sure to control me when writing to or of a classmate.

  "Yours truly,
  "C. B. SMITH."


R. D. RICE TO S. J. TILDEN

  "_Confidential._

  "PORTLAND, _Oct. 27, '76_.

  "HON. S. J. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--As I was just ready to leave N. York last
evening, some facts came to my knowledge of which it may be well for
our friends to be appraised (in case they are not already) as to
the _then_ last line of policy of our opponents. You are aware that
Z. Chandler and Tyner were both in the city and at the wheel. Your
State is substantially abandoned by them; the fight is, of course,
to be kept up there _nominally_, at least. The _real_ fight is to
be made in the Carolinas, Louisiana, Florida, etc., in the South,
and some of the doubtful States in the North and N. West, including
_Indiana_. To carry these States by the _commercial element_ in each
has been _fully resolved_, and the _means put in requisition_ for
that purpose to an extent, especially in Ind., exceeding the amounts
used in the last election is, I think, beyond a doubt. Larger hopes
are entertained from the greenback element. They _must_ contest this
battle to the last, however desperate it appear. Excuse this hasty
note. Our people here are in ecstasies over your letter, and in the
best of spirits.

  Yours Truly,
  "R. D. RICE."


L. W. WALKER TO GOVERNOR TILDEN

(APPROVING GOVERNOR'S LETTER ON REBEL CLAIMS)

  "HUNTSVILLE, ALA., _Oct. 27th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have read with sincere pleasure and
approval your letter of the 24th inst. to the chairman of the
national Democratic committee. It states only the literal truth as
to the South. I think I know as well as any one the sentiments of
the people of this State, and I am sure there is not a man, woman,
or child in it who entertains the idea that the government could,
would, or should pay for the loss of slaves, or for the loss of any
other property during the war, belonging to persons who were engaged
in, or sympathized with, what has been judicially designated the
rebellion.

"The South absolutely surrendered at Appomattox the whole sectional
past, and now looks alone, in perfect good faith, to a common
American future.

"In this campaign of unparalleled profligacy waged by the
Republicans, no greater calumny has been uttered against the people
of the South, and against the possibilities of your administration,
should you be elected President, than this charge, first made
noticeable, not by the character, but by the ability and official
position, of Mr. Blaine, the unanswered license of whose statements,
after the passions incident to the election shall have subsided,
must shock the conscience of the whole nation, and consign him to
immortal infamy.

  "With sincere regards, your very truly,
  "L. W. WALKER."


C. K. FOOTE TO S. J. TILDEN

  "MOBILE, _Nov. 2, 1876_.

  "To his Excellency SAMUEL J. TILDEN,

  "_Governor of the State of New York_.

"SIR,--Your letter of 24th ult., in reply to the Hon. Abram
S. Hewitt, relative to the 14th amendment and 'rebel debts,' is
no doubt a good campaign card, and well played at this particular
time in check of the clamor and misrepresentations, and its use and
effect in the pending Presidential election.

"I beg to assure you of an abiding confidence in your election to
the Chief Executive office of our government, and to promote this
great 'reform' the intelligence, the property, and the integrity of
the South is solid and zealous in this great work, believing and
trusting in your known and tried integrity to the principles of
justice and right to all.

"In the matter of the 'cotton tax,' from June, 1865, to September,
1868, after peace was restored and promised, it was not an element
of the 'war,' nor was it 'an incident to military operations for
maintaining its existence.' The compiled record of H. H. Smith,
Esqr., clerk of the committee on war claims of the 43d Congress,
may be official facts, and are no doubt the truth, so far as the
guilty persons are concerned that have rendered infamous and odious
the offices they have prostituted to embezzlements, thefts, and
wickedness. The facts connected with that 'cotton tax' have not come
to the surface. Those that have made haste to buy and sell, and to
bribe and lobby their way through a most foul administration, are
not the standard or measure for honest claimants that have patiently
waited, with the evidence of the money paid into the United States
Treasury, against the day of 'reform' and the return to honesty,
and a just discrimination on the merits and facts of the case; nor
should it be ruthlessly set aside without a fair investigation and
examination by discreet, honest men.

"Your 'veto' and your integrity will be accepted together, trusting
in the latter all the time, and the use of the former on all
suitable occasions, and for the good of the nation.

"With sentiments of highest esteem and admiration, I am,

  "Respectfully yours,
  "C. K FOOTE."


THE ELECTION OF 1876

On the 7th of November, 1876, the people of the State of New York,
and the people of the United States, expressed their preferences
among the several Presidential candidates to succeed President
Grant, as follows, according to the Albany _Evening Journal
Almanac_:

  For Tilden in New York State        522,043
  For Hayes                           489,225
                                     --------
  Tilden's majority                    32,818

       *       *       *       *       *

It is to be remarked that Tilden's vote was larger than any of the
State or local candidates', and was vastly larger than had ever been
cast for any other man.

  The vote for Grant in 1872 in New York State was             440,745
  Tilden's vote larger than Grant's vote in 1872, when the
    latter carried the State by 53,466                          81,298
  Tilden's vote in 1876 larger than Greeley's vote in 1872     134,764
  Grant's vote in 1868 was                                     419,883
  Tilden's vote in 1876 larger than Grant's vote in 1868       102,160
  Seymour's vote in 1868 was                                   429,883
  Tilden's vote in 1876 larger than Seymour's in 1868           92,160

  The total vote for Tilden in the United States in 1876 was 4,300,316
  For Hayes                                                  4,036,015
                                                             ---------
  Tilden's majority                                            264,301

  Grant's vote in 1872 was                                   3,596,742
  Tilden's vote larger than Grant's vote, in 1872, when the
    latter's majority was 761,844                              703,574
  Greeley's vote in 1872 was                                 2,834,888
  Tilden's vote in 1876 larger than Greeley's in 1872        1,465,418
  Grant's vote in 1872 was                                   3,013,188
  Tilden's vote in 1876 larger than Grant's                  1,287,128
  Seymour's vote in 1868 was                                 2,703,600
  Tilden's vote in 1876 larger than Seymour's in 1868        1,596,716


JUST WHAT CHANDLER DID, AND HOW THE PLAN WAS LAID TO DEFEAT THE
POPULAR CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT

     [_From the New York "Times" of June 15, 1887._]

"The New York _Sun_, after three days of hard labor, has finally
produced a curious reply to the _Times's_ comments upon Mr. William
E. Chandler's connection with the election of 1876. The best answer
to its series of misrepresentations will be found in the following
statement of what did actually occur at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on
the morning of Nov. 8 of that year.

"As stated on Saturday last in the _Times_, a gentleman entered
the Fifth Avenue Hotel at the Twenty-third Street door about 6.30
o'clock in the morning, possibly a little before that hour. He
went at once to the rooms of the national committee and found them
occupied only by a number of servants in the hotel, who were engaged
in cleaning and setting the rooms to rights. He was informed that
everybody had gone home or to bed a couple of hours before. He left
the room and started for the clerk's desk to ascertain the number
of Mr. Zachariah Chandler's room. While opening the first door in
the direction of the reading-room, on his way to the office of the
hotel, he came in collision with a small man, wearing an immense
pair of goggles, his hat drawn down over his ears, a great-coat with
a heavy military coat, and carrying a grip-sack and a newspaper in
his hand. The newspaper was the New York _Tribune_. The gentleman
did not recognize the stranger, but the stranger recognized the
gentleman immediately. The stranger cried out: 'Why, Mr. Blank, is
that you?' The gentleman knew the voice, and said: 'Is that you, Mr.
Chandler?' He answered: 'Yes, I have just arrived from New Hampshire
by train. D--n the men who brought this disaster upon the Republican
party.' The gentleman replied: 'The Republican party has sustained
no disaster. If you will only keep your heads up here, there is no
question of the election of President Hayes. He has been fairly and
honestly elected.'

"Chandler replied: 'Look at this paper.' The answer was that the
paper had not the news, and the gentleman began to give Mr. Chandler
an idea of the situation, when Chandler interrupted him, saying: 'I
have just got the key to my room; come up-stairs.' Upon entering the
room, Mr. Chandler placed his grip-sack in the corner, took off his
overcoat, sat down in a chair--the gentleman taking the only other
one in the room--and Chandler said: 'Now go ahead.' The visitor went
over the ground carefully, State by State, from Maine to Oregon,
counting the electoral vote in each State, and showing the vote as
it was finally counted for Hayes and Tilden. After he had finished,
William E. Chandler said: 'Well, what do you think should be done?'
The gentleman replied:

"'Telegraph immediately to leading Republicans, men in authority, in
South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, California, Oregon, and Nevada.'
Mr. Chandler made no direct reply to this proposition, but said:

"'We must go and see Zach.'

"The gentleman said:

"'Do you know the number of his room?' William E. Chandler replied:

"'Yes, I know where it is.' To which the gentleman answered:

"'If you don't know exactly, I'd better go to the office and get
the number; I was going there when I met you.' Chandler said: 'No,
I know where it is,' and led the way around to the Twenty-fourth
Street side of the hotel. After proceeding a short distance down the
corridor he looked up at the number over a door and said: 'This is
Chandler's room.' Then he began to knock and kick at the door. The
noise at once awakened the inmate, and there proceeded from the room
a series of shrill screams and shrieks, followed by an affrightened
female voice crying out: 'What do you want? Go away; I'm a lone
woman.' Chandler immediately darted down the corridor. The gentleman
said: "See here, if you don't know the number of the room we'd
better go immediately down to the office and get it; we don't want
anything more of this kind." Chandler insisted that he would be
right the next time, however, and walking still further down the
corridor he selected a room about four doors below the first one
he had attacked. The response to his knock was immediate and not
uncertain. There was no scream in this case, but the inmate shouted
in angry tones: 'Get out; I'm a lady. Why do you disturb me at this
hour. Go right away, or I will call the servants.' Chandler then
remarked: 'I guess I'll have to go down to the office.' Whereupon he
darted down-stairs, ascertained the number of Zachariah Chandler's
room, which was between those of the two ladies whom he had thus
unceremoniously aroused, and he began kicking and knocking at the
door, of the right room in this case, and did so for a little time
without effect. The gentleman then joined with him in thumping and
kicking the door, remarking: 'We'll wake up the whole house and will
have the police down on us if we don't look out,' when in a moment
came the well-recognized voice from the inside, 'Who's there?'
to which William E. Chandler replied: 'It's me, Chandler; open
the door, quick.' The door was shortly opened, and Mr. Zachariah
Chandler was discovered standing in his nightdress. Mr. William E.
Chandler then said, closing the door: "Here is a gentleman who has
more news than you have, and he has some suggestions to make.' To
which Zach Chandler replied: 'Yes, I know him. What is it?' With
this he seated himself on the edge of his bed. William E. Chandler
then said: 'The gentleman will tell you the story himself. He
understands the case better than I do.'

"The gentleman then went over the details of the election, and added
the recommendations he had made to William E. Chandler.

"The chairman of the national committee laid down and said: 'Very
well, go ahead and do what you think necessary.' The two visitors
left the room and went to the telegraph office in the hotel. It was
just five minutes before seven by the hotel clock when they arrived
there. The telegraph office was not open, and they were informed
that it would not be open until 8, possibly later. The two men
stood by the receiver's shelf at the little telegraph inclosure,
Chandler with his back to the door opening towards Twenty-third
Street entrance. The other gentleman faced Chandler, leaning on the
shelf, with his back to the door leading into the great hall of the
hotel. The only other persons in the room were a few servants and
a clerk in the newsstand. The gentleman said: 'I'll have to take
these messages to the main office of the Western Union.' Chandler
called a servant and directed him to have a carriage brought to the
Twenty-third Street entrance. Then Chandler said: 'Well, what do
you want to do?' The gentleman replied: 'We'll first telegraph to
Gov. Chamberlain, of South Carolina.' The gentleman dictated the
despatch, which appeared in the _Sun_, and which was as follows:

  "'_To D. H. Chamberlain, Columbia, S. C._:

     "'Hayes is elected if we have carried South Carolina, Florida,
     and Louisiana. Can you hold your State? Answer immediately.'

"Mr. Chandler took the despatch in shorthand, as dictated. The
gentleman then proposed to send a similar despatch to S. B. Conover,
of Florida. Mr. William E. Chandler immediately objected, saying
that Conover was as much of a Democrat as he was a Republican, and
would probably show the despatch to the Democrats as early as he
would to any Republican in town. At any rate, the Democrats would
get it first. The gentleman remarked:

"'Have you any other proposition to make, or have you any one in
your mind whom it would be safer or better to address?' Mr. William
E. Chandler scratched his ear with his pencil, and after a moment's
consideration said he had not. The gentleman then said it was
imperative that some one should be woke up down there, and if Mr.
Chandler could think of no one else it was essential to telegraph
to Conover. Mr. Chandler hesitated for an instant, and said:
'Well, I suppose we must; something has to be done.' The gentleman
accordingly dictated to Chandler the Conover despatch. Here it is:

  "'_To S. B. Conover, Tallahassee, Fla._:

     "'The Presidential election depends on the vote of Florida, and
     the Democrats will try and wrest it from us. Watch it and hasten
     returns. Answer immediately.'

"The gentleman then suggested S. B. Packard as the proper person to
address in Louisiana, and the Packard despatch was dictated to, and
taken down by, William E. Chandler in shorthand:

  "'_To S. B. Packard, New Orleans, La._:

     "'The Presidential election depends on the vote of Louisiana.
     The Democrats will try to wrest it from you. Watch it and hasten
     returns. Answer immediately.'

"The gentleman then asked: 'To whom shall we send in Oregon?' Mr.
Chandler said: 'John H. Mitchell.' The Oregon despatch was then
dictated:

  "'_To John H. Mitchell, Portland, Oregon_:

     "'Without Oregon Hayes defeated. Don't be defrauded. Hasten
     returns. Answer.'

"The gentleman suggested that George C. Gorham, of San Francisco,
was the proper man to receive a telegram. Chandler at once assented.
Then the gentleman suggested that probably he might be able to
do something with Nevada and Oregon, and a despatch something as
follows was prepared:

  "'_To George C. Gorham, San Francisco, Cal._:

     "'The Presidential election depends on our having both Nevada
     and Oregon, which are reported for Hayes. Telegraph both those
     States immediately. Watch them and hurry results. Answer
     immediately.

  "'W. E. CHANDLER,
  "'_Fifth Avenue Hotel_.'

"Chandler says, in his testimony before the Potter committee, that
he found the Gorham despatch among some papers. This happened in
this way: After the despatch had been written some verbal changes in
it were suggested. Mr. Chandler found some trouble in making them
on the telegraph blank, and the gentleman who dictated the despatch
remarked: 'You'd better write that despatch over again; you'll save
time.' Chandler did so, and the original despatch got into his
pocket with the rest of his papers.

"William E. Chandler signed with his own name the despatches to
Oregon and to Gorham, of San Francisco. To the despatches sent to
Conover, Packard, and Chamberlain the narrator's recollection is he
signed the name of Zachariah Chandler. William E. Chandler at once
took telegraph blanks and wrote from his stenographic notes the five
despatches above printed, the gentleman standing by him taking every
despatch as he finished it and carefully reading it. When the last
despatch was transcribed, Chandler handed it over to the gentleman
and said: 'Are they all right?' He was informed that they were.
Chandler immediately started to open the door from the reading-room
to the Twenty-third Street entrance that the gentleman might make
a hasty exit, but Chandler made a bungling job of it; finally the
two reached the outer door. The gentleman jumped into the carriage
there waiting and told the driver to get to the main office of
the Western Union with all possible speed. Probably the quickest
time ever made by a carriage from the Fifth Avenue Hotel to the
Western Union was made that morning. Arriving at the Western Union
office the gentleman went to the receiver's desk and handed in the
despatches. The receiver, who knew the gentleman very well, said:
'Good-morning.' The gentleman said: 'Get these despatches off as
quickly as possible, and charge the Republican National Committee.'
The receiver replied: 'The National Committee has no account here,
and we can't do it. Why not charge them to the New York _Times_
account?' The gentleman replied, 'All right,' and the receiver
immediately handed them back to him to be countersigned. This was
promptly done, the gentleman returned to his carriage and was driven
back to the Fifth Avenue Hotel. There was still nobody stirring
connected with the National Committee.

"And now a few extracts, which the _Sun_ failed to discover in
the Potter committee's report, are pertinent. First, in regard to
the telegram to George C. Gorham, in San Francisco, Mr. Chandler
testified:

"'I found among those papers this copy of a telegram which I sent
from the Fifth Avenue Hotel. I think before daylight on the morning
of Nov. 8. It bears date of the 7th of November, but it was really
written and sent on the morning of the 8th.'

"Immediately after this comes the following sentence, bear in mind,
from William E. Chandler's testimony before the Potter committee:

"'The remaining copies are in shorthand, and I will read them.'

"If these messages were not dictated to Mr. William E. Chandler, why
should he have written them in shorthand? When time was so precious,
is it to be believed that William E. Chandler wrote his own messages
first in shorthand and then transcribed them? Further down on the
same page (526) of the testimony occurs the following:

"'This paper [handing to the chairman a paper from which he had
read] is worn from carrying it in the pocket.'

"The chairman: 'Who made these stenographic marks?'

"The witness: 'Those are my own. I learned to write shorthand many
years ago.'

"It is perfectly clear from this (Chandler's own testimony) that
these messages were dictated to Chandler by another person. They
were so dictated exactly as described in the foregoing narrative.
The New York _Times_ has never to this day been reimbursed by the
National Committee or William E. Chandler, nor has William E.
Chandler or any national committee ever offered to pay the _Times_
for the telegraph tolls or for any of the expenses incurred on that
morning.

"Mr. Chandler's efforts in behalf of the grand old Republican party
on the morning of Nov. 8, 1876, may therefore be briefly summarized
as follows:

"First.--He frightened two lone women nearly out of their wits.

"Second.--He finally discovered the number of Zachariah Chandler's
room.

"Third.--He acted as an amanuensis for a gentleman who dictated five
despatches. (Work well done.)

"Fourth.--He asked a servant to bring a carriage around to the
Twenty-third Street entrance of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. (Result
satisfactory.)

"Fifth.--He attempted to open a door to enable the gentleman bearing
the despatches the more readily to reach the street. (Made a mess of
it.)

"Mr. Zachariah Chandler, chairman of the National Committee, asked
the gentleman above alluded to, on the evening of Nov. 8, if it
would not be well to send William E. Chandler to Florida. The
gentleman thought it would. Mr. William E. Chandler left for Florida
on the following day at 6 P.M. Mr. William E. Chandler,
therefore, did not initiate the idea of going to Florida. The truth
is that Zachariah Chandler wished to send to Florida a gentleman who
had been formerly a private secretary to William H. Seward, but the
person was not at hand and could not be reached in time. William E.
Chandler for this important mission was a second choice.

"The whole scheme of sending what were afterwards called 'visiting
statesmen' to the doubtful States originated in the brain of
Zachariah Chandler, not William E. Chandler.

"If the New York _Sun_ and Mr. William E. Chandler can find any
comfort in the foregoing plain narration of facts they are entirely
welcome to it."

       *       *       *       *       *

Notwithstanding Mr. Tilden's popular majority, the public needs
not now be told that he was counted out by the instrumentality of
an extemporized tribunal, not only unknown to the Constitution,
but in distinct disregard and violation of the provisions of that
instrument for counting the electoral votes for Presidents and
Vice-Presidents. A detailed account of the processes by which this
great national crime was initiated will be found in the first
chapter of the second volume of Bigelow's _Life of Tilden_. To that
record, however, some important testimony has since been disclosed
which appears to have escaped the biographer's notice.

At a meeting held at Chickering Hall on the evening of November 12,
1891, to sympathize with Governor Nichols's war on the Louisiana
lottery system, the late Abram S. Hewitt was one of the speakers. In
the course of his remarks in denunciation of the lottery gambling in
Louisiana, Mr. Hewitt said:

"I can't find words strong enough to express my feelings regarding
this brazen fraud.

"This scheme of plunder develops a weak spot in the government of
the United States, which I would not mention were it not for the
importance of the issue. We all know that a single State frequently
determines the result of a Presidential election. _The State of
Louisiana has determined the result of a Presidential election. The
vote of that State was offered to me for money_, and I declined to
buy it. _But the vote of that State was sold for money!_"

A day or two after this anti-lottery meeting the New York _Sun_
recites this passage of Mr. Hewitt's speech, and accompanies it with
the following pertinent and instructive comment:

"We do not remember that this highly important testimony has ever
before been elicited from Mr. Hewitt in any public declaration.
He says that he has personal knowledge that the vote of Louisiana
was sold to Mr. Hayes' managers for money; that the same vote was
offered for money to him as Mr. Tilden's representative, and that he
declined to buy it--very properly, as all patriotic citizens and all
honest men will agree.

"Some time in the summer of 1878, when the great crime was less
than two years old and the beneficiaries of that crime were still
in the full enjoyment of its fruits, there occurred a spirited,
we may even say a bitterly personal, controversy between the Hon.
Henry Watterson and Mr. Hewitt as to the extent of the latter's
responsibility for the failure of the Democratic party to obtain
its rights by the seating of Mr. Tilden in the office to which he
had been elected. Col. Watterson acrimoniously, and, as we are
glad to believe, unjustly, charged Mr. Hewitt not only with a
mismanagement of Democratic interests at the time of the electoral
count, but also with suppressing the fact of Mr. Tilden's personal
disapproval of the electoral commission bill at a critical time in
the deliberations of Mr. Tilden's friends at Washington.

"The merits of the Watterson-Hewitt controversy are not now of
living interest. Time doubtless has softened the sentiments of
each of the two statesmen with reference to the other's part in the
events of 1876 and 1877. We refer to the incident merely to say that
even under the strongest provocation to disclose all that he knew
about the theft of the Presidency, Mr. Hewitt withheld the statement
which he made so distinctly and emphatically at an anti-lottery
meeting in Chickering Hall fifteen years after the crime.

"There was also, as it may be remembered, a searching investigation
into all of the circumstances surrounding the theft of the vote of
Louisiana, conducted by the special committee of the Forty-fifth
Congress, known as the Potter committee. The object was not to
remedy the irremediable, but to bring out the whole truth, to fix
the responsibility where it belonged, and to make a repetition
of the crime forever impossible. Those Democrats who possessed
special knowledge bearing upon the crime came forward and testified.
The report and testimony of the Potter investigation fill about
twenty-five hundred printed pages, but on no page is there any piece
of evidence more important than that which Mr. Hewitt volunteered
on Thursday night before a mass-meeting called for an enterprise of
moral and social, rather than political, reform.

"We speak of the Potter investigation merely to say that the Hon.
Abram S. Hewitt was not among the witnesses before that committee.
He did not appear to testify to the sensational facts which he gave
so freely to the anti-lottery meeting in Chickering Hall. In all the
twenty-five hundred pages he appears only once, and then indirectly.
Major Burke testified that when he went to Mr. Hewitt as the
ostensible manager of Mr. Tilden's case in the House, and asked him
whether Louisiana was to be abandoned by the Democratic managers,
Mr. Hewitt replied, among other things, that 'the Democratic party
could not afford to take the responsibility of plunging this country
into anarchy and strife, upsetting values and disturbing trade.'

"But Mr. Hewitt's silence on previous occasions, when his testimony
would have been so valuable, does not render it less interesting,
now that its importance is mainly historical."

In _Harper's Magazine_ for the month of March, 1907, will be found
an article from the accomplished pen of Frederick Trevor Hill,
entitled "The Hayes-Tilden Contest--A Political Arbitration," in
which occurs the following statement of an incident of the nefarious
transaction under consideration, which no one has ventured to
contest, and which leaves no longer a doubt that Mr. Tilden must
have been declared President instead of Mr. Hayes, despite all the
other devices by which he is believed to have been counted out, but
for the forgery of signatures to the returns from Louisiana which
escaped the attention of the perhaps too-eminent counsel in charge
of Mr. Tilden's case, a forgery for the concealment of which Senator
Ferry seems to be indirectly responsible:

"The proceedings opened as usual with the reception of the
conflicting certificates from the Senate chamber--five documents
in all--and while these important papers were being perfunctorily
examined and initialed by the presiding justice, the journalists in
the gallery watched the scene, the lawyers whispered together and
prepared for the coming contests; the general public waited, bored
and inattentive, and some of the Republican managers sat quaking
with fear.

"Judge Clifford finally laid aside his pen, and it was ordered that
the various exhibits which he had been marking be printed and copies
furnished for the convenience of the counsel and commissioners. Had
a single objection to this routine been interposed; had prudence,
habit, or even curiosity impelled any of the Democratic counsel to
scrutinize the original documents, or had enterprise prompted any
journalist to examine and compare them, a sensational exposure would
have been inevitable, for one of the Republican certificates was
clumsily, even obviously, forged.[12]

  [12] "Under the Constitution three copies of the certificate of the
  Louisiana vote were necessary, one of which had to be forwarded
  to the president of the Senate by mail, another delivered to him
  by hand, and the third deposited with the United States district
  judge--all of which had to be accomplished within a certain number
  of days. When the Republican messenger--one T. C. Anderson--arrived
  in Washington and delivered the package containing one of those
  three certificates to Mr. Ferry, the president of the Senate, that
  gentleman called his attention to an irregularity in the form of the
  endorsement on the envelope and suggested that he consider its legal
  effect. Anderson therefore retained the package, and secretly opened
  it to ascertain if the error had been repeated in the certificate
  itself. To his consternation he discovered far more vital defects
  in the document, and flying back to New Orleans consulted with the
  party leaders, who agreed that the instrument must be redrawn, and
  the electors were hastily resumed. Then, to the managers' horror,
  it was discovered that two of the necessary officials were absent,
  and could not possibly be reached within the time limited by law
  for the delivery of the paper in Washington. 'Heroic' measures were
  therefore deemed essential, and after all the available signatures
  had been obtained the others were forged, and the doctored
  certificates, which, of course, were obviously different from the
  one previously forwarded by mail, were rushed back to Washington
  just in the nick of time. All these facts were subsequently
  unearthed, but those who actually committed the forgeries were never
  detected."--H. R. R., No. 140, 45th Cong., 3d Session, pp. 50-63 and
  89-91.

"Had this been discovered, it is not improbable that one or more
of the Republican commissioners, who were suspected of wavering
in their party allegiance, would have voted for a thorough
investigation, and an entirely different result might have been
effected. Neither suspicion nor inspiration, however, put the
Democratic champions on their guard, and the opportunity passed
unheeded, never to return."


FRANCIS C. BARLOW[13] TO JOHN BIGELOW

  "NEW YORK, _Nov. 6, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I believe I have never thanked you for the
legislative documents, which I beg now to do.

  [13] Mr. Barlow did not overestimate the good sense of the American
  people, but he underestimated the depravity of the Republican
  leaders in Washington, as he afterwards discovered to his sorrow.

"I did not overlook the last clause of your letter, in which you
express a hope that you may see me on the stump for Tilden. I
have been on the stump for Hayes, doing what I can, and I have
the strongest confidence that we are going to elect him, and that
because I believe there is too much good sense in the American
people to turn over this govt. and its credit to those who 10 or
12 years ago were trying to destroy it. I think this will carry us
through.

"Neither Mr. Tilden nor any one else can stem the rebel influence if
he is elected.

"I have always said that I thought that Tilden, if elected by the
Republican party, would make an admirable President, but with the
rebels and copperheads and the Democratic party, with all its
villainies behind him, he will ruin us.

"On Wednesday you will be as sorry that you did not advocate Hayes,
as I shall be (win or lose) glad that I opposed Tilden.

  Yours truly,
  "FRANCIS C. BARLOW."

       *       *       *       *       *

In the last paragraph of this letter the general got both his boots
on the wrong legs. When John Sherman, as the Warwick of the Hayes
dynasty, was sending all of the staff officers of the Republican
party into the South to see not if, but that, Hayes was elected,
General Barlow was one of the number, and the only one, I regret
to say, of that formidable crowd who had the manliness to admit
on their return that the ballot had been tampered with, and that
Hayes was not honestly entitled to the electoral vote. The general,
however, unfortunately both for himself and the country, was too
strong a party man to publicly assail the corrupt scheme devised by
the conspirators to place in the Presidential chair one who was not
the choice of the nation.

I do not think that he was as glad that he had opposed Tilden as I
was and am that I did not advocate the election of Mr. Hayes.


FRANCIS KERNAN TO TILDEN

  "UTICA, _Nov. 8, '76_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Assuming, as I do, that you are elected,
I greatly rejoice. I congratulate you, and I congratulate the
country. I have never felt so much solicitude as to any political
matter as in reference to the result of this election. The welfare
of the people and their govt. demanded a change. The entire people
will be blessed by the restoration of economy and honesty in the
administration of the Federal govt. Under you I am confident we will
have the greatly needed reforms.

"We did not do as well in this county as I expected and believed
we would. But our young men, especially, worked hard and deserved
success. But the Republicans made a very great effort to and did
hold their people pretty well; and a good deal of money, wherever it
came from, was used in the county, and they, with this, got most of
the purchasable vote. I hope you are well. Take care of your health.

  "Yours Truly,
  "FRANCIS KERNAN."


GEO. W. QUACKENBOS TO TILDEN

  "TEN O'CLOCK, A.M., 58 WALL STREET,
  "NEW YORK, _Nov. 10, 1876_.

"DEAR SIR,--A meeting of Republican chiefs was held at
Washington night before last, at which it was decided to send some
one by express train or special train to Florida.

"Report is that the person sent to go was Zac. Chandler himself.[14]
Whoever he was, he was expected to reach Palatka about daybreak this
morning. The steamboat, with returns from the outlying counties, was
expected at Palatka at 3 o'clock this morning, and the messenger was
to receive these returns at once.

  Yours truly,
  "GEORGE W. QUACKENBOS."

  [14] It was probably William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire, who is
  here referred to.


AUGUST BELMONT TO TILDEN

  "SUNDAY MORNING, _Nov. 11, '76_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--The _Herald_ and _Post_ have the
following despatch from Conover on their bulletin:

"'The agony is over. Florida has gone Democratic.' Gold has at once
declined from 109-3/4, 7/8 to 109-1/4, and is now 109-3/8.

"God grant that Conover's telegram may be confirmed.

"No other solution but your election can end the agony of the
country and prevent the most disastrous consequences.

  "Yours most truly,
  "AUGUST BELMONT."


EDWARDS PIERREPONT TO TILDEN

  "103 FIFTH AVENUE, _Nov. 11, 1876_.

"THE HONORABLE SAML. J. TILDEN.

"DR. SIR,--I did the best I could to elect our candidate.
You beat us overwhelmingly, and you have showed a level head since.
We cannot elect the U. S. Senator; you ought to take that place. It
gives you just enough of time before the spring of 1879[15] to make
useful acquaintance, but not enough to create personal irritations
and jealousies.

  [15] When Mr. Pierrepont evidently expected him to be inaugurated as
  President.

"_No man_ can be two years Governor of New York without destroying
many ambitious hopes and making many bitter enemies.

"Tho' these suggestions come from a political opponent, they are not
the less genuine.

  "Yours truly,
  "EDWARDS PIERREPONT."


WM. A. WALLACE TO TILDEN

  "CLEWFIELD, PA., _Nov. 14, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Your firmness and courage now is the only
hope for the perpetuity of our institutions. The country is with
you, and will sustain you in any event and at all hazards.

  Very truly yours,
  "WILLIAM A. WALLACE."


BENJAMIN RUSH TO TILDEN (SUGGESTS GOVERNOR GIVE A PUBLIC DECLARATION
OF HIS VIEWS ON THE SITUATION)

"1728 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILA., _18th Nov., 1876_.

"DEAR SIR,--May I venture, with great respect, to offer a
suggestion which, in this extraordinary crisis, might, it seems to
me, if you approve, have a good effect with the other side.

"Would not a public expression of your well-considered views _now_,
in the present state of things, tend to exercise a good influence?
Your friends all remember how much good was done, on a different
occasion, by that admirable letter to Mr. Hewitt, shortly before the
election, about rebel claims, etc.

"Might not the calm, patriotic, and therefore assuaging utterances
of your pen _now_ tend to an early settlement upon the basis of
right and justice by bringing to bear, with accumulated force,
upon the bad men so conspicuous in the disputed States, the just
indignation and censure of honest and influential men of their own
party, who could not fail to be influenced by such an expression
from you, causing those men, at least, to _pause_ in their mad
career?

"Might it not, at least, have the effect of _gaining time_, and
smoothing the way for the dispassionate and final and possibly
controlling judgment of the better elements of the Republican party?

"Pray pardon the freedom of the suggestion. It is doubtless not new
to you or the friends about you, but this may at least serve to show
how the suggestion strikes another mind at a distance.

"Suffer me to avail myself of the occasion to congratulate the
American people and yourself upon the unmistakable majority of the
Electoral College and immense popular majority in your favor.

"I have the honor to be, with the highest respect.

  "Your friend & obt. serv't,
  "BENJAMIN RUSH."


GID. J. PILLOW TO TILDEN

"_Confidential._

  "MEMPHIS, TENN., _Nov. 18th, 1876_.

  "His Excellency SAMUEL J. TILDEN, etc.

"Enough has developed itself since my former letter to confirm the
correctness of the views there expressed. I see indications of a
weakness in the _backbone_ of the Republican leaders, and if they
stood without a controlling power over them they would yield. But
the President has his _own purposes to accomplish_, and he will not
let them yield.

"On and after the 5th of March next, if there be no President or
Vice-President elected and inaugurated, there is no provision _in
the Constitution_ for the _further existence_ of any _government_.
The Constitution, which is the chart of the government, will have
_expired_, leaving nothing but the _physical skeleton_ of the
constitutional government. Grant knows this and sees it, and will
shape _everything_ to _bring about that end_. He will, by his
measures, _defeat you and Hayes_ both by shaping the means to the
end.

"The constitutional government, thus ended, with no power or
provision anywhere for its _reorganization_, Grant finds himself in
possession of a physical government, without the restraints of a
Constitution--with the army, navy, and treasury at his command; he
will be the _absolute ruler_ of a government of _force_, in which
his _will_ will be the law. If Congress should prove _refractory_
he will know how to deal with that body. There are three notable
historical parallel cases for his guidance.

"His professions of a purpose to have a _fair count_, using his
_army_ and _navy_ to bring it about, is one of the means by
which he will delude the people and _conceal_ his _real purpose_.
His purpose will not be lost sight of, and he will hold to the
_Republican party_ and its _confidence_ until his _usurpation_ is
_assured_.

"You are the only man who can save the government--_preserve_ the
Constitution and the liberties of the people. To accomplish these
ends, you _must act_. In the end, _three-fourths_ of the American
people will _sustain you_. The time will soon pass when _action_
will _accomplish anything_ or will be _possible_. _Time by action_
may _possibly avert_ the great _national calamity_, but without
_action_ the case is hopeless.

"I do not expect you to answer my letters. I cannot write more
fully. I can only make _suggestions_. Let your private secretary say
my letters are received. If deemed necessary I would visit you.

  "Your friend,
  "GID. J. PILLOW."


GEO. W. MORGAN TO TILDEN

  "MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, _Nov. 18th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--For so I still believe you to
be. Your course during the late canvass inspired me with great
confidence in your judgment, and nothing but the momentous issue now
upon us could induce me to make suggestions for your consideration.

"A party that drifts in a crisis like the present is certain to
wreck upon the breakers. And whatever policy is to be adopted
should be carefully considered, promptly be determined, and be
decisive. The inauguration of two Presidents means a war which
in its destructiveness would dwarf the rebellion. Not to count
the electoral vote and declare an election would be to create a
dictatorship which would soon result in armed conflict. This is one
side of the picture.

"If you are counted out by fraud, as is probable, would acquiescence
cause a repetition of the wrong four years hence; or would it
electrify the country and cause an outburst of indignation against
the wrong-doers?

"Again, is it certain that an armed conflict would not disintegrate
the Union? If they found the battle going against them would not
the pretended Republicans of the North offer to recognize the
independence of a Southern confederacy?

"If two Presidents are inaugurated then comes the problem of money
and munitions. New York and other ports would be put in blockade,
and revenue be thus cut off.

"Men who do not dream of going into the conflict themselves may
glibly advise a recourse to arms.

"If your policy be one in the interest of peace, then a patriotic
address to your countrymen would give you a noble immortality,
preserve constitutional government, and restore the Democracy to
power at the next election. Should such be your determination,
meetings should be simultaneously held throughout the Republic,
declare your election, but waive the administration of the
government, and denounce the usurpers who seek to overthrow the
Constitution.

"In conclusion, I have but to say, if the facts show that you are
elected, for one I will stand by you, let the result be what it may.

"With great respect for your ability and entire confidence in your
patriotism, I have the honor to subscribe myself,

  "Your very obedient servant,
  "GEORGE W. MORGAN."


J. THOMAS SPRIGGS TO TILDEN (SUBSTANCE OF A CONVERSATION WITH
SENATOR CONKLING)

  "UTICA, SUNDAY, _Nov. 19, 1876_.

  "PRESIDENT TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have had an hour's talk to-day with
Senator Conkling, and I am happy to inform you he is sound as a
bullet all through. He says of course he is desirous his party
should succeed, but if it is expected he will consent to succeed by
fraud they are mistaken. He is sound in all the questions that will
arise, and means to act with his friends.

"He is devoting himself to the law, and means to act with our
friends in the Senate.

"He asked me what position our people meant to assume, and whether
they meant to act upon the _good-boy principle_ of submission, or
whether we mean to have it understood that Tilden has been elected
and by the Eternal he shall be inaugurated? Thinks the latter course
advisable; the submission policy he don't much believe in.

"You may rely entirely upon his _hearty co-operation_. I hope to
see you soon, but I fear shall not be able to come down before the
1st of December.

"I don't know whether the Senator will unbosom himself to Kearner,
but I know he is all right, and I am correspondingly hopeful and
happy as ever.

  "Yours truly,
  "J. T. SPRIGGS."


AUGUST BELMONT TO TILDEN

  "_Private._

  "_Thursday_ (_Nov. 23, 1876_).

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I had a long talk with Curtis, and
have made it all right. He _volunteered_ the information that he
wrote the _Sun's_ article yesterday, but without entering into the
discussion of the merits of his argument I told him that all our
friends viewed the question differently.

"_He will keep quiet_, I know, and I hope Barlow has been equally
successful with Dana. No pains ought to be spared to get him all
right so as to end, as far as he can, the mischief of yesterday's
article.

"Curtis is anxious for your success, but he is a _vain_ man, who
likes to be made something of. I think some little notice of him by
you or your friends in the way of asking his legal advice or other
co-operation would secure him completely to your interests and
silence his constitutional croaking.

  Yours sincerely,
  "AUGUST BELMONT."

       *       *       *       *       *

The editorial of the _Sun_ here referred to, after giving in detail
the provisions of the Constitution for the counting of the electoral
votes for President and Vice-President, proceeds to give the advice
which so disturbed Messrs. Belmont and Barlow:

"We[16] now proceed to state what, in our opinion, the Constitution
means by counting the votes. It is to be noted that the Constitution
commits the choice of a President and Vice-President, in the first
instance, to a body of electors who are to be chosen in each State
as its legislators may direct. These electors are to meet, to vote,
and to make and sign and seal up a certificate of their votes. These
instruments, denominated in the Constitution 'the certificates,'
are to be transmitted to the President of the Senate 'sealed.'
They are, in our opinion, not merely _prima facie_, but they are
conclusive, evidence that the Electoral Colleges of the States from
which they come gave the votes which they purport to certify.

  [16] New York _Sun_, Wednesday, November 22, 1876.

"We can conceive of no reason why the Constitution required the
electors to make and sign and certify lists of the votes which they
gave, excepting that it was required in order to give legal verity
to the contents of the certificates. For the same reason we hold
that to 'count the votes' so certified does not import or imply a
power to inquire into the legality, sufficiency, or regularity of
the appointment of the electors whose appointment is duly certified
by the State authorities whose duty it is to give to the two Houses
of Congress legal information of that appointment. It will never do,
in our judgment, to draw analogies for the government of this matter
from the practice of legislative bodies in judging of the rights
of their members to seats. That practice rests upon an express
constitutional provision; and it is from that express power to
determine the legality of an election that their whole authority to
go behind the certificate of a sitting member is derived.

"But these Electoral Colleges are peculiar bodies, whose appointment
is committed wholly to the States, whose certificates, when their
official character has been duly vouched by their States, become by
force of the Constitution the sole and exclusive legal evidence that
the votes of those States have been cast for such and such persons
as President and Vice-President. It cannot be, therefore, that any
authority can reside anywhere to try any question, or to find any
fact, that is to warrant the two Houses in rejecting the votes of
any Electoral College of whose authority to give those votes the
State, through its constituted authorities, has legally informed
Congress. All such questions and all such facts belong to the proper
authorities of each State to try and determine before the persons
supposed to be chosen electors are assembled to give their votes.
Any attempt by the two Houses, or either of them, to go behind the
certificates and to determine the right of the electors to give the
votes which they have certified, when the State has determined that
right by its competent authorities, will lead to conclusions in
which the people of this country will not acquiesce.

"Thus, if it shall be found on an inspection of the certificates of
the Electoral Colleges, when they are opened in the presence of the
two Houses, that Mr. Hayes has received 185 votes, or more, that
result must be accepted by the people as the legal result, whatever
may have been the frauds committed in Louisiana or any other State
in taking or returning or counting the popular vote. It is perfectly
proper for Congress to ascertain the fact of such frauds in an
authoritative and conclusive manner for the information of the
people, but the certainty that there are such frauds cannot affect
the legally certified election. Mr. Hayes must be inaugurated and
acknowledged as President, even if the legal result is so tainted
with fraud that honest men revolt at the very thought they must
submit to. There is no alternative but civil war; and that forms
an unnecessary and inadequate remedy, and is not to be thought
of. If Hayes shall be declared President, with grave reason to
believe that he has not been honestly and fairly entitled to have
the electoral votes of certain States, he and his party must bear
the consequences. Those consequences, if his opponents are wise,
will be, not that his title to the office is to be resisted, but
that the people are to be appealed to to use their constitutional
and peaceful methods of redressing all wrongs and punishing all
outrages--namely, by the ballot-box. No such appeal can be made if
the country is to be plunged into anarchy by denying Hayes' title to
the office. Our government must be preserved and perpetuated; and
that it may be, grievous as the wrong will be that takes from Tilden
States in which he has certainly carried a majority of the popular
vote, we must submit to that wrong, in the entire certainty that the
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.

"Let Congress request Mr. Tilden to select the chief judge in his
State or in New Jersey or Virginia, and let Mr. Hayes take the chief
judge of Ohio or Pennsylvania or Illinois or Massachusetts; let
these two be joined by the Chief Justice of the U. S. as a third
member.

"The last named has never been a violent partisan, and is specially
acceptable to the bar in Richmond, Virginia, and elsewhere in the
South. Let this tribunal decide all disputed points in accordance
with the Constitution and precedents, as far as applicable, by
common law and common-sense. Let their judgment be final and
conclusive. By such a course justice would be done and all parties
satisfied.

  "Very truly yours,
  "WM. P. CRAIGHILL.

  "_Gen'l Geo. W. Morgan,
  "Mount Vernon, Ohio._"


G. W. MORGAN TO TILDEN

  "MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, _Nov. 27, 1876_.

"MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--Colonel Wm. P. Craighill, the
writer of the inclosed, is an officer of the Engineer Corps, and is
one of the finest and ablest men in our military service. He does
not dream that you would see his letter, but I deem it proper to
submit it for your consideration.

"I remain, Mr. President, with great respect,

  "Your very obedient servant,
  "G. W. MORGAN.

"_His Excellency Samuel J. Tilden._"


CERTIFICATE OF THE ELECTORAL VOTE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK IN 1876

"STATE OF NEW YORK, _ss._:

"We, the Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, and
Attorney-General of the said State having formed a Board of State
Canvassers, and having canvassed and estimated the whole number
of votes given for _Electors of President and Vice-President_, at
the general election held in the said State, on the seventh day of
November, in the year 1876, according to the certified statements
received by the Secretary of State in the manner directed by law, do
hereby determine, declare, and certify, that

  Horatio Seymour,       Atherton Hall,
  De Witt C. West,       Henry D. Graves,
  Parke Godwin,          William J. Averell,
  Thomas H. Rodman,      Daniel B. Judson,
  Edward Rowe,           Edmund A. Ward,
  Thomas D. Jones,       Ansel Foster,
  Oswald Ottendorfer,    James McQuade,
  Thomas Mackellar,      Bartholomew Lynch,
  Anthony Dugro,         Calvin L. Hathaway,
  Augustus Schell,       George W. Knowles,
  Frederick Smyth,       William C. Dryer,
  Joseph J. O'Donohue,   Frederick O. Cable,
  Samuel F. Barger,      John McDougall,
  Jordan L. Mott,        Jerome Lee,
  James H. Holdane,      Charles B. Benedict,
  William Voorhis,       Cyrus Clarke,
  Addison P. Jones,      Porter Sheldon,
  Eli Perry,

were, by the greatest number of votes given at the said election,
respectively elected _Electors of President and Vice-President_ of
the United States.

"Given under our hands, at the office of the Secretary of State, of
said State, in the city of Albany, the twenty-fifth day of November,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.

  "JOHN BIGELOW, _Secr'y of State_.
  "L. ROBINSON, _Comptroller_.
  "CHARLES N. ROSS, _Treasurer_.
  "CHARLES S. FAIRCHILD, _Attorney-General_.

  "State of New York,}
  "Office of the Secretary of State.} _ss._:

"I CERTIFY the foregoing to be a true copy of an original
certificate of the Board of State Canvassers, on file in this
office, and of the whole thereof.

     [SEAL]

"Given under my hand and seal of office, at the city of Albany, the
twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six.

  EDGAR K. APGAR,
  "_Deputy Secretary of State_."


FRANK CROCKER TO TILDEN

  WASHINGTON, D. C., _Jan. 15, '77_.

  "HON. S. J. TILDEN.

"SIR,--I have in my possession a telegram sent to Z.
Chandler, chrm. Repn. com., by O. C. Babcock, dated Chicago, Dec.
4/76.

"I consider it not only very valuable, but the _key_ to the
editorials and political arguments on the 'electoral count'
which has filled the columns of the _National Republican_, the
administration organ, for the past month.

  "Respectfully Yours,
  "FRANK CROCKER,
  "617 6th St., N. W."


O. C. BABCOCK TO Z. CHANDLER (TELEGRAM)

  "Chicago, _Dec. 4th, 1876_.

  "HON. Z. CHANDLER,

  "_Chairmn. Repn. Com., Washington_.

"The Illinois electors here have agreed they will vote an open
ballot. If any elector refuses so to vote, or refuses to throw a
ballot for Hayes and Wheeler as he votes, they will immediately
declare a vacancy in the district thus represented by such judge
and elect another in his place; they claim that such action is not
only perfectly justifiable, but that it cannot be reviewed by any
tribunal, as the action of the electors is final. If this meets with
your approbation I suggest you to telegraph this programme to every
Republican State.

  "O. C. BABCOCK."

       *       *       *       *       *

The subscriber of the last preceding letter during the Civil War was
on the staff of General Grant, and when the latter became President
acted as his private secretary. He was indicted in 1876 by the
Grand Jury of St. Louis for frauds upon the revenue and for the
"safe-burglary conspiracy" referred to in the following testimony of
one of the witnesses in the trial, Col. H. C. Whitley, who was one
of the parties charged, but desired, before doing so, to place on
the record a conditional pardon granted him.

     "'Harrington took a letter from his pocket and asked me if the
     signature was that of A. B. Cornell, and I said it was not. He
     said that some of Pinkerton's detectives were here, and I should
     send some of my men to work in with the memorialists and find
     out what they were doing. I sent men out. Harrington gave me
     some names on a paper whom he wished to be worked in with. I
     don't remember the names. I told Harrington that I would send
     men over, naming Mr. Nettleship. I went to New York on the same
     night (15th) and sent Mr. Nettleship over, giving him the names,
     and telling him that they were the parties to be worked. I don't
     remember that I gave Nettleship any instructions to report to
     Harrington at this particular time. I was again in this city
     on the 29th of March, having previously sent over a man named
     Oberworth with Nettleship. I found on my arrival that Oberworth
     had been arrested for peddling cigars without a license, and I
     told Harrington that he (Oberworth) was one of my men, and he
     was released. Mr. Harrington complained that the men were good
     for nothing, and he wanted men who would push matters along and
     work to some purpose. Harrington said something must be done;
     that he had a plan which would throw dirt and ridicule on the
     memorialists. He said they thought that Evan's books were in his
     office, and they were trying to get them, and he thought that
     to have his office robbed was the best plan; he said he did not
     care if his safe was knocked or blown to hell, as the damned
     safe belonged to him. I said I did not wish the men to get into
     trouble, and Harrington replied that there was no danger, as he
     was district attorney, and they should not be hurt. I came from
     New York on the 29th, and returned the same night. I came again
     on the 8th of April, and saw Gen. Babcock at his office. I asked
     how matters were about the investigation, and he said all right,
     that Harrington kept him posted up.

     "'I was again in Washington on the 27th, arriving in the
     afternoon, four days after the safe was blown up. I went up to
     Harrington's house, and he told me about what had transpired
     during the blowing of the safe. He said that everything would
     have worked all right except for the interference of Major
     Richard, the superintendent of police, who would not co-operate
     with him. After that I called upon Gen. Babcock at his office in
     the White House. He spoke about the safe burglary, saying that
     it was very badly managed; that he thought I was smarter than to
     allow things to go on as they did. The next time I saw Babcock
     was in New York, in the May following. I went up to the Fifth
     Avenue Hotel in that city. After talking to him a while I said
     that I expected that there would be some more trouble about the
     case. Babcock said: "No; stand by your guns; I'll protect your
     rear." I spoke to him about Bluford Wilson, then the Solicitor
     of the Treasury, investigating my office in New York for the
     purpose of ascertaining whether any of the secret-service men
     were connected with the safe burglary, and then told him I would
     do it, that is, stand by my guns if he protected the rear.

     "'Soon afterward I had an interview with Harrington at the
     Metropolitan Hotel, New York. I complained to him that the
     whole matter of the safe burglary seemed to be falling upon
     the secret service, and that we would likely get into trouble
     about it. Harrington said: "No; I am the real district attorney
     at Washington, and I will protect all of you." I told him that
     Somerville wanted some money, and Harrington gave me $500 for
     him. I paid it all to Somerville as part of his fee. Harrington
     did not say what particular service Somerville rendered. During
     the same month I had an interview with Babcock here. I called
     to see him at his house. Harrington then lived a few doors from
     him on the same row. I told Babcock I wanted to see Harrington,
     and Babcock sent after him. Harrington came in by the alley gate
     to Babcock's yard. I told Harrington that Somerville wanted
     more money, but do not remember that Babcock heard me speak to
     Harrington, or that he knew the money was to go to Somerville.
     All I remember is that Harrington brought me the money, and
     that I gave it to Somerville, who said he wanted to use it to
     get Benton, the burglar who was arrested on the night of the
     burglary, out.'

     "In speaking of other interviews with Babcock, Whitley testified
     as follows:

     "'In the autumn of 1875 I called at Babcock's cottage at Long
     Branch and had a talk with him. I told him that Albert Cunz
     and Delome, two former secret-service men, had been thrown out
     of employment in consequence of the safe burglary and their
     connection with it. Babcock said he would try and get them in
     the New York Custom-House. I told him that I would like for
     myself a commission to go somewhere, and Babcock said he would
     see the Secretary of the Treasury, and have me sent to Europe
     with some bonds. I told him I did not want to go to Europe, but
     wanted to go to Colorado. Babcock said: "If any trouble comes up
     you can 'slide off,'" or words to that effect. I told him I had
     had trouble enough in connection with the case, and did not want
     any more.

     "'I had a conversation with Harrington after we were indicted
     in the fall of 1874 in the Metropolitan Hotel. I told him I
     did not like the idea of being indicted in the matter. He
     told me it would be all right, that he would pay counsel for
     me. He directed me to write and employ Gen. S. S. Henkin, of
     Washington, as my attorney, which I did. That case resulted
     in a hung jury. This spring, previous to going before Proctor
     Knott's committee, I called at the White House to see Gen.
     Babcock, and requested him to do all he could to have Mr. Rice,
     who was with me, appointed postmaster at Pueblo, Colorado. He
     said he would assist all he could. As I was leaving the room, I
     remarked to him: "Things look like we will have more trouble."
     He answered: "Yes, things do look squally; but it will all blow
     over again."'"[17]

    [17] New York _Sun_, September 21, 1876.

Babcock was acquitted, with the aid of a deposition by General
Grant, and only a few weeks before this trial was promoted to a
colonelcy.

Only four months before the indictment and trial of Babcock,
Secretary Belknap, a member of President Grant's Cabinet, was
impeached and put on trial before the Senate at Washington. During
the trial the late George F. Hoar, one of the Republican Senators
from Massachusetts, addressed the Senate, and closed his discourse
with the following fearful arraignment of the administration
during the Presidency of Grant, and gave a transparent exposure
of the reasons why the satellites of the President were determined
to shrink from no crime necessary to prevent the inauguration at
Washington of a President who had become famous by the havoc he had
already made of the Tweed Ring plunderers in New York and the Canal
Ring plunderers at Albany, and whose advent to Washington would put
to flight the horde of miscreants who then infested both ends of the
capitol:

     "My own public life has been a very brief and insignificant
     one, extending little beyond the duration of a single term of
     Senatorial office, but in that brief period I have seen five
     judges of a high court of the United States driven from office
     by threats of impeachment for corruption or maladministration.
     I have heard the taunt from friendliest lips, that when the
     United States presented herself in the East to take part with
     the civilized world in generous competition in the arts of life,
     the only product of her institutions in which she surpassed all
     others beyond question was her corruption. I have seen in the
     State in the Union foremost in power and wealth four judges
     of her courts impeached for corruption, and the political
     administration of her chief city become a disgrace and a by-word
     throughout the world. I have seen the chairman of the Committee
     on Military Affairs in the House, now a distinguished member of
     this court, rise in his place and demand the expulsion of four
     of his associates for making sale of their official privilege
     of selecting the youths to be educated at our great military
     school. When the greatest railroad of the world, binding
     together the continent and uniting the two great seas which
     wash our shores, was finished, I have seen our national triumph
     and exaltation turned to bitterness and shame by the unanimous
     reports of three committees of Congress, two of the House, and
     one here, that every step of that mighty enterprise had been
     taken in fraud. I have heard in highest places the shameless
     doctrine avowed by men grown old in public office that the
     true way by which power should be gained in the republic is to
     bribe the people with the offices created for their service,
     and the true end for which it should be used when gained is
     the promotion of selfish ambition and the gratification of
     personal revenge. I have heard that suspicion haunts the
     footsteps of the trusted companions of the President. These
     things have passed into history. The Hallam, or the Tacitus,
     or the Sismondi, or the Macaulay who writes the annals of our
     time will record them with his inexorable pen; and now, when
     a high Cabinet officer, the constitutional adviser of the
     Executive, flees from office before charges of corruption, shall
     the historian add that the Senate treated the demand of the
     people for its judgment of condemnation as a farce, and laid
     down its high functions before the sophistries and jeers of the
     criminal lawyer? Shall he speculate about the petty political
     calculations as to the effect of one party or the other which
     induced his judges to connive at the escape of the great public
     criminal; or, on the other hand, shall he close the chapter by
     narrating how these things were detected, reformed, and punished
     by constitutional processes which the wisdom of our fathers
     devised for us, and the virtue and purity of the people found
     their vindication in the justice of the Senate?"


CHARLES MASON TO TILDEN

  "'ALTO,' NEAR EDGE HILL,
  "KING GEORGE, VA., _Dec. 5, '76_.

"DEAR SIR,--Although I am confident if any one in the U.
S. has the ability to cope with the rogues who are bent on cheating
the people out of the hard-earned victory they have achieved, in
the Presidential contest, it is yourself; yet, at the risk of being
thought highly presumptuous, I venture on a few suggestions I have
not observed thrown out by any one.

"That the Constitution does not provide for the extraordinary
condition of things in which we are placed by the Congress, nor that
any of its annotators furnish an apt construction, is certain; and
for the same reason, I suppose, as that given by Bishop Warburton,
why no allusion was made in the Pentateuch to a future state. The
patriots of the Revolution, like the Patriarchs after the creation,
no doubt thought the proposition so self-evident and the provisions
so ample for pious and honest men that they did not dream of the
world's being peopled by such a race of sinners and corruptionists.

"If precedent is to be weighed in counting the votes, let the
spirit of the first example be wholly and rigidly observed. There
is doubt, in the first election of Gl. Washington, the president
of the Senate did perform that ministerial duty. But the order of
the Senate, prepared by a committee, and signed by John Langdon, the
prest. 'elected for that purpose,' expressly says 'the underwritten,
appointed president of the Senate for the sole purpose of receiving,
opening, and counting the votes of electors, did, in the presence
of the Senate and House of Representatives,' etc., leaving it to
be inferred (and no other conclusion will hold water) that in
doing this his functions ceased. Subsequently, as you know, there
were some variations from this practice, but all going to the mere
ministerial agency of that officer.

"The bald attempt of McDonald, present chief clerk of the Senate,
to cite a different practice, in the case of Harrison, when James
W. Watson was president of the Senate, by construing his action in
his (McDonald's) own language, as to imply judicial authority, does
great violence to the truth of history and the greatest injustice
to that astute and cautious statesman, who struggled all his life
against the exercise of doubtful powers and was never known to
practise one. This little incident on the part of McDonald is only
a part of the well-laid scheme to revolutionize the government
by seizure in the count of either of the returning boards in the
subjugated States, should be conscience-stricken and obey the
mandates of the Decalogue, rather than the tyrant's order, and cast
the electoral vote for you, to whom all justly belong.

"Going through the pageant of a public inauguration is by no
means called for, as you are well aware; and I would suggest
that instead of allowing Sunday to intervene, that Grant's term
expires at 12 o'c. at night on the 3d of March, when his power as
Commander-in-Chief will cease, and when Sherman will not dare use
the army for their hellish purposes. I make this suggestion for the
reason that there is a tradition in the family of Mr. Jefferson, to
whom I am nearly allied by marriage, handed down by himself, that
being informed commissions were to be made out by Mr. Adams for
judges and other officers after midnight, he (Jefferson) entered
the office of Secretary of State precisely at 12 o'c. on the 3d
of Mar. and demanded it of the Secretary, John Marshall, I think,
who, after some remonstrance, yielded and delivered the keys to
Mr. Jefferson. Allusion is made to those midnight appointments in
his correspondence, but no mention is made of those particular
circumstances. I had them from Col. L. G. Randolph, his grandson,
confidential friend, executor and sole custodian of his papers until
sold to Congress.

"Some persons apprehend that if the election devolves upon the House
(which I cannot conceive possible on any reasonable grounds) we
shall lose the Vice-President, whose choice will have to be decided
by the Senate; but this cannot be, as the contingency will not arise
for such a resort. For the Constitution expressly provides that 'the
person having the greatest number of electors shall be President,
if such number be the whole number of electors _appointed_.' Now,
how can they be appointed unless lawfully done, and who is to judge
of such legality? Certainly the House, or it may be both Houses.
So if the electoral vote of a State be rejected by either, because
of fraud, it is a nullity--no vote at all--and therefore not
_appointed_, and cannot be estimated in the count, leaving you with
84, an undisputed majority of the electors actually _appointed_.
For, mark! The Constitution does not require a majority of the whole
Electoral College, but of those _appointed_.

"If there should be any discussion about the authority of the 'great
seal of a State,' you are aware that it has been nowhere so fully
ventilated as in the famous New Jersey contest for Congressional
seats, when, if my memory serves me, the Govr's. certificate was
only respected when there was no suspicion of fraud.

"I am, with great respect & haste,

  "Your humble servt.,
  "CHARLES MASON."


CHARLES A. DANA TO TILDEN

  "_Dec. 15, 1876._

"DEAR SIR,--Here is a note from my regular Washington
correspondent, which I send to you for your information.

  Yours sincerely,
  "C. A. DANA."


A. M. GIBSON TO DANA

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Dec. 13, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--There is undoubtedly danger of defection
among Southern Democrats. The friends of Hayes are certainly bidding
high in that direction, and I _know_ that their propositions are
being entertained--listened to, considered. The combination between
Jay Gould, C. P. Huntington, and Tom Scott, spoke of ten days since
in my despatches, is now openly admitted here. Central Pacific gets
all west of Ft. Worth and one-half of T. P. east of Fort Worth.
The subsidy for T. P. is part of programme, as well as counting
in of Hayes. Packard and Chamberlain are to be abandoned, and a
new departure in Republican party policy is to date from Hayes'
inauguration. I know what I am talking about. Can't you give Tilden
a hint? His managers here don't get below the surface of things.

  "Very truly,
  "A. M. GIBSON."


GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK TO GENERAL SHERMAN

  "CARONDELET P. O.,

  "ST. LOUIS CO., MO., _December 28th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GENERAL,--Your favor of the 4th inst. reached
me in New York on the 5th, the day before I left for the West.
I intended to reply to it before leaving, but cares incident to
departure interfered. Then, again, since my arrival here, I have
been so occupied with personal affairs of a business nature that I
have deferred writing from day to day until this moment, and now I
find myself in debt to you for another letter in acknowledgment of
your favor of the 17th, received a few days since.

"I have concluded to leave here on the 29th (to-morrow), p.m., so
that I may be expected in New York on the 31st inst. It has been
cold and dreary since my arrival here. I have worked 'like a Turk'
(I presume that means hard work) in the country, in making fences,
cutting down trees, repairing buildings, etc., etc., and am at least
able to say that St. Louis is the coldest place in the winter, as
it is the hottest in summer, of any that I have encountered in a
temperate zone. I have known St. Louis in December to have genial
weather throughout the month; this December has been frigid, and the
river has been frozen more solid than I have even known it.

"When I heard the rumor that I was ordered to the Pacific coast I
thought it probably true, considering the past discussion on that
subject. The _possibilities_ seemed to me to point that way. Had
it been true I should, of course, have presented no complaint,
nor made resistance of any kind. I would have gone quietly if not
prepared to go promptly. I certainly would have been relieved from
the responsibilities and anxieties concerning Presidential matters
which may fall to those near the throne or in authority within the
next four months, as well as from other incidents or matters which
I could not control, and the action concerning which I might not
approve. I was not exactly prepared to go to the Pacific, however,
and I therefore felt relieved when I received your note informing me
that there was no truth in the rumors.

"Then, I did not wish to appear to be escaping from responsibilities
and possible dangers which may cluster around military commanders
in the East, especially in the critical period fast approaching.
'All's well that ends well.' The whole matter of the Presidency
seems to me to be simple and to admit of a peaceful solution. The
machinery for such a contingency as threatens to present itself has
been all carefully prepared. It only requires lubrication, owing
to disuse. The army should have nothing to do with the selection
or inauguration of Presidents. The people elect the President. The
Congress declares in a joint session who he is; we of the army have
only to obey his mandates, and are protected in so doing only so
far as they may be lawful. Our commissions express that! I like
Jefferson's way of inauguration. It suits our system. He rode alone
on horseback to the capitol (I fear it was the 'old capitol'),
tied his horse to a rail-fence, entered, and was duly sworn; then
rode to the Executive Mansion, and took possession. He inaugurated
himself simply by taking the oath of office. There is no other legal
inauguration in our system. The people or politicians may institute
parades in honor of the event, and public officials may add to the
pageant by assembling troops and banners; but all that only comes
properly after the inauguration, not before, and it is not a part of
it. Our system does not provide that one President should inaugurate
another. There might be danger in that, and it was studiously left
out of the Charter. But you are placed in an exceptionally important
position in connection with coming events. The capitol is in my
jurisdiction also, but I am a subordinate, and not on the spot, and
if I were, so also would be my superior in authority, for there is
the station of the General-in-Chief.

"On the principle that a regularly elected President's term of
office expires with the 3rd of March (of which I have not the
slightest doubt), and which the laws bearing on the subject
uniformly recognize, and in consideration of the possibility that
the lawfully elected President may not appear until the 5th of
March, a great deal of responsibility may necessarily fall upon
you. You hold over! You will have power and prestige to support
you. The Secretary of War is the mouthpiece of a President; you
are not. If neither candidate has a constitutional majority of the
Electoral College, or the Senate and House, on the occasion of the
count, do not unite in declaring some person legally elected by the
people, there is a lawful machinery already provided to meet that
contingency and decide the question peacefully. It has not been
recently used, no occasion presenting itself, but our forefathers
provided it.

"It has been exercised, and has been recognized and submitted to
as lawful, on every hand. That machinery would probably elect Mr.
Tilden President and Mr. Wheeler Vice-President. That would be right
enough, for the law provides that in a failure to elect duly by the
people, the House shall immediately elect the President, and the
Senate the Vice-President. Some tribunal must decide whether the
people have duly elected a President. I presume, of course, that it
is in the joint affirmative action of the Senate and House, or why
are they present to witness the count if not to see that it is fair
and just? If a failure to agree arises between the two bodies there
can be no lawful affirmative decision that the people have elected a
President, and the House must then proceed to act, not the Senate.
The Senate elects Vice-Presidents, not Presidents. Doubtless, in
case of a failure by the House to elect a President by the 4th of
March the President of the Senate (if there be one) would be the
legitimate person to exercise Presidential authority for the time
being, or until the appearance of a lawful President, or for the
time laid down in the Constitution. Such course would be peaceful,
and, I have a firm belief, lawful.

"I have no doubt Governor Hayes would make an excellent President.
I have met him, know of him. For a brief period he served under my
command, but as the matter stands I can't see any likelihood of his
being duly declared elected by the people unless the Senate and
House come to be in accord as to the fact; and the House would,
of course, not _otherwise_ elect him. What the people want is a
peaceful determination of this matter, as fair a determination as
possible, and a lawful one. No other administration could stand the
test. The country, if not plunged into revolution, would become
poorer day by day, business would languish, and our bonds would come
home to find a depreciated market.

"I was not in favor of the military action in South Carolina
recently, and if Genl. Ruger had telegraphed to me or asked for
advice, I would have advised him not under any circumstances to
allow himself or his troops to determine who were the lawful members
of a State Legislature. I could not have given him better advice
than to refer him to the special message of the President in the
case of Louisiana some time before.

"But in South Carolina he had had the question settled by a decision
of the Supreme Court of the State--the highest tribunal which had
acted on the question--so that his line of duty seemed even to
be clearer than the action in the Louisiana case. If the Federal
court had interfered and overruled the decision of the State court
there might have been a doubt certainly, but the Federal court only
interfered to complicate, not to decide or overrule.

"Anyhow, it is no business of the army to enter upon such questions,
and even if it might be so in any other event, if the civil
authority is supreme, as the Constitution declares it to be, the
South Carolina case was one in which the army had a plain duty.

"Had General Ruger asked me for advice, and if I had given it, I
should, of course, have notified you of my action immediately, so
that it could have been promptly overruled if it should have been
deemed advisable by you or other superior in authority. General
Ruger did not ask for my advice, and I inferred from that and
other facts that he did not desire it, or that, being in direct
communication with my military superiors at the seat of government,
who were nearer to him in time and distance than I was, he deemed
it unnecessary. As Genl. Ruger had the ultimate responsibility
of action, and had really the greater danger to confront in the
final action in the matter, I did not venture to embarrass him by
suggestions. He was a department commander and the lawful head of
the military administration within the limits of the department;
but, besides, I knew that he had been called to Washington for
consultation before taking command, and was probably aware of the
views of the administration as to civil affairs in his command.
I knew that he was in direct communication with my superiors in
authority in reference to the delicate subjects presented for
his consideration, or had ideas of his own which he believed to
be sufficiently in accord with the views of our common superiors
to enable him to act intelligently according to his judgment and
without suggestions from those not on the spot, and not as fully
acquainted with the facts as himself. He desired, too, to be free
to act, as he had the eventual greater responsibility, and so the
matter was governed as between him and myself.

"As I have been writing thus freely to you, I may still further
unbosom myself by stating that I have not thought it lawful or wise
to use Federal troops in such matters as have transpired east of
the Mississippi within the last few months, save so far as they
may be brought into action under the article of the Constitution
which contemplated meeting armed resistance or invasion of a State
more powerful than the State authorities can subdue by the ordinary
processes, and then only when requested by the Legislature, or, if
it could not be convened in season, by the Governor; and when the
President of the United States intervenes in that manner it is a
state of _war_, not peace.

"The army is laboring under disadvantages, and has been used
unlawfully at times, in the judgment of the people (in mine,
certainly), and we have lost a great deal of the kindly feeling
which the community at large once felt for us. 'It is time to stop
and unload.'

"Officers in command of troops often find it difficult to act
wisely and safely when superiors in authority have different views
of the law from theirs, and when legislation has sanctioned action
seemingly in conflict with the fundamental law, and thus generally
defer to the known judgment of their superiors. Yet the superior
officers of the army are so regarded in such great crises, and are
held to such responsibility, especially those at or near the head
of it, that it is necessary on such momentous occasions to dare
to determine for themselves what is lawful and what is not lawful
under our system if the military authorities should be invoked, as
might possibly be the case, in such exceptional times when there
existed such divergent views as to the correct result. The army
will suffer from its past action if it has acted wrongfully. Our
regular army has little hold upon the affections of the people of
to-day, and the superior officers should certainly, as far as lies
in their power, legally and with righteous intent, act to defend the
right--to us--the _law_ and the institutions we represent. It is a
well-meaning Constitution, and it would be well if it should have an
opportunity to be recognized as a bulwark in support of the people
and _the law_.

  "I am, Truly Yours, (Signed) "WINFD. S. HANCOCK.

  "_To General W. T. Sherman_, "_Com'd'g Army of the U. S.,
  Washington, D. C._"


HON. GEORGE HOADLEY TO THE "EVENING POST," JULY, 1901

(MRS. SPRAGUE AND THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF 1876)

  "To the Editor of the 'Evening Post.'

"SIR,--My attention has been called to an article which
appeared in the _Evening Post_ of Saturday, June 30, giving an
account of the various Democratic national conventions, in the
course of which there is, I think, a cruel and untrue attack upon
the memory of a lady who had hard luck enough in this world, without
being followed into her grave, the late Mrs. Katherine Chase
(Sprague). The statement is directly made that a bolt from the
decision of the electoral tribunal which counted in Hayes in 1877
had been organized by Mr. Conkling, but that he was deterred from
executing it by Mrs. Sprague's interference, based on revenge for
Mr. Tilden's opposition to her father's nomination by the Democratic
convention in 1868.

"I do not believe there is one word of truth in this story, so
far as it relates to Mrs. Sprague. It is perfectly true that Mr.
Conkling organized such a bolt, and that he secured the adhesion
of Senators enough to have reversed the decision of the electoral
tribunal in the matter of the Louisiana electoral vote, and would
in this way have made Mr. Tilden President had circumstances not
happened to break up the scheme, in consequence of which he went to
Baltimore, and was not in the Senate and did not vote on the subject
that day.

"I was in Washington at the time, and possessed the confidence
of the Democratic leaders, and argued, as you know, the Florida
and Oregon cases. My information was, in one sense, second hand.
I possessed Mr. Conkling's confidence with regard to the general
subject. I knew perfectly what his views were. He did not hesitate
to express them fully, even going so far as to state them at
length in conversation with myself and my wife and Senator John W.
Stevenson, of Kentucky, on the street in front of the Arlington,
a few days before the decision of the electoral tribunal. He put
the case as it stood in his mind in the most vivid terms. He was a
master of vituperative language, as you know, and he did not spare
anybody; but more especially he put the matter as a question of law,
and with more ability than I have ever heard it done by any one
else, but I have not time within the confines of a letter to repeat
what he said. Whether Mrs. Sprague was in Washington at this time I
do not know.

"The only person on the Democratic side who communicated with Mr.
Conkling was Senator William H. Barnum, of Connecticut, chairman
of the Democratic National Executive Committee. Mr. Barnum talked
to others, as he deemed it discreet, but we all thought it unwise
that any one on our side should approach any one on the opposite
side of politics, except Senator Barnum. During the afternoon of the
day before the final vote was given in the Senate on the Louisiana
case, Senator Stevenson, whose daughter was the wife of one of my
partners, and who was until he died my very dear and honored friend,
communicated to me, as having come to him from Senator Barnum, all
the details of what I may call, for brevity's sake, 'this plot' to
arrest the high-handed dealings of the Republicans, and I went to
bed that night in full confidence that Mr. Tilden would be placed
on a legal basis for inauguration to the Presidency in the morning.
Eight (or nine) Senators had agreed with each other to cast their
votes in the Senate so as to reverse the judgment of the electoral
tribunal in the Louisiana case.

"When I came down to breakfast in the morning, William R. Pelton,
Gov. Tilden's nephew, told me that 'the fat is all in the fire';
that at two o'clock in the morning _one of the Senators_, whose
name, for reasons personal to myself and to him, I do not feel at
liberty to use, had come to Senator Conkling and told him that
he did not dare to go any further with the enterprise; that his
political and perhaps his personal future would be ruined if he
did not vote for Hayes. Conkling thereupon made up his mind that
the game was lost, and took the earliest train to Baltimore,
where he would, as Pelton said, spend the day, and where he did,
as I afterwards learned, spend the day. Although I possessed
Mr. Conkling's confidence and regard (I have a letter from him
somewhere, couched in more earnest terms of gratitude than I ever
received from any other human being), I never spoke with him on this
subject. My information was derived entirely from Senator Stevenson
and William T. Pelton, with the latter of whom I was, as I have
already explained I was with the former, on terms of confidence.

"During this period I never heard Mrs. Sprague's name mentioned.
I do not know whether she was in Washington or not. I was her
father's friend, as you probably know, and I was her friend, and in
the matter of the divorce from Gov. Sprague I was (with Winchester
Britton, of Brooklyn) her counsel, and procured her divorce. I
have had many consultations with both Pelton and his uncle upon
various political and personal matters, but never heard this matter
alluded to by either of them, or by Mrs. Sprague, and I do not
believe that the story has any foundation in truth whatever. She
knew perfectly well, for many years before she died, that I was a
friend of Gov. Tilden's; that my wife and I both had enjoyed his
personal hospitality, and knowing, as she did, my feelings towards
her father, and having been her legal agent and representative, as I
was, in association with the late Richard T. Merrick, in an attempt,
which never came to daylight, to kill Judge Warden's grotesque
biography of S. P. Chase, this is the first time I ever heard any
interference of hers in the matter of the electoral tribunal even
referred to. Mrs. Sprague has left children and friends who mourn
over her sad fate and grieve at her death, and, among others,

  "GEO. HOADLEY.

     "[Judge Hoadley's means of information are certainly
     unsurpassed. We accept his statement as conclusive on the point
     at issue.--ED. _Evening Post_.]"

It was currently rumored in the clubs, and even found expression in
the public prints, that Mrs. Sprague, a daughter of Chief-Justice
Chase, was influential in preventing Mr. Conkling from taking
a stand in the Senate against the findings and decision of the
electoral tribunal in favor of Mr. Hayes. As the report savored
of scandal, it was, of course, rapidly circulated and heedlessly
credited, though out of respect to all parties interested, the
stories slumbered for many years until the means by which Mr. Hayes
was inaugurated as President could be more dispassionately discussed
than on the eve of the distribution of the patronage of a new
administration. Fourteen years after Hayes' inauguration the scandal
was revived for partisan purposes in part, and in part, presumably,
in the interest of historic justice. A phase of the discussion at
that time in the New York _Evening Post_ provoked the foregoing
letter from Hon. George Hoadley, ex-Governor of Ohio, which probably
gives the most authentic information the country can ever expect to
have of the mysterious and vacillating conduct of Mr. Conkling. My
attention was called to it by the Hon. Smith Ely, formerly Mayor of
New York, to whom I sent the following acknowledgment:


JOHN BIGELOW TO HON. SMITH ELY

  "HIGHLAND-FALLS-ON-HUDSON, _June 19, 1904_.

"MY DEAR MR. ELY,--I am extremely obliged to you for the
clipping you sent me from the _Evening Post_. Though familiar with
rumors of that nature, it is the first statement with any semblance
of authenticity I have met with of the reasons why Conkling did not
keep faith with our friends. I am not sure that Conkling himself did
not weaken at the pinch as much as the recalcitrant Senator. Had he
stood up on that occasion, as he should have done, he would have
established for himself a reputation for virtues which no biographer
can now claim for him.

"I do not remember the name of the Senator alluded to, because I
never knew the fact. Was it Kernan?

  "Yours truly.

"P. S.--Cannot you give us a candidate for the Presidency without
making prostitutes of the judiciary?[18] When we made judges
elective we went as far in that direction as was safe, and farther
than was prudent. It was a perversion of the representative system
when we submitted the choice of experts, like judges and district
attorneys, to the popular vote. If we encourage judges to aspire
to the Presidency the suitors for justice will have to take their
check-books to court, and their cases will be argued, as they are
said to be, before Turkish cadis.

  "Yours Truly,
  "JOHN BIGELOW."

  [18] At the date of this note a judge of the Court of Appeals of
  the State of New York had been nominated and was running for the
  Presidency.

       *       *       *       *       *

About the middle of January, 1877, and before the Electoral
Commission had given its decision, I received a telegram from
Washington that a friend of the Honorable S. S. Cox, then a
representative in Congress from New York city, wished to confer with
me in reference to the Presidential contest pending in Washington.
Cox's friend proved to be Mr. Corbin, a brother-in-law of President
Grant. I replied to my correspondent that he might arrange for an
interview with me anywhere in New York city except in Mr. Corbin's
house, Corbin at that time having a residence in New York city.

It was arranged that we should meet at the Westminster Hotel, about
noon, on the 27th of January. I had known something of Corbin
through my relations with Colonel Benton many years before, and
had become slightly acquainted with him. What I did know of him
disinclined me to give him my confidence. I had no idea of the
motive which led him to invite this interview. He had intimated
to Mr. Cox that he would talk with me, but with no other of Mr.
Tilden's friends. The grounds for his taking me into his confidence
exclusively was equally unintelligible, beyond the fact that we had
been political friends of long standing as common friends of Senator
Thomas Benton, of Missouri.

He opened the interview by giving at considerable length what he
regarded as evidence of Senator Sherman's expectation that his
brother the general would have been nominated at Cincinnati in 1876
instead of President Hayes, and of the intrigues already making
for the general's nomination of 1880. At length he proceeded to
speak for and in the name of his brother-in-law, the President.
He said Grant wished to retire with grace and honorably from his
office, and had no special interest in the success of either of the
candidates whose fate was depending upon the action of the Electoral
Commission. He said that for himself he preferred Tilden forty times
to Hayes, and that all the ladies of Grant's family were champions
of Tilden. He wound up by saying that if he could be useful in
letting the President's views be known to Governor Tilden, when they
might serve a useful purpose, he would be glad to do so, and that
that was the special purpose of his inviting this interview.

I said to him that in a contingency not difficult to imagine there
might be two persons claiming a title to the White House on the
4th of March, one by the choice of the Senate, another by the
choice of the House of Representatives, and that it would interest
Governor Tilden very much to know whether General Grant would
think it his duty to solve that problem with the sword, or leave
it to the solution of time and events. Corbin replied that he
would tell me what must not go beyond me and Governor Tilden. Some
time ago, he said, Grant sent a number of boxes to his house at
Elizabeth for safe-keeping, and in stating his intention to do so,
he observed that as the inauguration would occur on Sunday at 12
M. he proposed to vacate the White House Saturday night;
whoever, therefore, said Corbin, gets into it first will have a very
substantial advantage. The President might perhaps stay in until the
following day if sufficient reason were shown for so doing. But,
said I, suppose our candidate gets the White House and the other
gets the Capitol, what then? Corbin paused a little, and then said:
"The keeper of the Capitol is under the control of the Commissioner
of Public Buildings. The Commissioner of Public Buildings is an
engineer officer, under the orders of Chief-Engineer Humphreys.
The present Commissioner of Public Buildings is Babcock; like St.
Paul, he is generally believed to have an eye 'to the recompense of
reward.' Then, those Irish doorkeepers may be worth looking to."
Such was the substance of an interview which occupied about two
hours.

What may have prompted Corbin to take the trouble to come all the
way from Washington to give me this hint, beyond a desire to give
himself importance in the eyes of Mr. Tilden, and how far President
Grant countenanced his mission, if he knew anything about it, are
questions which I never troubled myself to solve. There is no doubt
that President Grant thought Tilden had been elected, and found no
satisfaction in the prospect of having Hayes for his successor; but
if he had wished to convey to Mr. Tilden any intimation that he
would find the White House vacant and ready for his occupation on
the night of the 3d of March, I find it difficult to believe that he
would have selected Corbin for his emissary. However that may be,
neither Mr. Tilden nor myself thought his communication worthy of
serious consideration.

On the second day of March the House of Representatives, by a vote
of 137 to 88, adopted the preamble and resolutions which follow,
declaring that Samuel J. Tilden had been duly elected President,
and Thomas A. Hendricks duly elected Vice-President of the United
States. If these 137 votes in favor of Tilden and Hendricks
represented the requisite constitutional number of States in the
Union, it is not easy to see what more was necessary to make the one
President and the other Vice-President two days later than simply to
take the oaths of office prescribed by the Constitution.


RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECLARING TILDEN
THE PRESIDENT ELECTED

The following is the text of the declaration of the House of
Representatives that Samuel J. Tilden has been duly elected President
of the United States, and Thos. A. Hendricks Vice-President of the
United States:

     "WHEREAS, It is not disputed that the electoral votes
     of the following-named States, to wit., Alabama, Arkansas,
     Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland,
     Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
     Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, amounting in all
     to 184, were in conformity to the Constitution and laws of the
     United States cast for Samuel J. Tilden, of the State of New
     York, for President, and for Thos. A. Hendricks, of the State
     of Indiana, for Vice-President of the United States, by legally
     qualified electors appointed by said States, and severally in
     the manner directed by the Legislatures of said States, lists of
     which said votes were duly signed, certified, and transmitted
     sealed by said electors respectively to the seat of government,
     directed to the president of the Senate and by him opened in the
     presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, as required
     by the Constitution of the United States; and

     "WHEREAS, The evidence taken and reported to this
     House in pursuance of the orders thereof, shows conclusively
     that on the 7th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1876,
     the following-named persons, to wit., Wilkinson Call, J. E.
     Yonge, R. B. Hilton, and Robt. Bullock, each of whom was in
     all respects legally eligible and qualified to be appointed
     elector for President and Vice-President of the United States,
     were duly appointed electors by the State of Florida, in the
     manner directed by the Legislature of said State; and, whereas,
     the said Wilkinson Call, J. E. Yonge, R. B. Hilton, and Robert
     Bullock, after having been so appointed electors for President
     and Vice-President of the United States by said State of
     Florida, in the manner directed by the Legislature thereof,
     did, on the 6th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1876,
     meet in the city of Tallahassee, in the said State of Florida,
     that being the time and place fixed by the Constitution and
     laws of the United States, and of the State of Florida, at
     which the electors appointed by said State should meet; and
     having so met, as the electors duly appointed by the State of
     Florida as aforesaid, did then and there, in pursuance of the
     Constitution and laws of the United States, cast by ballot
     four votes for Samuel J. Tilden, of the State of New York, for
     President of the United States, and in like manner cast four
     votes for said Thomas A. Hendricks, of the State of Indiana,
     for Vice-President of the United States, naming in separate and
     distinct ballots the person voted for by them for President
     and the person voted for by them for Vice-President, and then
     and there made distinct lists of the persons voted for by them
     for President and Vice-President of the United States, and of
     the number of votes cast for each, which lists were by said
     electors signed, certified, and transmitted by them sealed to
     the seat of government, directed to the president of the Senate,
     and by him opened in the presence of the Senate and House of
     Representatives, as required by the Constitution of the United
     States; and

     "WHEREAS, The evidence taken and reported to this
     House, in pursuance of the order thereof, conclusively shows
     that on the 7th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1876,
     the following-named persons, to wit., John McEnery, R. C.
     Wickliffe, L. St. Martin, E. P. Poche, A. De Blanc, W. Seay, R.
     G. Cobb, K. A. Cross, each of whom was in all respects legally
     eligible and qualified to be appointed electors for President
     and Vice-President of the United States, were duly appointed
     electors by the State of Louisiana, in the manner provided by
     the Legislature of said State; and

     "WHEREAS, The said John McEnery, R. C. Wickliffe,
     L. St. Martin, E. P. Poche, A. De Blanc, W. A. Seay, R. G.
     Cobb, K. A. Cross, after having been so appointed electors for
     President and Vice-President of the United States for the State
     of Louisiana, in the manner directed by the Legislature thereof,
     did, on the 6th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1876,
     meet in the city of New Orleans, in the said State of Louisiana,
     it being the time and place fixed by the Constitution and laws
     of the United States, and of the said State of Louisiana, at
     which the electors appointed by the said State should meet,
     and having so met, did, then and there, as the electors duly
     appointed for the State of Louisiana, as aforesaid, in pursuance
     of the laws and Constitution of the United States, cast by
     ballot eight votes for Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, for
     President of the United States, and in like manner cast eight
     votes for Thomas A. Hendricks, of the State of Indiana, for
     Vice-President of the United States, naming in separate and
     distinct ballots the persons voted for by them for President,
     and the person voted for by them for Vice-President of the
     United States, and then and there made distinct lists of the
     persons voted for by them for President and Vice-President of
     the United States, and the number of votes cast for each, which
     lists were by said electors signed, certified, and transmitted
     by said electors sealed to the seat of government, directed to
     the president of the Senate, and by him opened in the presence
     of the Senate and House of Representatives, as required by the
     Constitution of the United States; and

     "WHEREAS, The evidence taken and reported to the House
     in pursuance of the orders thereof, shows conclusively that
     certain persons who pretended to have been appointed electors
     by the State of Florida, and who pretended as such to cast four
     votes for Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, for President of the
     United States, and four votes for William A. Wheeler, of New
     York, for Vice-President of the United States, to wit., F. C.
     Humphreys, C. H. Pearce, W. H. Holden, and T. W. Long, who were
     not appointed by the State of Florida, but were falsely and
     fraudulently declared elected, when in truth they had each and
     every one of them been defeated by a clear majority, as was well
     known by the then Governor of Florida and the other canvassing
     officers of that State, who falsely and fraudulently made such
     declaration; and

     "WHEREAS, The evidence taken and reported to this House
     in pursuance of the orders, further shows conclusively that
     certain persons, namely, William Pitt Kellogg, J. H. Burch,
     Peter Joseph, Lionel A. Sheldon, Morris Marks, A. B. Levisee,
     O. H. Brewster, and Oscar Joffrion, were falsely, fraudulently,
     and corruptly declared to have been appointed electors by
     the State of Louisiana, and did falsely, fraudulently, and
     corruptly pretend to cast eight votes for Rutherford B.
     Hayes for President, and eight votes for William A. Wheeler
     for Vice-President of the United States, when in truth and
     in fact they had never been appointed electors by the said
     State of Louisiana, but had been defeated by a majority of
     several thousands of the legally qualified voters of said
     State, at a fair, peaceful, and legally conducted election,
     held in pursuance of the law of said State, all of which was
     well known to the Board of Returning Officers, who made the
     false, fraudulent, and corrupt declaration of their pretended
     appointment as electors, and who, under the Constitution and
     laws of the said State of Louisiana, had no jurisdiction or
     authority to make any such declaration or statement; and

     "WHEREAS, The pretended votes were given by F. C.
     Humphreys, Charles H. Pearce, William H. Holden, T. W. Long,
     William Pitt Kellogg, J. H. Burch, Peter Joseph, Lionel A.
     Sheldon, Morris Marks, Aaron B. Levisee, O. H. Brewster,
     and Oscar Joffrion, electors, now, therefore, in view of
     the foregoing facts, the truth of which is attested by an
     overwhelming array of sworn testimony, as well as by the
     intelligence of the American people,

     "_Resolved_, By the House of Representatives of the United
     States of America, that it is the duty of the House to declare,
     and this House does hereby solemnly declare, that Samuel J.
     Tilden, of the State of New York, received 196 electoral votes
     for the office of President of the United States, all of which
     votes were cast and lists thereof signed, certified, and
     transmitted to the seat of government, directed to the president
     of the Senate, in conformity with the Constitution and laws of
     the United States, by electors legally eligible and qualified as
     such electors, each of whom had been duly appointed and elected,
     in the manner directed by the Legislature of the State in and
     for which he cast his vote as aforesaid; and that said Samuel
     J. Tilden, having thus received the votes of a majority of the
     electors appointed as aforesaid, he was thereby duly elected
     President of the United States of America for the term of four
     years, commencing on the 4th day of March, A.D. 1877.

     "And this House further declares that Thomas A. Hendricks,
     having received the same number of the electoral votes for the
     office of Vice-President of the United States that were cast for
     Samuel J. Tilden for President, as aforesaid, the said votes
     having been cast for him by the same persons who voted for the
     said Tilden for President, as aforesaid, and at the same time
     and in the same manner, it is the opinion of this House that
     said Thomas A. Hendricks, of the State of Indiana, was duly
     elected Vice-President of the United States for a term of four
     years, commencing on the 4th day of March, A.D. 1877."


H. A. POPE TO TILDEN

  "COLUMBUS, MISS., _Jany. 8, '77_.

  "HON. SAML. J. TILDEN.

"SIR,--Although a citizen in private life, I, nevertheless,
feel, I trust, as profound interest as any one in the welfare of
our common country. In its life it has had crises, but none more
alarming since '60 than that which grows out of the Presidential
election between you and Gen. Hayes.

"Of your election I do not entertain a doubt; and it were simply
to render our beautiful system of self-government on the part of
the people a burlesque and reproach to allow a set of gambling
politicians to set at defiance the expressed will of the sovereign
people.

"Of course we of the South are powerless in the premises, and were
it otherwise I am not prepared altogether to suggest the proper
course. At this critical juncture peace is more than ever a social
and political necessity. But, then, how can we ever expect to
preserve constitutional liberty if such a precedent--so violative
and destructive of the distinctive and peculiar feature of our more
peculiar system of govt., submission to the legally expressed will
of the majority--is tolerated.

"To you, sir, I look for counsel, and I trust you will be endowed
with more than your recognized distinguished sagacity.

"I have been very much surprised, and not a little amused, at
the contradictory opinions which even the learned in the law and
governmental science have given both as to the law and practice
in the case of the counting of the electoral votes, and as to the
ultimate tribunal known to the Constitution as the final arbiter
in the premises. Cushing, the learned parliamentarian, and no
mean statesman, has gone so far as to intimate Gen. Grant could,
under certain circumstances which may exist, hold over after the
4th of March next and continuously--till, indeed, the succession
transpires; and so teaches Senator Bogy in a speech in St. Louis.

"A fearful and most dangerous suggestion, verily! And amazing
that it should ever have found lodgment and utterance from so
distinguished a source. But it has not the semblance of law or the
slightest approach to truth in it.

"Cushing reasons from analogy, and says because officers in many
of the States hold over till their successors are installed he
therefore sees no reason why Gen. Grant should not do so.

"The ready answer to this opinion, however, is very plain and fatal
to the force implied in it. In the case of the State officer, he
acts in the instance mentioned by express authority of law. But in
the case of the President, he is elected for a term of four years,
no more or less, and there being no enabling act authorizing him to
protract the term a moment beyond the limitation mentioned, should
he do so he would be a usurper and deserve death as such at the
hands of any citizen. In the cases you at once see there is no
analogy whatever, and hence Cushing is certainly mistaken. As to the
force and aspect of the 22d rule or any other rule or rules, about
which a volume has been written, in solving adverse views, a word or
two disposes of them. They are these modes of procedure--centures
of the private action of both Houses of Congress, adopted for their
convenience and the harmonious despatch of business. But they are
dead letters if they contravene the Constitution of the U. S. or
attempt to execute any of its requirements.

"Laws are required for the purpose, and not rules. Laws to which
all the departments of legislation are necessarily, by law,
parties--Congress and the Executive.

"As rules, moreover, they bind only the particular Congress adopting
them; and do not lap over, save by acquiescence, express or implied.
Hence, as I've said, the 22d rule is dead till revived as suggested,
and has therefore no application to the case between you and Hayes.

"But to the general issue. In the event it should be formed from
any cause, real or supposed, and _purely in the opinion and
discretion of Congress_, neither you nor Mr. Hayes has the requisite
number of 185 electoral votes required to confer the office, then
to my apprehension the 12th amendment becomes the law of the
case--_exclusively and supremely so_.

"You are familiar with it.

"It refers the whole question to Congress, and if, upon a review
of the facts in the case, if it should decide there has been no
election and the two Houses _can't agree that there has been_,
whether the disagreement is real or feigned, then _the House_ must
_choose the President_ and the Senate the Vice-President.

"If you will carefully consider the amendment, with the history of
the question of electing the President in the Madison papers, you
will, I think, agree with me that Congress is empowered with power
similar to the omnipotence of Parliament in the premises considered.

"When I remember the House is Democratic I rejoice greatly at the
fact, and esteem it most fortunate for the whole country, for your
election is certain.

"Although, sir, a very stranger to you, I am, nevertheless, a lover
of my whole country--desire peace and the prevalence of law and
order, and the perpetuation of constitutional liberty. And with the
hope, possibly, of exciting in your mind a new and perhaps valuable
train of thought upon the subject, I have ventured to write.

"If you find anything worthy of your consideration I shall be
gratified to know.

"With the greatest respect and prayers for the prolongation of your
life, I am,

  "Your obt. Servt.,
  "H. A. POPE."


W. C. P. BRECKENRIDGE TO G. W. MORGAN

  "LEXINGTON, KY., _Jan. 13th, 1877_.

"MY DEAR GENERAL,--I am requested to invite you to meet a
few gentlemen of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and possibly Tennessee,
at the Galt House on the evening of the 17th instant, the evening
before our State convention. It is proposed to have such conference
for the purpose of agreement. May I trouble you to let me know if
you can be present? I will be here until the night of the 16th, and
then at the Galt House.

  "Yours truly,
  "WM. C. P. BRECKENRIDGE.

  "_General George W. Morgan._"


GEO. W. MORGAN TO TILDEN

(ABOUT INSIDE HISTORY OF LATE CONVENTION)

  "MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, _Jan. 15, 1877_.

"MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--A word as to the inside history
of our late convention. Knowing the temper of our people, as a
precaution against extreme action I wrote to Governor Allen, and to
Hancock, of Texas, asking for letters which I could use in committee
on resolutions by way of modifying of the wild advice which was
certain to be given. Allen answered: 'In the present condition of
things, threats of force and war would, in my judgment, very greatly
prejudice our cause.'

"Hancock answered by a long letter, conservative in its tone. In
conclusion he said: 'It is inconsistent with the genius of our
institutions that any official position should be attained by force
of arms. A result so accomplished would be a sad commentary on our
statesmanship, and nothing but a correction by the people through
peaceful modes would prevent our becoming Mexicanized, and the loss
of republican government.'

"I read these letters to the committee. To the letter of Allen no
comment was made, but Mr. Hancock's was objected to by Mr. Hurd
on the ground that Hancock had been a Union man in Texas during
the war. It was desired that either Mr. Cook or myself should be
chairman of the committee. He declined on the ground of ill-health,
and I foresaw that the tone of the resolutions was likely to be
extreme.

"A sub-committee, composed of White, Heisley, Ewing, Vance, and
myself, was appointed to report resolutions for the action of the
full committee. The first and fifth resolutions were mine. The third
was drawn by Alex. Long or Hurd. Heisley moved to strike out of that
resolution all after 'will be resisted by the people.' The vote
stood:

"Ayes--Heisley and Morgan.

"Noes--Ewing, Vance, and White.

"Ewing then moved to strike out all after the words 'last
extremity.' The vote stood:

"Ayes--Ewing, Heisley, and Morgan.

"Noes--White and Vance.

"When the sub-committee reported to the committee, Hurd moved to
amend by adding after the words 'last extremity' the words, 'even to
an appeal to arms.' In the mean time Ward had been called away to
preside over the convention, and some one else withdrew. The vote
was nine for the amendment, eight against it. The resolution as to
the national convention would have been carried by the same vote,
but after a declaration in favor of an appeal to arms it was allowed
to go by default. All of the speeches but my own were written and
in type before the convention met. The convention struck up the
'Marseillaise,' and I took step to the music.

"I still have strong hopes of your inauguration, and if you are not
our country will be in peril.

"With great respect,

  Truly yours,

  "GEORGE W. MORGAN."


GEORGE W. MORGAN TO HON. W. C. P. BRECKENRIDGE

  "MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, _Jan. 16th, 1877_.

"DEAR SIR,--From some cause yours of the 13th instant has
only this morning been received. My engagements are such as to
prevent me from being with you to-morrow. All movements, political
or otherwise, must have a recognized leader. Mr. Tilden is ours. I
have reason to believe that the action of our convention went beyond
his wishes. Mr. Pelton wrote to me just before our convention,
and not long since I had a note from Mr. Hewitt. The tone of both
indicate a policy less pronounced than that taken by Ohio.

"The last clause of our third resolution was adopted by one
majority, and would have been rejected had not two of the committee
been absent when the vote was taken. I regret that I cannot have a
full exchange of views with the gentlemen to be present. My judgment
is that we should defer to the views of Messrs. Tilden and Hendricks.

  "Truly y'rs,
  "GEORGE W. MORGAN.

  "_Hon. W. C. P. Breckenridge._"


CHARLES F. ADAMS TO TILDEN

  "31 PEMBERTON SQUARE, BOSTON, _16th Jan., 1877_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--You must excuse me for failing to
call on you at 11 o'cl. Monday, as you requested. The snow-storm
worked a very sudden change in my plans, and I hurriedly took the
morning train for Boston instead of the afternoon, as I intended.

"For the object I had in view, however, my failure to see you again
is of little consequence. Mr. Godwin is fully possessed of my views,
and, if they are worth anything, can present them to you.

"The point can be stated in a few words. I am impressed with the
idea that the true lead to get us out of our present complication
should come from the two Presidential candidates, and not from
irresponsible gatherings or a Congressional town-meeting. If the
candidates could agree on a practical way out of the trouble, and
unite in jointly recommending it to Congress and the country, its
adoption would seem inevitable. To bring this about the candidates
must be put in communication with each other, the way for which is
rendered perfectly simple and obvious through the friendly relations
still existing between those who joined in the 5th Avenue conference
of last spring.

"My own view is that nothing will satisfactorily settle this
question but an appeal to the ballot. The simple, fundamental,
direct, democratic appeal to the one great tribunal. If the two
candidates would unite in asking to have the people decide between
them the path would be plain. But I will not dilate on this, as, if
you want my views in detail, Mr. Godwin can give them to you.

"Begging you again to excuse my failure to call upon you, I remain,
etc.,

  "Very respectfully, &c.,
  "CHARLES F. ADAMS, JR."


  LOUISE LIVINGSTON HUNT TO TILDEN

  "(_Jan. 21, '77._)

"DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN,--I have just received a letter from
my brother in New Orleans, a portion of which I copy, because I feel
sure it will interest you as an evidence of the genuine feeling at
present in Louisiana.

"He says: 'Our people are in an _admirable temper_, and will do
their whole duty. You will find Nichols all that you pronounce him,
and I agree with you in thinking he has outshone even Hampton. The
latter made a bad mistake in writing to the Pretender Hayes. Has not
Mr. Tilden proved himself? Has he not led the South with consummate
success until she has for the first time a fair prospect? He has,
God bless him for it, shown the whole country a new future, and
aroused in it the ancient spirit of truth and courage and zeal for
liberty. Nowhere has he been stronger than in his perception of the
capacity and will of the people, in his faith in their public virtue
and attachment to free government, which ever did and ever must
depend upon an honest count of the ballots lawfully cast. The change
you observe in public opinion announcing his expected appearance
in the Presidency will continue to grow until he is borne where he
merits to be--into his great office.'

"How I wish, instead of being only a woman at such a time as this,
that I were a Senator or member, endowed with the bold spirit and
overruling genius of your own great ancestor! There would be quick
work with the present Congress at Washington!

"Forgive me if my letter makes the one-hundredth-and-one of the day;
it requires no answer. One word more before I stop. On reflection,
I am certain my Uncle Randall alluded to the fact that I was the
favorite niece of Mrs. Edward Livingston, my grandaunt, who died
not many years since, at a very advanced age. I was very stupid not
to think of this solution to the problem at once.

  "Very truly yours,
  "LOUISE LIVINGSTON HUNT."


THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION AND MR. TILDEN

The following statement, in the handwriting of George W. Smith, Mr.
Tilden's private secretary, was from Mr. Tilden's dictation:

"Mr. Tilden's views of the policy which the Democratic party in
Congress ought to pursue in respect to the counting of the electoral
votes cast for President and Vice-President in 1876 were perfectly
defined and freely expressed to all who consulted him long before
the meeting of Congress in December of that year. It was to stand
firmly and inflexibly on the unbroken series of precedents formed by
the twenty-two Presidential counts from 1793 to 1872.

"While the committees of investigation in respect to Louisiana,
Florida, and South Carolina, appointed by the House of Representatives,
were engaged in their duties, Mr. Tilden caused a collection of all
those precedents to be made and printed. At his request the Hon.
John Bigelow prepared an analytical and expository introduction
which was prefixed to this volume, and they were printed together
by the Messrs. Appleton in the latter part of December, 1876. Mr.
Marble assisted in preparing an appendix to the introduction,
containing citations of authorities on the various points. This
introduction was also issued separately and used in large numbers by
the Democratic National Committee. It presents a clear, strong, and
well-fortified statement of the position which Mr. Tilden thought
the Democratic party ought to assume.

"On the 22d December two committees of the House of Representatives
were appointed: the first on the powers and privileges of the House
of Representatives in respect to counting electoral votes; the
second to confer with a committee of the Senate on the same subject.
The _Congressional Record_ of that date contains the following entry:

"'_Committee to ascertain and report what are the privileges,_
_powers, and duties of the House of Representatives in counting the
votes for President and Vice-President of the United States_: Mr.
Knott, of Kentucky; Mr. Sparks, of Illinois; Mr. ----, of Virginia;
Mr. ----, of Pennsylvania; Mr. Burchard, of Illinois; Mr. Seelye, of
Massachusetts; and Mr. Monroe, of Ohio.

"'_Committee to meet with the Senate committee as to the counting
of the electoral votes for President and Vice-President_: Mr.
Payne, of Ohio; Mr. Hunton, of Virginia; Mr. Hewitt, of New York;
Mr. Springer, of Illinois; Mr. McCrary, of Iowa; Mr. Hoar, of
Massachusetts; and Mr. Willard, of Michigan.'

"During the Christmas holidays, and for some days after the 1st
of January, leading members of the House of Representatives were
in New York and had interviews with Mr. Tilden. He was frank,
open, and earnest in his conversations with them, and with many
others, in advocating the making of an issue first in the House of
Representatives and then in the Senate. He was for asserting, by
formal resolution, the exclusive right of the two Houses acting
concurrently to count the electoral vote and determine what should
be counted as electoral votes, and for denying, also by formal
resolution, the pretension then set up by the Republicans, that the
president of the Senate had any lawful or constitutional right to
assume that function. He was for urging that issue in debate in both
Houses and before the country. He thought that if the attempt should
be really made to usurp for the president of the Senate a power
to make the count and thus practically control the Presidential
election, the scheme would break down in process of execution, and
that, in any event, it was in the interest of popular elective
government not to yield to the menace of usurpation, all which
actual usurpation could take for itself if completely successful.

"On the request of some member of the House of Representatives,
Mr. Tilden himself drew two resolutions for the purpose of making
this issue. The Democratic members of the Committee on Privileges,
&c., found themselves best able to agree on the simplest form
of asserting their principles and deemed that most expedient.
Resolutions of that character were prepared by them, transmitted to
Mr. Tilden for his advice, and returned with his approval. These
resolutions were reported by the Hon. Proctor Knott, chairman of
the committee. They will be found in the Congressional Record of
Jan. 12, 1877. They are as follows:

"This policy seemed to have been generally agreed upon by the
Democratic members of the House of Representatives, and it had
been recommended persistently by Mr. Tilden for weeks to all who
consulted him upon the subject.

"On the afternoon of Friday the 12th of January, Senator Barnum,
passing through New York on his way home for the purpose of getting
his family to take them to Washington on the following Tuesday,
called on Mr. Tilden and expressed his conviction that a majority
of the Senators would concur in denying the right of the president
of the Senate to make the count. He had not heard a word of the
proposed electoral contrivance. It was afterwards ascertained
that the Democratic Senator from New York had been left in equal
ignorance.

"On the evening of Saturday, 13th of January, Mr. Marble called
on Mr. Tilden, found him in receipt of the McCrary House bill
with the amendments proposed by Mr. Hewitt, and a letter from Mr.
Hewitt informing him that his counsel would be asked the next day
about this bill. Mr. Tilden and Mr. Marble sat late into the night
analyzing it. Mr. Tilden invited Mr. Marble to come the next day
when Mr. Hewitt should be there to consider this bill, which was
supposed to be the axis upon which the deliberations of the House
were revolving.

"Mr. Marble was therefore present on the following day, which was
the 14th of January, when Mr. Tilden received from Mr. Hewitt his
first information that the other measures had been abandoned, and
that the subject upon which he wished to confer was the Electoral
bill.

"Before he read the new bill Mr. Tilden was told that the Democratic
members of the Senate committee were already absolutely committed
to this bill, and would concur with the Republican members of the
committee in reporting it to the Senate whether the House committee
should concur or not.

"'Is it not rather late, then, to consult me?' said Mr. Tilden.

"'They do not consult you,' replied Mr. Hewitt. 'They are public men
and have their own duties and responsibilities. I consult you.'

"The examination and analysis of the bill then proceeded. Mr.
Tilden said, in the progress of the conference, 'I can't advise you
to agree to the bill. I will advise you as to its details.'

"In respect to the provision by which six judges were to be
described in the bill and one of them to be eliminated by lot, Mr.
Tilden said, emphatically, 'I may lose the Presidency, but I will
not raffle for it.'

"Mr. Tilden further said, if an arbitration were to be adopted, the
tribunal ought to be fixed in the bill itself and not left to chance
or intrigue.

"He said, also, that if an arbitration were to be adopted, the
duty of the arbitrators to investigate and decide the case on its
_merits_ should be made mandatory and not left as a question of
construction.

"With both the vital points, the choice of men to compose the
tribunal and a function to be performed by the tribunal, left at
loose ends, he treated the whole thing as a sort of gamble.

"In the course of the discussion Mr. Tilden said: 'If you go into a
conference with your adversary and can't break off because you feel
you must agree to something you cannot negotiate--you are not fit to
negotiate. You will be beaten upon every detail.'

"Replying to the apprehensions of a collision of force with the
executive, Mr. Tilden thought them exaggerated, but said: 'Why
surrender now? You can always surrender. Why surrender before the
battle, for fear you may have to surrender after the battle is over?'

"Mr. Tilden was pressed to say that if the bill could be modified so
as to fix the five judges by a position provision, he would give it
his approval, and it was urged that a modification could not succeed
unless it was stated that that would make the bill acceptable. He
firmly declined.

"Mr. Hewitt stated that the committees of the two Houses were to
meet that evening at the house of Senator Bayard, and that he was
expected to telegraph them the result of his interview.

"It was perfectly evident that what was sought was not Mr. Tilden's
advice, but Mr. Tilden's adhesion. His refusal to give it caused the
meeting for that evening to fall through.

"Mr. Tilden condemned the proposed action as precipitate. It was
a month before the time for the count, and he saw no reason why
there should not be an opportunity afforded for consideration and
consultation by the representatives of the people. He treated it
as a panic in which they were liable to act in haste and repent
at leisure. He did not ask any time for himself or time to decide
what he would do in respect to the proposed means. He never for a
moment evinced the slightest hesitation or doubt about that; he was
clear and inflexible, but he advised more deliberation upon the part
of those who were to act in Washington. He believed in publicity
and discussion and a wider consultation. He had an inherent and
incurable distrust of the scheme, and has frequently said since that
so great a stake as the government of forty millions of people with
immense civil expenditures and a hundred thousand office-holders to
be disposed of by a small body sitting in the Capitol would become
the sport of intrigue or fraud.

"Mr. Tilden also disapproved of the secrecy with which the
proceedings were shrouded. He thought it unwise to compromise the
rights of the members of the two Houses without consulting them, by
taking a hasty step which left no different policy practicable than
the one thus imposed. Two days later, in a telegram to Mr. Hewitt,
he expressed himself again and decidedly on this subject.

"In the whole of this conference Mr. Tilden was never asked to
advise what the two committees should do jointly or what the Senate
committee should do. He was expressly and repeatedly told that the
Senate committee, including the Democratic members, Messrs. Bayard,
Thurman, and Ransom, had already determined upon their course
whatever his advice or wishes might be. The difficulty on the part
of the House committee, in carrying out an independent policy, was
pressed upon him as a reason for advising their acquiescence. No
argument or persuasion could extract from him a word of personal
sanction to the scheme. If, however, it was to be adopted, if it was
a foregone conclusion, he manifested a desire that the provisions
of the bill should be made to operate as much good and as little
mischief as possible, both in their legal effect and in the manner
of their execution. He was willing to advise and help in respect to
specific provisions, but took care, in doing so, not incidentally to
adopt the bill.

"The next day, Jan. 15th, Mr. Hewitt telegraphed from Washington to
Mr. Edward Cooper:

  "'WASHINGTON, _Jany. 15, 187-_.

  "'To E. C.

     "'The Senate committee will probably reject five- and report
     six-judge plan immediately. Our Senators feel committed to
     concur. House committee will not concur, and for present will
     probably not report.'

"The answer was as follows:

  "'N. Y. _Jany. 15, 187-_.

  "'To A. S. H.

     "'Procrastinate to give few days for information and
     consultation. The six-judge proposition inadmissible.

  "'E. C.'

"On the following day Mr. Hewitt telegraphed again:

  "'WASHINGTON, _Jany. 16, 187-_.

  "'To E. C.

     "'After protracted negotiations Senator receded from six-judge.
     Declined five-judge and offered four senior associate justices
     who are to choose the fifth judge excluding chief justice. Our
     Senate friends earnestly favor acceptance, because they don't
     believe it possible to pass over Field. The Democrats on the
     House committee believe this is the last chance of agreement.
     We cannot postpone beyond eleven to-morrow, and if we decline
     Senate committee will report their original plan to which our
     friends are committed. Telegraph your advice.'

"To this telegram the following answer was sent:

  "'N. Y., _Jany. 17, 2 a.m._

     "'Be firm and cool. Four-judge plan will not do. Perhaps worse
     than six. Complaints likely to arise of haste and want of
     consultation with members, and embarrassment in exercise of
     their judgment after plan is disclosed by premature committal
     of their representatives. There should be more opportunity for
     deliberation and consultation. Secrecy dangerous; probably
     mistake in itself, and if it results in disaster would involve
     great blame and infinite mischief.'

"In the evening of Tuesday, the 16th of January, Mr. Marble went
to see Mr. Tilden and found him in his library. Several other
gentlemen were present. The foregoing telegrams were read. The
situation was freely canvassed. In their presence, Mr. Tilden
dictated another and longer telegram, which was sent to the
committee-room for transmission to Washington. As it was translated
into cypher at the committee rooms and had to be retranslated at
Washington, it was not delivered until after the committees had
taken definitive action. It was not addressed to Mr. Hewitt and
therefore was not seen by him. The only value of this telegram now
is as a record made at the time in the presence of half a dozen
well-known gentlemen, of Mr. Tilden's views, similar to those he had
habitually expressed and somewhat fuller than in the other telegrams.

"Mr. Marble having seen all these telegrams at the time, and being
familiar with them, requested copies for the present occasion. In
assenting to that request, Mr. Tilden desired Mr. Marble, in any use
he might make of them, to say explicitly that Mr. Tilden has never
doubted Mr. Hewitt's perfect good faith in the transaction to which
the telegrams relate, and believes him to have been actuated by the
most patriotic motives.

  _"'Jany. 17, 1877 Midnight_.

     "'No need of hot haste, but much danger in it. Some days'
     interval should be taken; the risk of publicity harmless. No
     information here nor any opportunity to get information which
     could justify abstinence from condemning such an abandonment
     of the Constitution and practice of the government, and of the
     rights of the two Houses and of the people. Nothing but great
     and certain public danger not to be escaped in any other way
     could excuse such a measure. We are overpressed by exaggerated
     fears and forget that the other side will have greater troubles
     than we unless relieved by some agreement. They have no way
     out but by usurpation; are bullying us with what they dare not
     do or will break down in attempting. So long as we stand on
     the Constitution and settled practice we know where we are.
     Consequences of new expedient not enough considered. Only way of
     getting accessions in the Senate is by House standing firm--and
     judicious friends believe in that case we will go safely
     through. Opportunity to consult such friends should be given
     before even tacit acquiescence, if that is contemplated. Though
     details may be properly discussed, final committal by House
     committee should be firmly withheld.'"

THE HAYES FRAUD AND THE LOUISIANA LOTTERY

(_From the "Sun," Friday, November 20, 1891._)

"We print elsewhere an interesting review of the events which have
brought the Louisiana Lottery question to its present familiar phase.

"According to this statement, which is verifiable so far as it deals
with the open facts of history, one of the most powerful influences
in enabling Mr. R. B. Hayes to carry out the infamous political
bargain which was the result of the Wormley conference, was that of
the Louisiana Lottery.

"The representatives of Mr. Hayes secured the completion of the
electoral count at Washington in 1877 by pledging the fraudulent
administration, in advance, to do certain things desired by certain
Southern Democrats. One of these things was to accomplish the
overthrow of Packard in Louisiana, although Packard had received for
Governor in that State a vote larger than Hayes' for President.

"When Mr. Hayes was seated in the office to which he had not been
elected, he proceeded to redeem the promises made in his behalf by
Stanley Matthews and Charles Foster. But he was able to fulfil his
part of the bargain mainly through the intervention of the Lottery
Company, which furnished at New Orleans a sufficient number of
Republican legislators elect, willing to join with the Democrats
in organizing the Legislature that destroyed Packard and seated
Nicholls.

"Thus the bargain was carried out upon Mr. Hayes' side by the
assistance of the concern once powerfully described by the Hon.
Benjamin Harrison as the Great Beast. And to that service on the
part of the Great Beast, according to our correspondent's recital of
the facts, the Louisiana Lottery owes in return its present position
of advantage in the State.

"Is there any doubt as to the pledge to overthrow Packard, which
the Great Beast helped Hayes to redeem? Mr. William H. Roberts of
New Orleans, among others, has testified that when the electoral
count was pending, he received this assurance from a distinguished
Republican statesman and a close personal friend of Mr. Hayes:

"'You need not be uneasy. I see that you are all restless and
nervous; I see that Blackburn and those men are controlling the
Southern men. I assure you that it will be all right; and when I
assure you that you are to have your State government, you ought to
know me well enough to know that I am telling you the truth.'"

       *       *       *       *       *

The distinguished Republican statesman and personal friend of Hayes
was the Hon. Charles Foster, of Fostoria, Secretary of the Treasury
under the administration of the Great Beast's enemy, the Hon.
Benjamin Harrison.

Is there any doubt as to the understanding of the pledge by the
Southern Democrats who were active in arranging the bargain,
afterwards carried out by Hayes with the aid of the Louisiana
Lottery? "If we should lose the national government we may be able
to save Louisiana," said the Hon. Lucius Q. C. Lamar to Mr. Roberts
of New Orleans early in the progress of the negotiations. And later,
when certain Democrats in the House were proposing to stand out to
the last against the consummation of the fraud, Judge Lamar sent to
one of their number, the Hon. John Ellis of Louisiana, this letter
of vindication and appeal:

     "I have just learned from an unquestionable authority, which
     I will give, if you wish it, that Foster said to a gentleman,
     my informant, that the speech he made to-day, which so
     significantly but indirectly hints at Hayes' Southern policy,
     that he made it after consultation with Mr. Matthews, Mr. Hayes'
     brother-in-law, and Mr. Matthews told him and urged him to
     say squarely that Hayes would have nothing to do or to say to
     Packard.

     "Now, Ellis, this is the first thing I have ever heard as coming
     from Hayes, directly or indirectly, that is worth acting upon by
     any Southern man. We do not want offices, but we do want to get
     our States and our people free from the carpet-bag government.
     Ought you not, if an available opportunity offers you to serve
     your State and people, to spring forward at once and see if
     you can't free your State? I think you should at once see
     Mr. Stanley Matthews and ask him if Governor Hayes will give
     you some assurance that he will not nominate Packard in his
     domination of your people."

This Judge Lamar is the gentleman who afterwards served as a member
of Mr. Cleveland's cabinet, and who received from Mr. Cleveland an
appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States.


BIGELOW TO JUDGE STEPHEN J. FIELD

(AN ADDRESS OF THE MINORITY OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION)

  "21 GRAMERCY PARK, _January 31, 1894_.

  "HON. STEPHEN J. FIELD.

"MY DEAR JUDGE,--The son of Judge Josiah Gardner Abbott,
of Mass., handed me a few days since in Boston a copy of the
proposed address of the minority of the electoral commission of 1877
protesting against the decisions of the majority of that commission.
At the close of this address, or somewhere on it, was the following
endorsement:

"'This address was drawn up at the request of some of the minority
members of the electoral commission, to whom it was submitted and
approved by them. But some doubted the wisdom of publishing the
address at the time, and so it was not signed.

  "'(Signed) J. G. ABBOTT.'

"I would like much to know if the Democratic minority concurred in
this protest, and the reasons which decided them or any of them
against its publication. I am expecting to be delivered one of these
days of something about that electoral commission, and, of course, I
would like to speak of this address, if at all, by the book. I would
like, also, to know if you can tell me why Judge Abbott refused to
allow of the publication in his lifetime; if there was any other
reason than that it was never signed.

"I hope you will think these questions will involve matters of
sufficient gravity to warrant me in troubling you for an answer
which no one else that I know can give.

  "Yours very truly,
  "JOHN BIGELOW."


STEPHEN J. FIELD TO BIGELOW

  "SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES,
  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _February 2, 1894_.

  "HON. JOHN BIGELOW.

"DEAR SIR,--Your letter of the 31st of January was received
yesterday. You state that the son of the late Judge Josiah Gordon
Abbott, of Massachusetts, had handed to you a few days before, in
Boston, a copy of 'The proposed address of the minority of the
electoral commission of 1877, protesting against the decision of
the majority of that commission,' and add that at the close of the
address, or somewhere in it, was the following endorsement: 'This
address was drawn up at the request of some of the minority members
of the electoral commission, to whom it was submitted and approved
by them; but some doubted the wisdom of publishing the address at
the time, and so it was not signed. (Signed) J. G. ABBOTT.'

"You express a wish to know if the Democratic minority concurred in
this protest, and the reasons which decided them, or any of them,
against its publication. In answer to your inquiry, I would state
that I remember very well the preparation of the address undertaken
by Mr. Abbott, the draft of which was submitted to me and approved,
and I supposed then that it would receive the signatures of all the
members of the Democratic minority and be published. Soon afterwards
Mr. Abbott informed me that some of the members of the minority had
expressed a doubt of the wisdom of publishing the address at that
time. It was not, therefore, signed. I know of no other reason.
None was given that I can recall except the existence of the doubt
mentioned.

"Perhaps Mr. Bayard could give you more definite information
upon this point. I know that it was a disappointment to me that
the address, either as prepared, or as it might be amended by
suggestions of members of the Democratic minority, was not published.

"I think that when the members of the commission separated it was
Mr. Abbott's intention to prepare some document with reference to
the action of the commission for publication, with the consent of
other members of the minority, but that intention was subsequently
abandoned by him for reasons which I cannot state.

"You also state that you would like to know if I could tell you why
Judge Abbott refused to allow of the publication in his lifetime.
I know of none except the fact that the document was never signed.
Some years afterwards, when Mr. Abbott was at Washington, he
expressed to me a regret that the document which he had prepared had
not been signed and published.[19]

  "I am very respectfully yours,
  "STEPHEN J. FIELD."

  [19] For a copy of the protest referred to in the preceding letter,
  see Bigelow's _Life of Tilden_, Vol. II., Appendix A.

The following letter, received in reply to one addressed to its
writer by Mr. George W. Smith, one of the executors and trustees
of Mr. Tilden's estate, gives the substance of a very important
statement bearing upon the election for President in Louisiana in
'76, the authorship of which statement, however, is suppressed in
compliance with the request and for the reasons assigned by the
one who heard it. As the gentleman, whose name is here left blank,
has long been dead, it is permissible to say that he was quite the
most prominent Republican politician in Louisiana at the time the
statement purports to have been made.


A. M. WILCOX TO G. W. SMITH

  "BRIGHTON, ENGLAND, _April 19th, '94_.

"DEAR MR. SMITH,--Your letter of April 4th came this
morning, having been forwarded from home.

"The letter you speak of is not in existence, having been destroyed
when I broke up my home ten years ago. It was not from Kellogg, but
from ----. That part referring to the election read about as follows:

"'You ask as to the election. Tilden carried the State by 9 to
14,000 (I am not positive as to the figures, either may be wrong),
but this will be overcome in some way; how has not as yet been
decided, but you can be certain the State will be returned for
Hayes.'

"I cannot be mistaken as to the substance of his letter, as it made
a deep impression on me at the time. Had it not been personal and
_confidential_, I should have given it publicity at the time.

"In case Mr. Bigelow should make any use of it--the
information--kindly see that he avoids using ----'s name for the
reasons above given.

"I sincerely regret I cannot produce the letter itself or make a
more satisfactory reply to your inquiry.

"Mrs. Wilcox formerly resided in Louisiana, and ---- was a frequent
guest at her father's house, which explains the frankness of his
answer to her letter asking for information in the matter.

"With my best wishes to you.

  "Very truly,
  "A. M. WILCOX."


WILLIAM BIGLER TO TILDEN

  "CLEARFIELD, PA., _Jan. 24th, 1877_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--After a careful examination of all the
plans of adjusting the Presidential embroglio at Washington, I came
to the conclusion that the plan reported by the committee is the
best--most certain to promote the peace and dignity of the country,
and to secure your inauguration as President. In the first place it
involves an abandonment of the plea for the right of the president
of the Senate, and in the next it recognizes the right of the
commission to go behind the certificates on an allegation of fraud.
Besides, I have special confidence in one of the judges who will
be selected as a Republican. He will be just and impartial in his
action, with slight inclination to our side.

"The difficulty in the way of the power of the House consists in the
obstacles that can be interposed against reaching the point at which
that power can be safely and properly exercised. The order laid
down in the Constitution must be followed. First, the certificates
shall be opened. Second, the vote shall then be counted. Third, if
there has been a failure to elect by the States then the House shall
immediately proceed to elect a President. The counting will go on
smoothly until Florida is reached, and then objection will be made
and the Senate will retire. It will decide to count the vote for
Mr. Hayes, and the House will reject the vote or count it for you,
and then when will they come together again? Perhaps at the end of
a week the House may give up Florida to go on with the count and
then will come Louisiana, and this the House cannot yield without
losing everything. Some say at this point the House should proceed
to elect a President, but the vote has not been counted as the
Constitution requires, and the assumption that there has been no
election in the face of the fact that there are but two candidates,
and that it is not possible to so divide the vote as to have a tie,
cannot be overlooked. The plan of conceding everything but Oregon,
which comes last, has been favored by some. My own impression is
that you will become President by the rejection of the vote of
Louisiana. That will be done by the commission, and may be done by
a vote of the Senate. I think the vote in the Senate, taken at any
time, would be very close on the rejection of the vote of Louisiana.

"The danger now is that the plan of the committees will be defeated
by persistent debate. I have no fear of Grant. At present he would
sign the bill.

"I should have remained at Washington but for an imperious demand
for me in a business matter at this place.

"With much esteem I remain,

  "Your friend,
  "WM. BIGLER.

"Florida is becoming so clear for you that the whole matter may yet
be settled by that State."


TILDEN TO GOVERNOR WADE HAMPTON

  "NEW YORK, _Feb. 3, 1877_.

"DEAR GOV. HAMPTON,--I have just emerged from ten days of
exceptional intensity of pressure in occupations, which at best were
not light. During this time your letter of the 22d Jany. arrived. It
does not seem to me more than two or three days since I first saw
it, but my count of time may have been imperfect.

"Certain I am that I take my first interval to acknowledge it and to
reply.

"One only of the newspaper publications which you mentioned had come
under my observation; and that I had cursorily looked at rather than
read.

"It is enough to say that none of these criticisms has made the
least impression on my mind unfavorable to your perfect good faith
in your political actions or relations, or to my confidence in your
friendly disposition toward me. You were quite right in thinking,
as you say, that an explanation was unnecessary, though for great
caution you have chosen to write to me on the subject. I have not
only faith in you, but great admiration for your personal bearing
under difficult and trying circumstances. I have no element of
suspicion in my nature, and have looked on the recent contest in no
selfish aspect, not even in that refined form which thinks of the
honor of being associated with the right in so great a cause. And I
appreciate the wrongs to which the people of your State have been
subjected.

"I beg, my dear sir, that you will excuse my great haste and believe
me,

  Very truly your friend,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


THOMAS COTTMAN TO S. J. TILDEN

  "343 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, _Feby. 22d, 1877_.

  "GOVR. SAML. J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Your card of this morning confirms my
opinion that the defeat of the Democratic party is due measurably
to the manipulation of inexperienced or overconfident directors.
I hope you will insist on Chandler's exhibit, now they have made
all possible mischief out of your account. There has been too
much willingness on the part of the Democrats to compromise, and
Senator Kernan to say the least of it has acted unwisely. Patrick
Kennedy's[20] testimony fully substantiates my views in regard to
Louisiana--Wells has been unskilfully handled. But there is no use
in crying over spilt milk.

  [20] The testimony of Kennedy referred to by Mr. Cottman follows:

  WASHINGTON, February 21.--Patrick J. Kennedy, of Jefferson
  Parish, testified to-day to an interview with Governor Wells, in
  which the latter said that he thought he had done wrong in throwing
  out 1,100 votes in New Orleans and 1,400 votes in the Parish of East
  Baton Rouge. He also asked what guarantee Kennedy supposed would
  be given him if he so arranged the returns as to protect him and
  secure him his property and standing among the people of the State
  of Louisiana.

"The 'occasional correspondent' in the _Herald_ of this morning
overstates the case in reference to dissatisfaction in the party.
But of its existence no one can doubt. Not so much South as here and
in the West, and from a totally different cause from that assigned
in the _Herald_. I had opportunities [of] observing it, and exerted
my utmost power to assuage or avert it. There is no necessity now
for adverting to the cause, but I will simply remark that the
old Hunkers considered themselves ignored to give prominence to
Barnburners and new men, personal favorites--and that feeling at
one time came near losing you this city and Brooklyn. I have never
doubted the feasibility of obtaining a _fair and honest return_ of
the vote in Louisiana, if the proper means were resorted to which
in no wise included pecuniary consideration. It was a political
question and political consideration was desired as testified by P.
I. Kennedy, who is a very different man from Dr. Hugh Kennedy, whose
name Wells offered as the fifth man on the Returning Board, and
had laid on the table for future action. Whenever I mentioned the
subject to those in _authority here_, I was met with the information
that Genl. Taylor was _here_ looking to Louisiana. Genl. Taylor is a
very estimable gentleman, but most cordially hated by both Wells and
Kennedy. When I reflect on the management '_here_,' I can only say
you were slaughtered in the house of your friends: not from design,
for I believe they were honest and true, zealous and uncompromising,
but conceited from the want of experience in politics; not the want
of capacity, but an overweening confidence in themselves and the
justice of their case. In the name of Louisiana, I unhesitatingly
repudiate the assertion of the _Herald's_ occasional correspondent
of an indifference towards your election. She cast her vote for you,
and it would have been so returned if your lieutenants here had not
overestimated their powers.

  "Very truly your obt. servt.,
  "THOS. COTTMAN."


N. W. HAZEN TO S. J. TILDEN

  "ANDOVER, _Feb. 28, 1877_.

  "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--I hope it is not too late to make some use of
the views stated in the paper enclosed, which seem to me so obvious
that I have constantly hoped to see them presented from some one of
many sources.

  "Very respectfully,
  "Your obt. servt.,
  "N. W. HAZEN."

       *       *       *       *       *

Whenever it appeared to Congress that no person had a majority of
the electoral votes, the whole subject of the election of President,
by force of the Twelfth Amendment, passed into the exclusive
jurisdiction of the House, and no proposals for joint proceedings,
or for any action by the Senate in relation to it were in order.

That no person had a majority appeared from the double returns from
some of the States from the opening of the returns, and is admitted
by the passage of the electoral law.

The choice being given to the House by the Constitution, it belonged
to the House solely to make any investigations which it should find
necessary to the proper performance of this trust.

When the Constitution gives the choice to the House, it confers by
necessary implication whatever authority is requisite to the full
exercise of the power, including, of course, exclusive control over
the whole subject.

It may be remarked, by way of illustration, that the first duty is
to determine who are the three persons from whom a choice is to be
made: acting with the Senate, a fourth person might be rejected from
this number, whom, if he were before it, a majority of the House
might choose to elect.

The record of the proceedings of the commission will show them to
be without warrant or authority in the Constitution, which contains
ample provision upon the same subject.

The commission usurps a power conferred upon the House when the
House itself was established, which is one of its highest functions,
and whose exercise it cannot surrender without dishonor.

1. Upon the motion to be made in the House to accept the report of
the commission it should not be entertained, because in violation of
the constitutional rights of the House, and not in order therefore.

2. If it has been accepted, the whole proceedings should be declared
for this reason null and void.

3. The House should proceed to the choice of President according
to the Twelfth Amendment, that it may not fail in the performance
of one of the highest duties it owes to the Constitution, and in
the exercise of its greatest powers; that some person may be duly
chosen, so that its candidate may have the legal title before the
law and before the people.


JOHN A. McCLERNAND TO TILDEN

  "SPRINGFIELD, ILL., _March 2nd, 1877_.

"DEAR SIR,--It is done, and the Presidential office, fairly
awarded you by the voice of the people and the electoral colleges,
passes to another. I sympathize with you in this your deprivation of
right and official dignity. I sympathize also with the country in
its consequent humiliation. A stain is cast upon its escutcheon and
Republican institutions.

"The result might have been different but for a mistake, honest,
doubtless, though it was. If the chairman of our national committee
had not wavered and hesitated at a decisive moment, and thereby
awakened doubts as to your purpose, the spirit and courage of the
Democracy, then showing a bold front, would have precluded the
possibility of the electoral commission and its decision, and have
settled everything satisfactorily without a blow. I say this in the
belief that the capital and business of the country would not have
seconded the Republican leaders in an appeal to arms to uphold fraud
and usurpation. Right armed with confidence is seldom vanquished.

"But regrets are now idle. Our part is to repair the past in the
future. Your leadership in the late canvass regenerated and renewed
the Democratic party, and brought it back to the mansion of its
fathers. It revived its ancient energy and devotion. It is now
capable of great achievements. This is saying much for both you and
it, yet not more than the truth. You are now the acknowledged leader
of the _reform Democracy_, and your leadership must be continued for
the contest of 1880. This is the sentiment and demand of the _Old
Guard_ who never desert or surrender.

  "Your ob't ser't,
  "JOHN A. MCCLERNAND."


ROBERT M. McLANE TO TILDEN

  "BALTIMORE, _3rd March, '77_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Certainly it is not an agreeable
greeting I have to offer, but I cannot let the communication of the
foul work in Washington pass into history without expressing to you
the disgust I feel and the hope I entertain that the country will
yet recover its moral sense, and vindicate the men and principles
that have been overthrown by fraud and _quasi force_, for this last
alternative was always in the perspective, and as you know greatly
influenced and demoralized good men!

"It is certainly to be regretted, I think, that our friends were
ever beguiled into the electoral commission scheme, and though I
did my best, within the bounds of my influence, to secure from its
action the triumph of truth and justice, I have the satisfaction
to know that from the hour we had the returns of the Presidential
election my utmost effort was directed to influence the House of
Representatives to assert its constitutional prerogatives and elect
a President, rather than co-operate in the declaration of a result
which is false in fact and which outrages the moral and numerical
sense of the country. If such a result was inevitable, I could
accept it as well as another; but I would have left its consummation
to the conspirators who did the counting in the Southern States and
the Federal army at the seat of government, under the immediate
direction of the retiring President.

"Until I have the pleasure of a personal greeting, I remain,

  Very truly and faithfully,
  "Yr. friend and obt. servt.,
  ROBT. M. MCLANE."

  "_To Hon. S. J. Tilden._


A. E. ORR TO TILDEN

  "BROOKLYN, _Mch. 3d, '77_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN,--I regret exceedingly that
illness has confined me to the house for the past few days.

"I wanted to say to you personally what I feel towards you in my
heart.

"Under cover of law--justice has no part in it--a great wrong has
been committed, and you are deprived of a position to which all
honest-minded men believe you were fairly elected.

"Knowing you as I have had good opportunity of doing, and the
earnestness and truthfulness of purpose which were the incentives
to your every action, and your courage to carry out what you deemed
to be the path of duty irrespective of consequences to party or
persons, I am led to deplore the finding of the electoral commission
as a national misfortune--an injustice done to the whole country in
greater measure, if possible, than to yourself.

"The good seed of reform which you have sown has not fallen on stony
places; it has taken deep root in the hearts of the people, and will
bring forth its fruit in due season. Time will show you that you
are loved, trusted, and appreciated, and although the people have
at this time been denied the pleasure of seeing you enjoy the noble
gift they had bestowed upon you, depend upon it, my dear sir, this
pleasure on their part has only been postponed for a season.

"With unswerving confidence and sincere friendship,

  "Believe me very respectfully,
  "A. E. ORR.

  "_Thirty-seven Tompkins Pl., Brooklyn._"


HOWARD POTTER TO TILDEN

  "_March 3d, '77._

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I avail of the leave which you gave
me, when we met the other afternoon in the street-car, to urge
you, now that the campaign is ended in which the Democratic party
has 'lost all but honor,' to give them a few valedictory words of
counsel and encouragement, and the country some words of admonition
and warning.

"You have been the leader of that party, and it seems to me that you
owe it--at least to its 'rank and file'--some such acknowledgment
of a support which was in the main everywhere honest, devoted, and
given upon grounds such as must be just those upon which such a man
as you are would desire to be supported.

"And what an opportunity this is to say something which the country
may ponder!

"What to say no one knows so well as yourself--who have been one of
the keepers of the true Democratic 'sacred fire'; and you may be
sure that everywhere throughout the land whatever you may say will
be read attentively by men of all parties.

"But I won't enlarge. It seems to me that it is a great opportunity
to do your party and the country a lasting service, and I have not
known how to refrain from urging you again to avail of it. I am,
with sentiments of the highest esteem and regard,

  Yours faithfully,
  "HOWARD POTTER.

  "_Hon. S. J. Tilden, &c., &c._"


GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN TO TILDEN

  "ST. JAMES HOTEL, BALTIMORE, _March 5, 1877_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I do not doubt that you are
overwhelmed with letters just now from your many friends; but
I cannot refrain from adding one to the number, to express my
intense disappointment that you are not to-day the '_de facto_,'
as you truly are the '_de jure_' President of our country. I _did_
believe that the justices of the Supreme Court would, in a case of
such vital interest, rise high above all party trammels, carefully
ascertain the facts of the case, administer the law with equity and
consistency, and hold to the doctrine that fraud must vitiate the
acts it was employed to accomplish. I am deeply grieved to find
that these justices can, after all, be mere politicians--no better
than the least patriotic of the tribe. I regret sincerely that your
labor of the last four months has met with such a result, but my
confidence in your patriotism is such that I am very sure that, so
far as personal considerations are concerned, you will feel the
disappointment far less than your friends do for you.

"You will not consider it a liberty if I congratulate you--or rather
the party--upon the dignified and high-toned course you have pursued
in the midst of the difficulties surrounding you.

"I am sure that we agree in the belief that the worst feature of
this memorable business is that open fraud should be triumphant,
and that through such means the control of a corrupt party should
again be fastened upon our country. I do not know that I am capable
of judging dispassionately of the future, but it now appears to me
that that future is black indeed, when another than yourself--the
honestly elected--holds to-day the name and powers of President.

"Under you I thought the future of my country would be bright and
happy: now, I do not care to look beyond the evils of the day--for
they are sufficient.

"With sentiments of the highest respect,

  "I am, sincerely, your friend,
  "GEO. B. MCCLELLAN."


HON. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS TO TILDEN

(THE STAMP OF FRAUD FIRST TRIUMPHANT IN AMERICAN HISTORY)

  "BOSTON, _5th March, 1877_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--On this day when you _ought_ to have been
the President of these United States, I seize the opportunity to
bear my testimony to the calm and dignified manner in which you have
passed through this great trial.

"It is many years since I ceased to be a party man. Hence I have
endeavored to judge of public affairs and men rather by their merits
than by the names they take. It is a source of gratification to me
to think that I made the right choice in the late election. I could
never have been reconciled to the elevation by the smallest aid of
mine of a person, however respectable in private life, who must
forever carry upon his brow the stamp of fraud first triumphant in
American history.

"No subsequent action, however meritorious, can wash away the
letters of that record.

  "Very respectfully yours,
  "CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS."


HON. ABRAM S. HEWITT TO THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE

(HIS MOTIVES IN SUPPORTING THE ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL)

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _March 3_.

"GENTLEMEN,--The last act of the executive committee was
the announcement to the people of the United States that Samuel J.
Tilden was elected President, and Thomas A. Hendricks Vice-President.

"This announcement was followed by a scurrilous pronunciamento
from the national Republican committee, claiming the election of
Hayes and Wheeler. The power to determine the result resided in
Congress; but grave differences of opinion, threatening the peace
of the country, existed as to the lawful methods of procedure,
and the constitutional rights, and the duties of the two Houses
in the premises. Committees were therefore raised in both Houses
to consider the question, and to confer with each other as to
legislation proper to be adopted in order to secure a declaration
of the result without confusion and public disorder. The Senate
committee had practically perfected a bill for this purpose before
the House committee met with them in conference. This bill had
received the assent and approval of the three Democratic Senators
serving on the committee.

"To have rejected this settlement would, necessarily, have produced
division in the Democratic party, and been fatal to its immediate
and future success. On the other hand, the bill itself seemed to
be so wisely framed in its main features, that the judgment of the
Democratic members of the House committee gradually confirmed the
action of the Senate committee, and, with some changes which were
deemed favorable to the Democratic position, the Electoral bill
was approved by all the Democratic members of both committees, and
was duly reported and became a law by the vote of a large majority
of the Democratic members of both Houses, and was approved by the
general judgment of the country.

"The result has disappointed the hopes of every lover of his
country. By decisions abhorrent to the natural senses of justice,
all proof of fraud was ruled out, and the States of Louisiana and
Florida have been counted for Hayes, although all fair-minded men
concede that they voted for Tilden. This grievous wrong and its
authors I have denounced on the floor of the House, and I have no
hesitancy in declaring that, for the first time in our history, the
Presidency has been awarded to a candidate who has no just title to
its honors.

"But he comes into office as the result of the operation of a law
which received the support of the Democratic party, and any attempt
to resist its operation would, it seems to me, only deprive us
of the support and sympathy of all conservative and fair-minded
citizens.

"Inasmuch as difference of opinion exist in regard to the policy
which has been pursued by the Democratic party since the election,
and prior to the meeting of Congress, I have only to say that so far
as my action is concerned, whatever has been done has received the
approval of the executive committee and of the only persons outside
of their number who had any right to be consulted.

"An absurd statement has been widely circulated that had declared
that 'I preferred the inauguration of Hayes to the shedding of
a single drop of blood.' A leading Democratic journalist, who
could at any time from his position as a member of the House of
Representatives, have ascertained the truth, has circulated this
false statement in a letter over his own initials, although it ought
to have been known to him that I had contradicted it in a card,
widely copied, immediately after its publication. The only remark
which I ever made on this subject was in private conversation, not
intended to be repeated, and was to the effect that 'I would prefer
four years of Hayes' administration to four years of civil war';
and upon this declaration I am willing to stand, because four years
of civil war would, in my opinion, utterly destroy constitutional
government for this generation at least.

"It has also been insinuated that my course has been affected by the
ownership of a large amount of United States bonds. It is enough for
me to express the regret that I am not so fortunate as to own any of
these desirable securities, and to state that all my means are, as
they always have been, used in giving employment to the working-men
of this land, suffering so severely from the maladministration of
its public affairs.

"I have also been censured for assenting to the completion of the
count in accordance with the provisions of the law which I helped
to frame, and which received my cordial approval and my vote. As an
honorable man, I do not see that any other course was open to me,
but if honor had permitted otherwise, my judgment is that it was the
wisest course for the country, as well as for the Democratic party,
to proceed in accordance with the law to the orderly completion of
the count, although we knew that it would result in the installation
of Hayes into an office to which he had no honest right, except
such as might be deprived from the unjust decisions of a tribunal
which we had helped to create. My reasons for this conclusion are
as follows: If the count had been defeated, and the bill to provide
for a vacancy in the office of President had become a law, a new
election would have taken place in November next: meanwhile the
office of President would have been filled by a Republican chosen by
the Senate. The whole power of the administration would therefore be
under the control of the Republican managers. In order to succeed
they must hold on to South Carolina and Louisiana, which would
necessarily involve sustaining by force the usurping governments of
Chamberlain and Packard, with all their unlawful excrescences in the
way of unscrupulous returning boards. The patience of the people
of these two unhappy States is utterly exhausted. They would break
out in open rebellion against a government thus forced on them,
and continued in power by the armed forces of the United States.
Civil war would result. The Federal government would re-enforce
itself with all the troops at its command; the other Southern States
would naturally rush to the aid of their suffering sister States;
the safety of the colored as well as the white population would be
endangered; and a call would be made for volunteers and militia
from the Northern States to suppress the rebellion, and thus the
flames of civil war would be lighted all over the Union, in the
midst of which a free election would be impossible, and a military
despotism take the place of civil government. This generation would
pass away before the country would recover from the disastrous
consequences of such a fratricidal strife.

"In comparison with the evils of anarchy, or of a government
of force, which alone could prevent anarchy, four years of
usurpation--but usurpation in accordance with the forms of
law--seemed to me by far the lesser evil. Besides, we have not yet
tested the judgment of the people as to the great outrage upon all
justice and right which has been perpetrated. There is no reason
to suppose that it will be sanctioned by the popular voice, but if
it should be we could not hope to save them from usurpation and
despotism by force used against the judgment of a majority of the
people.

"To me, therefore, on the one side was anarchy and civil war,
inevitable and disastrous of all the hopes of free government; on
the other side was peace and order, with free speech, a free press,
and the ballot-box still preserved to us.

"Under the circumstances, I could not hesitate as to my course. I
felt that, as a patriot and a trusted servant of the Democracy,
no other course was left open to me, and I feel sure that its
wisdom will be indicated by the early and triumphant success of the
Democratic party, standing, as it does, upon the rock of justice and
patriotism, from which no amount of passion or provocation has been
able to move it.

"For myself, I feel that I have now completed the duty which was
assigned to me at St. Louis. The result of the campaign was the
unquestionable election of our candidates. That they and the people
have been defrauded of their rights is true, but for this result I
do not hold myself any more responsible than any other member of
Congress upon whom rested the duty of counting and declaring the
votes.

"In the course of my very brief public experience, I have already
found that my usefulness as a Representative in Congress has been
seriously impaired by my position as chairman of this committee, and
I had long since determined to ask to be permitted to retire from it
as soon as the result of the election was definitely ascertained.
The unforeseen complications which arose have necessarily compelled
me to postpone the execution of this intention until the present
time. Now, however, that all impediments to my retirement are
removed, I beg to be released from further service as your chairman,
and, thanking you for the honor you have conferred and for the
confidence which you have uniformly manifested in my efforts to
promote the success of Democratic principles, I have the honor to be,

  "Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
  "ABRAM S. HEWITT.

  "_To the National Democratic Committee._"


WHAT GRANT THOUGHT OF IT

[_From the New York "Sun," March 7, 1877._]

"There are some interesting facts connected with the Louisiana
election which it does not seem necessary to keep secret any longer.

"When Mr. Hewitt had his celebrated interview with President Grant
on the 3d of December last, just before the beginning of the recent
session of Congress and before the Returning Board of Louisiana made
its final declaration, the President said that in his opinion there
had been no fair election in that State, and that the electoral
votes of Louisiana ought not to be counted at all upon either side.

"'But,' asked the President, 'are you going to buy the Returning
Board?' Mr. Hewitt assured him that the Democrats had no such
purpose; that they would not buy the Presidency.

"Grant knew that the Returning Board and the Presidential election
were for sale because Wells' agent had told him so; and it was
natural for a man of his cast of mind to suppose that where the
office of President was to be sold for money there would be an
active competition for the purchase."


SENATOR FRANCIS KERNAN TO TILDEN

  "WASHINGTON, _March 12th, 1877_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I expected to get over to New York and have
a chat with you last week, and hence did not write you. Moreover,
I was not in a frame of mind to write, and am not yet. We have
been wronged out of the fruits of the last Presidential election.
You were clearly and fairly elected by the people, and Hayes has
been counted in. This is hard to bear patiently, and the mass of
our party feel deeply aggrieved--indeed, they are so disappointed
and irritated that a great many of them are disposed to find fault
with what was done, and to believe that something more successful
could have been devised. Notwithstanding my disappointment at the
decisions of the commission, I am of the opinion that from the
standpoint we judged and voted when we supported the bill creating
the commission, we acted patriotically and wisely--unless the two
Houses came to some arrangement as to 'counting' the electoral
votes; it looked then as though they would disagree and come to a
dead-lock; and the result would have been that the Senate would,
under some form of proceeding, have declared Hayes and Wheeler
elected; the House would have declared there was no election
by electoral votes, and would have elected you President, and
opponents were in possession and would have sustained Hayes and
Wheeler, and civil war would probably have been the result. This
would have entailed great evils on the mass of the people, and
might have destroyed the government it was intended to preserve.
My judgment was and is that what seemed then a reasonably fair
tribunal to decide the question involved, was better than the risk
of evil to our people and our system of government. Civil war is
the last remedy of a people for political wrongs, and should not be
inaugurated till every peaceful remedy has failed. But I will write
no more on this subject; when we meet, I shall want to talk the
matter over fully.

"I think we shall get away from here the last of this week or early
next. The new administration will try to win popular favor and turn
attention from the title by which it came to power by good conduct.
I believe it means to reform some of the graver abuses which marked
the administration under General Grant. I hope it will succeed in
doing so. The country needs peace, and to end self-government at the
South, and honesty and economy everywhere. I am not very sanguine,
but I hope for the best.

  "Very truly yours,
  "FRANCIS KERNAN."


LOUISE LIVINGSTON HUNT TO TILDEN

  "MONTGOMERY PLACE, _May 4th, 1877_.

"DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I did not go to New Orleans after
all, but I have just had a letter from there of which I think
I must copy a few lines to send you, because they are so full
of genuine heart-felt enthusiasm for yourself. They are from my
brother--who, I think I told you, first mentioned at our own table
here his conviction that you would and ought to be candidate for
the Presidency. I had written him recently an account of the three
cheers for Louisiana given by Mr. Hewitt's guests in New York on the
day of the withdrawal of the troops. Mr. Bayard told me all about
it, and I was touched to the heart at the generous feeling that
prompted the cheers from the defeated Democrats--and their _great
leader_. I mentioned the circumstance in writing to my brother, and
here is his answer. 'I read with much pleasure your account of the
entertainment where Mr. Tilden was present. The fact is I have felt
so strongly his merit, his services, and his patriotism that I want
him to be next President. I was, in the beginning, of the first
among his friends, and I remain, after the dread experience of the
past, where I commenced. Sometimes I am puzzled to think he did not
favor an uprising of the people to seat him. _I did!_ Was it because
he was wiser that he did not speak when he might have said, _"Vous
qui m'aimez suivez moi!"_ I hope so.' 'Yes,' he goes on to say, 'God
be praised--the men who have so long oppressed Louisiana are gone.
Once more the State breathes free, and, filled with hope of the
future, trusts to be again happy and prosperous.'

"I know that these sentiments will not be read by you with
indifference, although from one you know not at all.

"I am, as you see by my date, in this spot, which I have loved so
dearly from infancy. The snow-storm in the far West has made it
cold, but the air is sweet with the fragrance of early spring.
The events of each day is the newspaper, and how dull the papers
seem after the excitement of the past year. Can't you stir up the
elements again? If I dared I could point the way, but perhaps you
think women know nothing of politics and would not heed the Sybil!

"With great regard, believe me,

  "Very truly yours,
  "LOUISE LIVINGSTON HUNT."


W. B. LAWRENCE TO TILDEN

  "OCHRE POINT, NEWPORT, _May 26, 1877_.

"DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I write to remind you, before you
contract any engagements elsewhere, of your promise to pass
here so much of the summer as may be agreeable to you. I have
only my two unmarried sons with me; and I shall be most happy to
place my house at the disposition of yourself and friends. If the
ladies are willing to encounter the inconvenience of a bachelor's
establishment, it would give me great pleasure to receive them. I
shall be ready for you at any time that you may name.

"I was glad to learn from a long letter, which I had a few days
ago from Judge Field, that the suggestion of which you spoke to
Judge Clifford of a submission of the electoral vote to a more
impartial tribunal than the Supreme Court, after the recent action
of some of its members present, is seriously entertained with a hope
of success, and I cannot but flatter myself that Blaine and his
adherents, in order to divert the patronage from Hayes to be used
against him in 1880, may be willing for such a change in the law
of _Quo Warranto_ as, through the action of Florida and Louisiana,
may enable you to assume the title, with which I have ventured to
address you, before the period named by Judge Clifford for the
vindication of popular rights.

  "I am, yours very truly,
  "W. B. LAWRENCE."


THE NEW YORK "WORLD" AND JOHN BIGELOW (1877)

"A correspondent of the _World_ called upon Mr. Bigelow at his
residence at Highland Falls yesterday, and in the course of his
visit the following conversation took place:

"REPORTER. Mr. Bigelow, I understand that you prepared the
volume published by the Appletons, in December, 1877, called the
_Presidential Counts_, and particularly the analytical introduction
prefixed to it, containing what was deemed to be at the time a
semi-official Democratic view of the precedents and practice of the
government applicable to the counting of the Presidential vote. Also
that you were in frequent communication with Mr. Tilden, and in
complete possession of his views and purposes during that crisis.

"MR. BIGELOW. You are correctly informed, so far as that
publication is concerned.

"REPORTER. You doubtless read the story related recently by
Mr. Mines in the _World_, and derived by him from General Woodford.

"MR. BIGELOW. I saw that publication, and glanced over its
contents.

"REPORTER. The _World_ would like to know whether at
any time under the then existing facts of the case, Mr. Tilden
entertained any purpose of taking the oath of office as President of
the United States?

"MR. BIGELOW. That question seems to me to have been
fully answered by the analytical introduction about which you have
inquired, and which in its general scope--though, of course, not in
every detail nor in its particular expressions--may be supposed to
represent the doctrines entertained by Mr. Tilden in common with
the most eminent jurists and statesmen of the country. I do not
undertake to speak for Mr. Tilden, or in any peculiar sense as his
representative, but the very nature of the views expounded in the
analytical introduction necessarily defined the cases in which it
would have been lawful and proper for Mr. Tilden to have taken the
oath of office as President, and by inevitable implication the cases
in which it would have been unlawful and improper for him to have
done so.

"There were two contingencies in which it would have been lawful
and obligatory on Mr. Tilden to have taken the official oath as
President:

"_First._ If Congress had performed its constitutional duty of
counting the electoral votes, and had declared that Mr. Tilden was
chosen by the electoral colleges.

"The two Houses of Congress have all the powers of verification of
the electoral votes which the Constitution or the laws supply or
allow. Nobody else in the Federal government has any such powers.
This exclusive jurisdiction of the two Houses has been exercised
without interruption from the beginning of the government. It is
known to all those who come in contact with Mr. Tilden at this
period that he concurred in this view of the powers and duties of
the two Houses of Congress themselves to count the electoral vote.
He was perfectly free and unreserving in the expression of his
opinions on this subject.

"This contingency, however, never presented itself. Congress,
before the time fixed by the law for counting the electoral votes,
passed the Election bill wherein they substantially abdicated their
powers, and enacted that the electoral commission should in the
first instance make a count, and that its count should stand, unless
overruled by the concurrent action of the two Houses. The electoral
tribunal counted Mr. Tilden out, and counted in a man who was not
elected. Congress did not overrule their count; consequently, the
false count stood as law under the act of Congress.

"_Secondly._ The other contingency in which it would have been
lawful and obligatory on Mr. Tilden to have taken the oath of office
was, that the House of Representatives on the failure of a choice
of President by the electoral colleges had itself proceeded to make
the election, voting by States in the manner prescribed by the
Constitution.

"This contingency, like the first one, never occurred.

"The House of Representatives has by the express language of the
Constitution, jurisdiction, if no person has a majority of the
electoral votes, to make the election itself.

"The right of the two Houses to count the electoral votes,
and to declare that any person has a majority, is a matter of
implication, precedent, and practice. But the right of the House
of Representatives to supply the failure of a choice is a matter
of positive and express constitutional provision. It is not only
a right, but a duty. The provision is mandatory. The House is a
witness in the opening of the certificates. It is an actor in
counting the votes by its own tellers and in its presence.

"Having such means of knowledge as to the facts, enabling it to
ascertain whether a choice has been made by the electoral colleges,
it is also expressly vested with a power and duty to act exclusively
and conclusively in the event that no person be found to have been
chosen by a majority of the votes of those colleges. The House
acquires jurisdiction by the fact specified in the Constitution.
The assent of the Senate to the existence of that fact is nowhere
prescribed or required. No judgment, certification, or act of
any official body is interposed as a condition to the assuming
of its jurisdiction by the House. When the House has once acted
in such a case, no review of its action nor any appeal from its
decision is provided for in the Constitution. It is difficult to
see why the House in such a case, like all tribunals of original
jurisdiction and subject to no appeal, is not the exclusive judge
of the fact and the law on which its jurisdiction rests. It was
the fear that the Senate might lead a resistance to the rightful
judgment of the House, and that General Grant would sustain this
revolutionary policy with the army and navy and the militia of the
great States in which the Republicans had possession of the State
Governments that deterred the assertion of the rights of the House
of Representatives, and induced its vote for and acquiescence in the
electoral commission.

"But without speculating upon causes or motives, one thing is
certain. The House of Representatives did not elect Mr. Tilden
in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. On the other hand,
it did concur with the Senate in anticipating and preventing the
contingency in which it might have had to act, and in providing
beforehand an expedient which was to make its own action in
supplying the failure of an election by the colleges impossible.
It adopted the electoral law and went through all the forms of
the electoral scheme. True, it afterwards passed a declaratory
resolution condemning the action of the electoral commission,
and asserting that Mr. Tilden had been duly elected. But the
Constitution had not provided that a man should or could take
office as President on a declaratory resolution of the House of
Representatives. If that resolution could have had full effect to
abrogate the electoral law which the House had assisted to enact it
would have still been a nullity as an exercise of the constitutional
power of the House to elect. It created no warrant of authority to
Mr. Tilden to take the oath of office.

"I have been somewhat long in answering your question, because the
matter is one of importance. I might have disposed of your question
more briefly by simply saying that no contingency provided by the
Constitution ever existed in which Mr. Tilden could lawfully or
properly take the oath of office as President. The idea that Mr.
Tilden ever thought of taking the oath of office illegally is, in my
judgment, quite as preposterous as is the other idea that he would
have omitted to take it if any contingency had arisen in which it
was his right or duty to take it, or that any menace would have
had the slightest influence in preventing his performing his whole
obligations to the people. I will venture to say that if it had been
his right and duty to take the oath, he would not have done so at
the City Hall in New York surrounded by the forces which, according
to Mr. Mines, General Woodford pictured to his imagination, but
at the Federal capital, even though he had known that he would be
kidnapped or subjected to a drum-head court martial five minutes
afterwards. It is doubtless true that revolutionary ideas were
entertained by the hierarchy of office-holders in possession of the
government. General Grant did utter menaces in published interviews,
and did make a display of military force in Washington to overawe
Congress. I presume this was a part of the system of intimidation
for which he allowed himself to be used by the office-holders and
which was intended to act upon public opinion through the fear
of disturbance as well as upon Congress. But it is safe to say
that whatever other effects they produced they did not prevent
Mr. Tilden from taking the oath of office, which he never had any
lawful authority to take, in the absence of such action on the
part of the House of Representatives as would have fulfilled the
conditions prescribed by the Constitution. The fear that he would do
so, inducing the Republicans to swear their candidate into office
privately on the Saturday previous to the commencement of the term
of office besides repeating the ceremony at the inauguration, was
born of a consciousness that causes the wicked to flee when no man
pursueth. I was aware that about that time Mr. Tilden's home was
besieged by emissaries of the press and the telegraph to know if
the rumors to that effect which prevailed in Washington were true.
This was a species of curiosity which, I believe, Mr. Tilden did not
consider it any part of his duty to relieve."


A TALK WITH MR. TILDEN

[_From a Special Correspondent of the "World," July 17, 18--_]

  "SEA GIRT, N. J., _July 16_.

"Governor Tilden, as some time ago announced in the _World_, will
sail in the Cunard steamer _Scythia_ Wednesday, and is to be
accompanied by Secretary of State Bigelow. The trip is purely for
recreation, and the travellers will not return until the middle of
October. Mr. Tilden, therefore, will be absent from the country and
State during what is expected to be the interesting fall campaign.
The fact that Mr. Bigelow is to accompany him will perhaps satisfy
the politicians and set at rest the question of his renomination
as Secretary of State. I have learned while here, authoritatively,
that Mr. Bigelow is not and will not be a candidate before the
approaching State convention of New York for a renomination.

"Mr. Tilden is looking remarkably well, and declares himself to
be very much improved in health by his sojourn at this pleasant
resort. He said to me that his trip has no connection whatever with
any business enterprise or railroad scheme, as has been announced
without authority in some of the papers. As to the events which
have happened since the Presidential election and the numerous wild
rumors circulated in reference to his political intentions, Mr.
Tilden talked very freely. In regard to the electoral commission, he
said that he had never had any real confidence in the arbitration of
a question where there was so much at stake by a body of that kind.
That settlement, he said, involved not only the Presidency, but all
the patronage and power of the Federal administration, together with
all the schemes, plans, and jobs connected with it. The Republican
party and the men who had managed it in the past were too anxious to
retain the administration to yield any point in an arbitration. The
result of the electoral commission, therefore, was what might have
been expected considering the power and influence brought to bear
upon the political majority of that body as finally constituted.

He furthermore never liked the scheme as a matter of principle,
believing that the true direction of a Democratic appeal was
not away from 369 representatives of the people towards fifteen
individuals, and still less from fifteen individuals towards one
to be selected necessarily with a large element of chance, not to
say of trick and device. He thought there should rather have been
an appeal from the 369 representatives to the 8,000,000 of voters
through a new election. He was distrustful of the secrecy, celerity,
and improvidence with which the arrangement was carried through
and ushered into being. But the proposition appealed to the hopes
of the business classes, which were anxious above all things for a
settlement of almost any kind, at almost any price, and as it was
presented by the unanimous report of the joint committee, it become
the representative, and the only representative, of the public
desire for peace.

"The events which are now attracting so much public attention in New
Orleans and the disclosures which, perhaps, may follow, Mr. Tilden
seemed to consider only as the logical outcome of the revolutionary
acts of last fall and winter. 'In a government like ours,' he said,
'such fraudulent practices as were reported from New Orleans last
November sooner or later must come to the light, and the guilty
parties with their practices must be made known. It was so with the
ring frauds in New York; it has been the case to a certain extent
in Washington, and a like result will follow in New Orleans. It is
against the natural course of events that deeds of this kind should
ultimately fail of being brought to light in all their enormities.'
All this was said with philosophic calmness and without any heat
whatever.

"In regard to his own political future, Mr. Tilden had nothing to
say except that he could not see any possible contingency which
could induce him to be a candidate for or to seek an election to a
seat in the United States Senate. He felt entirely confident of the
success of the Democratic party this fall in all the large central
States, and especially in New York, by a very large majority,
believing that events were all pointing in that direction. To the
charge that he has been seeking to control the nominations of the
next Democratic State convention of New York, he gave a direct
denial, and added that he thought it unwise to interfere in any way
as between the numerous friends who are seeking position on the
State ticket. His absence abroad during the time for holding the
convention and selecting the delegates would, he said, preclude any
interference on his part. He thought, however, that the drift of
public sentiment was towards a new ticket altogether, with none of
the present incumbents upon it. He hoped that the ticket would be so
made up as to be recognized as thoroughly able, strong, and upright.
He appeared to be specially anxious that the Democracy should secure
a majority in the next State Senate, in order that the evils which
have been brought about by Republican control of that body might be
corrected.

  H. C."

Mr. Tilden spent the summer of 1877 in Europe. On his return he was
serenaded by the Young Men's Democratic Club, on which occasion he
made a brief speech, in the course of which he said, according to
the New York _Tribune_ of October 26, 1877:

     "The increase of power in the Federal government during the
     last twenty years, the creation of a vast office-holding class,
     with its numerous dependents, and the growth of the means of
     corrupt influence, have well nigh destroyed the balance of
     our complex system. It was my judgment in 1876 that public
     opinion, demanding a change of administration, needed to embrace
     two-thirds of the people at the beginning of the canvass, in
     order to cast a majority of the votes at the election. If this
     tendency is not arrested its inevitable result will be the
     practical destruction of our system. Let the Federal government
     grasp power over the great corporations of our country and
     acquire the means of addressing their interests and their
     fears; let it take jurisdiction of riots which it is the duty
     of the State to suppress; let it find pretexts for increasing
     the army, and soon those in possession of the government will
     have a power with which no opposition can successfully compete.
     The experience of France under the Third Napoleon shows that,
     with elective forms and universal suffrage, despotism can
     be established and maintained. In the canvass of 1876 the
     Federal government embarked in the contest with unscrupulous
     activity. A member of the Cabinet was the head of a partisan
     committee. Agents stood at the doors of the pay offices to
     exact contributions from official subordinates. The whole
     office-holding class were made to exhaust their power. Even
     the army, for the first time, to the disgust of the soldiers
     and many of the officers, was moved about the country as an
     electioneering instrument. All this was done under the eye
     of the beneficiary of it, who was making the air vocal with
     professions of civil service reform, to be begun after he had
     himself exhausted all the immoral advantages of civil service
     abuses. Public opinion in some States was overdone by corrupt
     influences and by fraud. But so strong was the desire for reform
     that the Democratic candidates received 4,300,000 suffrages.
     This was a majority of the popular vote of about 300,000, and
     of 1,250,000 of the white citizens. It was a vote of 700,000
     larger than General Grant received in 1872, and 1,300,000 larger
     than he received in 1868. For all that, the rightfully elected
     candidates of the Democratic party were counted out, and a great
     fraud triumphed, which the American people have not condoned
     and will never condone. [Prolonged applause and cheers.] Yes,
     the crime will never be condoned, and it never should be. I do
     not denounce the fraud as affecting my personal interests, but
     because it stabbed the very foundations of free government.
     [Loud cheers.] I swear in the presence of you all, and I call
     upon you to bear witness to the oath, to watch, during the
     remainder of my life, over the rights of the citizens of our
     country with a jealous care. Such a usurpation must never occur
     again, and I call upon you to unite with me in the defence of
     our sacred and precious inheritance. The government of the
     people must not be suffered to become only an empty name." [Loud
     applause.]

     The remainder of Mr. Tilden's address was as follows:

     "The step, from an extreme degree of corrupt abuses in the
     elections to a subversion of the elective system itself, is
     natural. No sooner was the election over than the whole power
     of the office-holding class, led by a Cabinet minister, was
     exhorted to procure, and did procure, from the State canvassers
     of two States, illegal and fraudulent certificates, which were
     made a pretext for a false count of the electoral votes. To
     enable these officers to exercise the immoral courage necessary
     to the parts assigned to them, and to relieve them from the
     timidity which God has implanted in the human bosom as a limit
     to criminal audacity, detachments of the army were sent to
     afford them shelter. The expedients by which the votes of the
     electors chosen by the people of these two States were rejected,
     and the votes of the electors having the illegal and fraudulent
     certificates were counted, and the menace of usurpation by
     the President of the Senate of dictatorial power over all the
     questions in controversy, and the menace of the enforcement of
     his pretended authority by the army and navy, the terrorism
     of the business classes and the kindred measures by which the
     false count was consummated, are known. The result is the
     establishment of a precedent destructive of our whole elective
     system. [Applause.] The temptation to those in possession of
     the government to perpetuate their own power by similar methods
     will always exist, and if the example shall be sanctioned by
     success, the succession of government in this country will come
     to be determined by fraud or force, as it has been in almost
     every other country; and the experience will be reproduced here
     which has led to the general adoption of the hereditary system
     in order to avoid confusion and civil war. The magnitude of a
     political crime must be measured by its natural and necessary
     consequences. Our great Republic has been the only example in
     the world of a regular and orderly transfer of governmental
     succession by the elective system. To destroy the habit of
     traditionary respect for the will of the people, as declared
     through the electoral forms, and to exhibit our institutions as
     a failure, is the greatest possible wrong to our own country.
     It is also a heavy blow to the hopes of patriots struggling to
     establish self-government in other countries. It is a greater
     crime against mankind than the usurpation of December 2, 1851,
     depicted by the illustrious pen of Victor Hugo. The American
     people will not condone it under any pretext or for any purpose.
     [Cheers.] Young men! in the order of nature, we who have
     guarded the sacred traditions of our free government will soon
     leave that work to you. Within the life of most who hear me,
     the Republic will embrace 100,000,000 of people. Whether its
     institutions shall be preserved in substance and in spirit, as
     well as in barren forms, and will continue to be a blessing to
     the toiling millions here and a good example to mankind, now
     everywhere seeking a larger share in the management of their
     own affairs, will depend on you. Will you accomplish that duty
     and mark these wrong-doers of 1876, with the indignation of a
     betrayed, wronged, and sacrificed people? [A voice--'You bet
     we will.' Laughter.] I have no personal feeling, but thinking
     how surely that example will be followed if condoned, I can
     do no better than to stand among you, and do battle for the
     maintenance of free government. I avail myself of the occasion
     to thank you, and to thank all in our State and country who have
     accorded to me their support, not personal to myself, but for
     the cause I have represented, and which has embraced the largest
     and holiest interests of humanity." [Continued applause.]


SOME OF THE SPECIFIC TEMPTATIONS BY WHICH THE ELECTORS OF LOUISIANA
AND FLORIDA WERE DEBAUCHED

[_From the New York "Sun."_]

LOUISIANA

MEN CONNECTED WITH THE RETURNING BOARD.

  _Names._         _Political Employment in 1876._  _Office Held Now._

  J. Madison Wells   President Returning Board      Surveyor Port of New Orleans
  Thos. C. Anderson  Member Returning Board         Deputy Collector Port of New
                                                      Orleans
  L. M. Kenner       Member Returning Board         Deputy Naval Officer
  G. Casanave        Member Returning Board         Brother of U. S.
                                                      Storekeeper, N. O.
  Chas. S. Abell     Secretary Returning Board      Inspector Custom House
  York A. Woodward   Clerk Returning Board          Clerk Custom House
  W. M. Green        Clerk Returning Board          Clerk Custom House
  B. P. Blanchard    Clerk Returning Board          Clerk Custom House
  G. P. Davis        Clerk Returning Board          Clerk Custom House
  Chas. Hill         Clerk Returning Board          Clerk Custom House
  Geo. Grindley      Clerk Returning Board          Clerk Custom House
  Jno. Ray           Counsel for Returning Board    Special Agent Treasury
                                                      Department and Counsel
                                                      for Mr. Sherman
  S. S. Wells        Son of J. Madison Wells        Inspector Custom House
  A. C. Wells        Son of J. Madison Wells        Special Deputy Surveyor,
                                                      N. O.
  F. A. Woolfley     Affidavit Taker                United States Commissioner
  R. M. J. Kenner    Brother Returning Board Kenner Clerk Naval Office


STATE OFFICERS AND MANAGERS.

  _Names._            _Political Employment in 1876._      _Office Held Now._

  Michal Hahn         State Registrar                     Superintendent Mint
  A. J. Dumont        Chairman Republican State Com.      Inspector Custom House
  J. P. McArdie       Clerk to Republican State Com.      Clerk Custom House
  W. P. Kellogg       Governor                            United States Senate
  L. J. Souer         Kellogg's Agent to Buy Mem.
                        of Leg.                           Appraiser Custom House
  W. G. Lane          Kellogg's Agent to Buy Mem.         U. S. Commissioner
                        of Leg.                             Circuit Court, La.
  S. B. Packard       Candidate for Governor               Consul to Liverpool
  Geo. L. Smith       Candidate for Congress               Collector New Orleans
  James Lewis         Police Commissioner, N. O.           Naval Officer
  Jack Wharton        Adjutant-General of Louisiana        United States Marshal
  A. S. Badger        General of State Militia             Postmaster, N. O.,
                                                             $3500; now Collec.
  H. S. Campbell      Chief of Affidavit Factory           United States
                                                             Attorney, Wyoming
  H. Conquest Clark   Kellogg's Secretary (knew of forgery
                        of Electoral Certificates)         Private Secretary to
                                                             Commissioner
                                                             Internal Revenue
  Wm. F. Loan         Chief of Police and Supervisor of
                        Fifteenth Ward, N. O.              Inspector Tobacco
                                                             Internal Revenue
  W. L. McMillan      Canvassed State for Hayes            Pension Agent New
                                                             Orleans, now
                                                             Postmaster


ELECTORS.

      _Names._       _Political Employment   _Office Held Now._
                         in 1876._

  W. P. Kellogg       Elector at Large      United States Senator
  J. Henri Burch      Elector at Large      State Senator
  Peter Joseph        Elector               Clerk Custom House
  L. A. Sheldon       Elector               Counsel for John Sherman
  Morris Marks        Elector               Collector Internal Revenue
  A. B. Levisee       Elector               Special Agent Treasury
                                              Department
  O. H. Brewster      Elector               Surveyor-General


SUPERVISORS AND PERSONS CONNECTED WITH THE ELECTION

      _Names._         _Political Employment in 1876._   _Office Held Now._

  M. J. Grady         Supervisor at Ouachita      Deputy Collector Internal
                                                   Revenue
  Jno. H. Dinkgrave   Manager at Ouachita         Legislature
  H. C. C. Astwood    Manager at Ouachita         Deputy United States Marshal
                       (knew Garfield)
  W. R. Hardy         District Attorney at        Inspector Custom House
                        Ouachita
  Henry Smith         Sheriff of East Feliciana   Laborer Custom House
  Samuel Chapman      Sheriff of East Feliciana   Laborer Custom House
  Jas. E. Anderson    Supervisor of East
                        Feliciana                 Declined Consulship to Funchal
  C. L. Ferguson      Supervisor of De Soto       Captain Night Watch Custom
                                                    House
  J. E. Scott         Supervisor of Claiborne     Money Order Postoffice, N. O.
  B. W. Woodruff      Supervisor of Rapides       Box Clerk Postoffice, N. O.
  L. F. Baughnon      Supervisor of East Baton
                        Rouge                     Laborer Custom House
  W. H. McVey         Supervisor of Franklin      Inspector Custom House
  L. Williams         Supervisor of 16th Ward,
                        N. O.                     Watchman Custom House
  E. K. Russ          Supervisor of Natchitoches  Letter Carrier Postoffice
  F. A. Desionde      Supervisor of Iberville     Night Watchman Custom House
  W. H. Heistand      Supervisor of Tangipahoa    Clerk Custom House
  F. A. Clover        Supervisor of East Baton
                        Rouge                     Assistant Weigher Custom House
  L. C. Lesage        Clerk to Supervisor of
                        East Baton Rouge          Inspector Custom House
  Wm. McKenna         Supervisor of Caddo         Postmaster Shreveport
  A. D. Cornog        Supervisor of Red River     Inspector Custom House
  M. A. Lenet         Supervisor of Lafourche     Laborer Custom House
  Victor Gerodias     Republican Manager of
                        St. Tammany               Tax Collector, N. O.
  A. J. Brim          Republican Manager of 2d
                        Ward, N. O.               Inspector Custom House
  Patrick Creagh      Republican Manager 3d
                        Ward, N. O.               Chief Laborer
  R. C. Howard        Republican Manager 4th
                        Ward, N. O.               Laborer Custom House
  J. C. Peuchler      Republican Manager 5th
                        Ward, N. O.               Laborer Custom House
  W. J. Moore         Republican Manager 7th
                        Ward, N. O.               Gauger Internal Revenue
  Thomas Leon         Republican Manager 8th
                        Ward, N. O.               Gauger Custom House
  T. H. Rowan         Republican Manager 10th
                        Ward, N. O.               Night Inspector Custom House
  A. W. Kempton       Commissioner of the 11th
                        Ward, N. O.               Assistant Weigher Custom House
  L. Backus           Manager of 11th Ward,
                        N. O.                     Police
  Napoleon Underwood  Supervisor of 12th Ward,
                        N. O.                     Inspector Internal Revenue
  P. J. Maloney       Supervisor of 14th Ward,
                        N. O.                     Inspector Custom House
  L. E. Salles        Republican Manager of
                        Lafayette                 Weigher Custom House
  R. A. Herbert       Republican Manager of
                        Iberville                 Superintendent Warehouses
                                                    Custom House
  W. B. Dickey        Republican Manager and
                        Tax Collector, Madison    Inspector Custom House
  Thomas Jenk         Husband to Mrs. Jenks, who
                        swore for John Sherman.   Clerk Mint


FLORIDA

VARIOUS DOMESTIC OFFICERS AND AGENTS.

      _Names._         _Political Employment in 1876._     Office Held Now.

  M. L. Stearns       Governor                         Commissioner Hot Springs
  F. C. Humphries     Elector                          Collector Pensacola
  S. B. McLin         Member of Returning Board        Associate Justice of New
                                                         Mexico (not confirmed)
  Moses J. Taylor     Clerk Circuit Court Jefferson
                        County                         Clerk United States Land
                                                         Office
  Joseph Bowes        Inspector Leon County            Clerk Treasury Department
  W. K. Cessna        Judge Alachua County             Postmaster
  R. H. Black         Inspector Elections Alachua
                        County                         Philadelphia Custom House
  Geo. H. DeLeon      Secretary to Gov. Stearns        Clerk in Treasury
                                                         Department
  John Varnum         Adjutant General                 Receiver Land Office
  Chas. H. Pearce     Elector
  James Bell          Changed tickets, Jefferson
                        County                         Timber Agent
  Manuel Govin        Republican Manager of Monroe     Consul to Spezia
  ---- Phelps         Political Manager                Secretary to McCormick at
                                                         Paris Exposition
  E. W. Maxwell       Detective in employ of
                        Republican Visiting Statesmen  Lieutenant in Regular
                                                         Army
  P. G. Mills         Telegrapher who gave news about
                       Democratic dispatches           Treasury Department
  W. G. Purman        Republican Member of Congress    Sister in Treasury,
                                                         dismissed when he said
                                                         he considered Tilden
                                                         elected
  Dennis Eagan        Chairman Republican State Com.   Timber Agent
  L. G. Denni         Republican Manager of Alachua    Treasury Department. Removed and
                                                         published affidavit
  J. W. Howell        Manager false return from Baker  Collector Fernandino


VISITING STATESMEN.

  John Sherman        Visiting Statesman, La.  Secretary Treasury
  John M. Harlan      Visiting Statesman, La.  Justice Supreme Court
  Stanley Matthews    Visiting Statesman, La.  Senator from Ohio
  James A. Garfield   Visiting Statesman, La.  Administration candidate for
                                                 Speaker
  Eugene Hale         Visiting Statesman, La.  Offered Postmaster-Generalship
  E. W. Stoughton     Visiting Statesman, La.  Minister to Russia
  John A. Kasson      Visiting Statesman, La.  Minister to Austria
  Samuel Shellabarger Visiting Statesman, La.  Messrs. Hayes and Sherman's
                                                 Private  Counsel
  John Coburn         Visiting Statesman, La.  Commissioner Hot Springs
  E. F. Noyes         Visiting Statesman, La.  Minister to France
  Lew Wallace         Visiting Statesman, La.  Governor of New Mexico
  John Little         Visiting Statesman, La.  Attorney-General, Ohio

The following officers of the Government were in Florida during the
Presidential canvass, drawing their regular salaries, looking after
the canvass:

  Thomas J. Brady     Second Assistant Postmaster-General
  ---- Peyton         Assistant in Attorney-General's Office
  H. Clay Hopkins     Special Agent Postoffice Department
  Wm. Henderson       Special Agent Postoffice Department
  Z. L. Tidball       Special Agent Postoffice Department
  B. H. Camp          Special Agent Postoffice Department


SPECIAL AGENT

  Wm. M. Evarts                              Secretary of State

     The sum total per annum which these men who counted Hayes in
     receive is $254,115, which will amount in the four years that
     Hayes must remain _de facto_ President to $1,022,460.


STEPHEN J. FIELD TO TILDEN

  "WASHINGTON, _Dec. 11, 1877_.

"DEAR SIR,--I did not forget, on my return to Washington,
the promise I made in New York to send you the copy I have of
Judge Bradley's letter explaining his action on the electoral
commission, but for some days I could not find it. Having now found
it, I enclose it to you, and also an extract from an article which
appeared in the Newark _Daily Advertiser_ about the same time, and
to which the judge evidently refers in his letter.

"The language of the letter[21] justifies some of the comments of
the press upon the change of views which the judge experienced
shortly before the vote was taken in the Florida case.

  I am, very sincerely yours,
  "STEPHEN J. FIELD."

  [21] Judge Bradley's peculiar if not exclusive responsibility for
  counting Mr. Hayes instead of the candidate chosen by the people
  into the Presidency is more clearly set forth in a communication
  of the writer entitled, "The Supreme Court and the Electoral
  Commission: An Open Letter to the Hon. Joseph H. Choate," first
  published in the New York _Sun_, on the 19th July, 1903, and later
  in a pamphlet by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.


DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN JUDGE FIELD'S LETTER

[_Justice Bradley to the Newark "Daily Advertiser" and the Electoral
Commission._]

The _Sun_ gives Bradley's letter in full as follows:

  "'STOWE, VT., _September 6_.

  "'EDITOR "ADVERTISER."

"'SIR,--I perceive the New York _Sun_ has reiterated its
charge that after preparing a written opinion in favor of the Tilden
electors in the Florida case and submitting it to the electoral
commission, I changed my views during the night preceding the vote
in consequence of the pressure brought to bear upon me by Republican
politicians and the Pacific Railroad men, whose carriages, it is
said, surrounded my house during the evening. This, I believe, is
the important point of the charge. Whether I wrote one opinion
or twenty in my private examination of the subject, is of little
consequence and of no concern to anybody. The opinion which I
finally gave was the result of my deliberations without influence
from outside parties. The above slander was published some time
since, but I never saw it until recently, and deemed it too absurd
to need refutation. But as it is categorically repeated, perhaps I
ought to notice it. The same story about the carriages of leading
Republicans and others congregating about my house was circulated
in Washington at one time, and came to the ears of my family only
to raise a smile of contempt. The whole thing is a falsehood. Not
one visitor called at my house that evening, and during the whole
sitting of the commission I had no private discussion whatever of
the subjects at issue with any person interested on the Republican
side, and but few words with any persons. Indeed, I zealously
sought to avoid all discussion outside the commission itself. The
allegation that I read my opinion to Judges Clifford and Field
is entirely untrue. I read no opinion to either of them, and
have no recollection of expressing one; if I did, it could only
have been suggestively, or in a hypothetical manner, and not for
committal of my final judgment or action. The question was one of
great importance to me, of much difficulty and embarrassment. I
earnestly endeavored to come to a right decision, free from all
political or extraneous considerations. In my private examination
of the principal question, about going behind the returns, I wrote
and rewrote the arguments and considerations on both sides as
they occurred to me, sometimes being inclined to one view of the
subject and sometimes to the other, but finally I threw aside these
lucubrations, and as you have rightly stated, wrote out a short
opinion, which I read in the Florida case during the sitting of the
commission. This decision expresses the conviction to which I had
arrived, and which after a full consideration of the whole subject
seemed to me a satisfactory solution of the questions; and I may
say that the more I have reflected since, the more satisfied have
I become that it was right. At all events, it was the result of my
own reflections and consideration, without any suggestions from
any quarter, except the arguments adduced by counsel in the public
discussion and by members of the commission in private consultation.
As for the insinuation contained in a recent article published in a
prominent periodical by a noted politician, implying that the case
was decided in consequence of political conspiracy, I can only say
that from the peculiar position I occupied on the commission I am
able positively to say that it is utterly devoid of truth, at least,
so far as the action of the commission itself was concerned. In that
article the writer couples my name with the names of those whom he
supposes are obnoxious to the public odium. The decencies of public
expression, if nothing more, might well have deterred so able a
writer from making personal imputations which he did not know to be
well founded.

  "'Yours respectfully,
  "'JOSEPH P. BRADLEY.'


  "NEW YORK, _September 6th_.

"The _Sun_ regards Bradley's letter as a confession, and calls for
his impeachment.


"JUDGE BRADLEY HEARD FROM

"An explanation has at last been offered in behalf of Judge Bradley
respecting his alleged misconduct as a member of the electoral
commission. It is found in the columns of the Newark _Daily
Advertiser_, a journal with which he is known to maintain relations
of unusual intimacy, and is in the following language:

     "'It is just as well that the full fact should be known as a
     matter of history. Judge Bradley had already decided, in the
     Florida case, that he could not go behind the returns of the
     State officials. In the Louisiana case, he finally, and, after
     anxious thought, held to the same opinion, but of two sets of
     returns he chose the one he thought most authentic and legal.
     That elected Hayes. As to the doubt whether Judge Bradley
     could have prepared a written opinion on one side while he
     was expressing different opinions orally on the other, the
     facts are worth telling, and we dare to assert them without
     any other authorization than our challenge that they cannot
     be contradicted. The morning before the opinion was given,
     Senator Edmunds had guessed out Judge Bradley's decision, but
     he did not know it. Up to that time, as we understand, the
     opinions delivered had been oral. There may have been one or two
     exceptions. At the session next day, Senator Edmunds whispered
     to Judge Bradley that as the opinion he was to give was to be
     decisive, it ought to be in writing. The argument had not then
     closed. Bradley accepted the suggestion, and, sitting at his
     place, dashed down the decision on paper within an hour, in
     the presence and during the debate of his colleagues. He was
     subsequently urged to enlarge the argument, but it stands in the
     printed report just as it was then written. And therefore Judge
     Field is very correct in saying that Judge Bradley did not, at
     any time before, "read" to him an opinion.'"


H. F. TYLDEN TO TILDEN

  "CUMBERLAND HOUSE, CHILHAM, N. CANTERBURY,
  _26th March_ (_1878?_).

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I sent you the fly-leaf of an old
Bible, in my possession, the year after you left England. It was
scribbled over with the word 'Catts' in different places, and had
the names of several Tyldens--John, Richard, and Henry and a Mary.
The Bible was published in 1559. I was sent the accompanying rude
verse, which is supposed, in the last line, to refer to the change
in the spelling of the name Tylden, and Catts is again mentioned,
as if it were the home from which the Tyldens said 'Good-by' when
they were going across the water. I have painted the writing over,
as it was so indistinct. A man living in Ashford had it in an old
receipt-book. I wonder if that house we went to see near Tenterden
could have been Catts? There is a farm called Cat's Farm quite close
here, but I don't think it can be the one alluded to, though Sir
John Fagge, whose palace adjoins Chilham Park originally spelt the
name Fogge (or rather his ancestors did), and evidently the book of
receipts originally belonged to some one of that name. We hope your
party arrived quite safely in New York. Some day I shall ask you to
send me all their photographs, as we wish to get all the Tildens and
Tyldens in a book together.

"Katie was thought like one of your nieces by some of the people
here who saw them walk up the village. I don't know which it was.
Dick is still quartered at Woolwich; he was at home for three
weeks lately, and Katie much enjoyed riding about with him. We
are now having a little winter, snow falling. I am suffering from
inflammation of the eyes. The state of Ireland is a great worry to
me for many reasons. I can't tell you how we always think of you,
and wonder if we shall meet again.

"I should very much like to send you the Bible of which I sent you
the fly-leaf. I think it might be interesting to you. Messrs. Morgan
were your agents when you were here. I might find out from them how
to send it. Katie joins me in love and kind remembrances to your
nieces.

"Believe me to be, dear Governor.

  "Very sincerely yours,
  "H. F. TYLDEN."

(Enclosure.)

  "Kentish Tyldens like to ratts
  Have crossed water fleeing Catts
  Lo, every ratt that said Good-bye
  Has turned a tail into an eye.

  "J. FOGGE,
  "_Halden_.
  1713."


General William Preston to S. J. Tilden

  "LEXINGTON, KY., _30 March, 1878_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--The kindness and interest you have
shown towards my son in New York are very deeply felt by me,
apart from the great aid you gave him in commencing his life in
an untried field. Through your influence he has commenced his
career under excellent auspices, but I can readily discern from our
correspondence that the social and fashionable attractions of the
city can have left him but little time for reading and work. This
he tells me very frankly in his letters, but I have indulged in no
long admonitions or remonstrances, because you must give a young
horse head sometimes to keep him to the course. As I know you have
equestrian tastes, you must pardon my illustration. But whilst I
observe this plan, I do not wish my son to run with a loose rein nor
swerve from the course. I know he has honor, truth, and courage,
and I hope he will be a true gentleman and useful citizen in after
life. Although wealth and distinction in the intellectual world
are desirable, they are not, to my mind, paramount objects. I was
brought up with old-fashioned ideas that honest military renown
and oratorical distinction were first, and rather inclined to the
thought '_Ratio ab oratio sunt arma hominis acutiora ferro_,' but it
seems that taste is not hereditary; or, at least, I fear it is not.
The course he is pursuing is rather in obedience to my own advice
than his inclinations.

"But I sat down to write only a few lines of thanks to you, and I
am trespassing on your time. Wickliffe writes me that he will be
with you, or at your house, on Monday, and if you can write me a few
lines so that I may know how he is getting along in New York, you
would confer upon me a great personal favor.

"I pray you to present my kind remembrances to your sister Mrs.
Pelton and to the ladies, and to believe me.

  "Very truly and sincerely,
  "Your friend,
  "W. PRESTON."


Whitelaw Reid to S. J. Tilden

  "23 PARK AVE., _April 4, 1878_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR,--I want you to advise me in a matter which
interests you, since you have promised to come to my dinner to
Bayard Taylor at the Union League Club on the evening of the 10th
inst. I invited Mr. O'Conor, and am sure, from the tone of his
reply, that he would like to come. He declines, however, basing
the refusal on the belief that I cannot, and ought not, keep the
entertainment private, and that he is anxious for the remainder of
his days to avoid any agency in public displays.

"You know him so well that you can tell me in a word whether it
would be discreet for me to write again endeavoring to remove
his objection. The dinner is to be limited to about twenty (the
table will only seat twenty-five), and I am not going, under any
circumstances, to admit any reporter. It will be absolutely as
private as it is ever possible to have anything of this sort.

"Mr. O'Conor's letter is so evidently sincere in tone, and I have
been so desirous, anyway, to have him present, that I venture to ask
your advice as to whether I should try again.

"Forgive the bother, and believe me

  "Very truly yours,
  "WHITELAW REID."


TILDEN TO HON. CHARLES CAREY

  "NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY MORNING, _June 5th, 1878_.

"DEAR MR. CAREY,--I received your telegram late last
evening, and answer by mail because the telegraph is leaky.

"My appreciation of Mr. Henderson has been so manifest that I need
not say how competent I deem him, or that he may fairly be classed
among those from whom a choice is to be made.

"But I am totally uninformed of the views of Governor Robinson. He
may, for aught I know, have a purpose already formed; and he is
always independent and persistent. I think it would be advisable
for you to learn the situation as fully as possible before making
our friend a candidate, whom you do not wish to expose to a
failure. Perhaps you had better go down to Albany quietly and get
what information you can. The attempts of the Republican press,
when Governor Robinson first came in, to create an impression
(utterly unfounded in fact, as everybody who knows his independent,
self-poised, and firm nature must see) that he occupied to me a
relation of dependence, was intended to wound him and his friends,
as well as to misrepresent me; and induced me to adopt the rule of
not recommending anybody, or anything to him, of my own motion, or
unless he had occasion to consult me, which he seldom, if ever, has
any need to do. Under that rule of delicacy and respect, I am less
advised of his ideas than might be supposed.

  "Very truly yours,
  S. J. TILDEN."


S. S. COX TO TILDEN

  "HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _June 17th, 1878_.

"DEAR SIR,--In rummaging over and burning up the documents
which have accumulated through twenty years' service, I found your
old pamphlet, which gave to me many lessons during our perilous
days before and during the war. Thinking that it might be of more
interest to you now than to one who has learned it by heart, and
knowing how valuable, after many years, are one's own thoughts for
memory and suggestion, I cannot refrain from tendering it to you--if
only for a retrospect. It may be more useful to you than to myself.

"We are just closing up the long session. You will see by my last
vote, all alone from New York--though for one, if alone--I would
never consent to quiet bad title, even though technically legal.
The worst things that I have ever known in public life have been
statutory.

"If ever the devil took a walk upon earth, according to Coleridge's
poem, he took more delight in seeing a bad lawyer cheating by
_statute_ than by any other mode.

  "Yours with respect,
  S. S. COX."

"P. S.--Excuse the _mutilations_; you can see that I have used the
pamphlet in various ways and at various times. The clippings are
significant.

"_Vide_: 'Logical result after disunion--'

"P. S.--This is an interesting as well as curious coincidence,
and will please you, I am sure; so I have told Mr. Cox to let his
friendly and charming letter go to its destination. As I wrote you
on Friday, Keith was the only speaker on the right side--but there
were some staunch men who stood by him. I shall get to see you
Wednesday morning, when I shall hope to be able to make our visit to
Mr. O'Conor.

  Sincerely,
  H. W."


ARPHAXED LOOMIS TO TILDEN

  "LITTLE FALLS, _August 4, 1878_.

"HON. S. J. TILDEN,--I write to express to you the
gratification I have felt on reading the _exposé_ in this morning's
_Argus_, by Mr. Marble, of your opinions and course in respect to
the memorable arbitration for the Presidency. The common sense of
public opinion pointed in the same direction. Moral courage and
firmness from the start in the House would most certainly have
secured a just result.[22] The perpetrators of the wicked fraud
would have cowed. If Grant's military _penchant_ had brought in the
use of arms, the rash resort and its consequences would be for the
other side to answer for. But timid counsels prevailed. Your friends
consented to arbitrate whether your coat belonged to you or to Mr.
Hayes--they had, moreover, the weakness to confide in the fair
professions of the other side, so far as to give them a majority of
the arbitrators.

  [22] This remark was confirmed to me by a very competent authority.
  In June of 1877 Mr. James G. Blaine was one of the Inspectors of
  the United States Military Academy at West Point. He spent an
  afternoon with me at my residence in the immediate neighborhood,
  and the action of the Electoral Tribunal, among other things,
  became naturally enough a topic of conversation. He said, with some
  emphasis, "I was surprised at the time that the Democrats consented
  to the Electoral Tribunal," and added in substance--I cannot pretend
  to recall his exact words--that if they had remained firm it could
  not have succeeded.

"I am glad to learn by Mr. Marble's _exposé_ that you gave no assent
to the arbitration, but took your stand upon the true legal and
constitutional ground. And in this expression I believe a great many
of your friends concur. When the decision was made, by a tribunal
appointed by law, it was too late to revolt. Concurrence was then
the only manly course.

  Sincerely yours,
  "ARPHAXED LOOMIS."


TILDEN TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE LOUISVILLE INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION

  "NEW YORK, _Aug. 25, '78_.

"GENTLEMEN,--It would give me the greatest pleasure if I
were able to attend the exposition to which you do me the honor to
invite me.

"I am not a stranger to the excellence of the agricultural
industries of Kentucky. I have derived from them the favorite
horses which I have used for out-of-door exercise, and should be
delighted to see the best specimens of the Kentucky stock in the
beautiful region where they were nurtured.

"Two months ago I returned from a brief visit of rest and recreation
to the British Isles. I brought with me a vivid impression of the
yet unappreciated value of the cereal products of the Mississippi
Valley. I felt thankful that we have a sun in our heavens which, in
the season of agricultural growth, pours down daily floods of light
and warmth, making the earth prolific, giving abundance and variety
of fruits, assuring the wheat crop, yielding cotton in its zone,
and ripening corn everywhere, even to the verge of the farthest
north. Take, for instance, the single product of Indian corn which
forms one of the staples of Kentucky. It is the most natural and
spontaneous of our cereal products. It ought to give in our country
an annual yield of 1,500,000 bushels, or three times the whole wheat
crop. It is little inferior to wheat in nutrition, and costs less
than one-half on the seaboard and much less than one-half on the
farm. It can be cooked by those who consent to learn how, into many
delicious forms of human food. It is the most valuable sustenance of
animal life. It ought to become the basis of an immense traffic with
the British Isles, where the scantiness and economy of food strikes
the American traveller, with the contrast to the immense abundance
and wasteful consumption of our own people.

"Almost as I write, I notice a late statement that the exports of
our country for the year past have been nearly $250,000,000 in
excess of our imports. This result is mainly due to the development
of our agricultural industries. It is a cheering indication that
amid the pressure and distress we are laying the foundation of a new
and real prosperity by the energies of our farmers.

"I regret that involuntary engagements render it impossible that,
on the present occasion, I should be a personal witness of the
attainments of our agricultural industries."


TILDEN AND A "WORLD" REPORTER

(WHY HE DID NOT TAKE THE OATH AS PRESIDENT)

  "_1878-9._

"Last Friday evening a reporter of the _World_ visited Mr. Tilden
in his Gramercy Park mansion, and was accorded a brief interview in
the commodious and well-appointed library of that distinguished
gentleman. Mr. Tilden looked well, and conversed with all his
old-time fire and interest.

"'Of course, I have come to see you by instructions respecting the
story that General Woodford related to Mr. Mines, and that the
latter gentleman has related to the public through the _World_.'

"'I have not read it through. A friend told me of its substance this
morning while I was down-town. But I am averse to talking about
these insignificant matters.'

"'Nothing can be insignificant, Mr. Tilden, that concerns your
relations to the Presidency or its relations to the public. What
the _World_ mainly wishes to know is whether or not you at any time
purposed taking the oath as President.'

"'At any time'--musingly. 'Certainly, if the House had declared me
elected. Then I should have had a certificate--a title. But after
the electoral scheme, which I always opposed, was complete--although
advised that I might so as to raise the question--I never for a
moment entertained the idea of taking the oath of office either
in Washington or in New York or elsewhere. It would have been
ridiculous. I have no evidence of title then--no claim--no warrant.'

"'Then you do not believe General Grant intended to arrest or detain
you?'

"'How can I tell what General Grant intended? All I can tell you
is what I intended as the representative of the people who, by
nearly half a million majority on the popular vote, elected me their
President.'

"'Is there anything more in the story you would wish to speak of?'

"'I have not thoroughly read it. Besides, as the pivot of the story
is my intention to challenge an issue by taking the oath of office,
is not the story substantially disposed of when I tell you that
there is no real pivot?'"


WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER TO TILDEN

  "TRINITY BUILDING, NEW YORK, _June 23d, 1879_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN,--I was very glad to find that
no obstacle presented itself in the way of your completing the
arrangement for hiring Mr. Waring's place at Yonkers, and the
prospect of numbering you and your household among our residents is
a very gratifying one to me. I have lived nearly fourteen years in
my little suburban home there, and am satisfied that I have warded
off serious dangers to my own health and that of my family by the
change from city to semi-country life. I believe Yonkers to be in
every respect the most desirable suburb of New York, and I trust you
will conclude to purchase Mr. Waring's property on which I know a
vast sum has been well expended. I hired my house when I first went
to Yonkers, but in less than sixty days bought it, in the belief
that whether I remained or not it was a safe property, and I have
never regretted the purchase.

"Hoping to see you soon in our neighborhood,

  "I am, yours sincerely,
  WM. ALLEN BUTLER."

       *       *       *       *       *

For some time previous to the receipt of the foregoing note, Mr.
Tilden had been encouraged by his medical advisers to provide
himself with a country home conveniently accessible from the city,
where he would secure as many hygienic advantages from its situation
as possible. He had been assisted by Mr. Trevor, himself an old
resident at Yonkers, in selecting a property in that city which was
for sale, and bore the name destined to become famous--"Graystone."
He leased it at first, but before his lease expired completed the
purchase of it. To the original purchase, he added several adjoining
properties in subsequent years. The cost of his purchases and
improvements at Yonkers may be stated with sufficient precision as
follows, and possesses a certain historic interest:

ESTIMATE OF COST OF PROPERTY AT YONKERS

   1879.    Original Purchase:
  June 25.  To cash paid Mutual Life
              Insurance Co                    $3,000 00
  Sept. 4.  To cash paid Mutual Life
              Insurance Co                   119,162 26
  Sept. 5.  To cash paid taxes                12,544 77
  Sept. 5.  To cash paid J. F. Waring          3,500 00
  Sept. 5.  To cash paid J. F. Waring         11,792 97--$150,000 00
  Improvement (?)                                          48,208 91
  Baldwin Property, purchase                               55,198 40
  Baldwin Property, improvements                              546 02
  Clark Property, purchase                                 12,266 38
  Other plot                                               10,521 10
                                                         -----------
      _Forward_                                          $276,779 81

      _Carried forward_                                  $276,779 81

  Work on Greenhouse:
    Lord Hort Mfg. Co.                       $49,611 50
    Stewart, mason                               635 83
    Plumbing, painting, concreting, etc.         685 12
    Labor, blasting, and digging               4,696 21
    Supplies, chairs, bedding, etc.              102 87--  55,731 53
  Wall in front of Greenhouse                                 945 62
  Gardener's Cottage                                        3,045 88
  Farmer's Cottage                                          6,849 38
  Additions to barn                                           703 27
  Plumbing                                                 18,964 55
  Allowance Stone Stable                                    1,500 00
  Furniture                                                19,269 05
  Furniture Baldwin House                                   1,600 00
  Plants in Greenhouse                         8,901 89
  Plants outside                                  75 25--   8,977 14
                                                        ____________
                                                         $394,327 23


JOHN BIGELOW TO HON. WILLIAM H. PECK, EX-SECRETARY OF STATE OF
MICHIGAN

  "NEW YORK, _Febry. 28th, 1879_.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,--In your last note you ask me if Tilden
will be in the field for the Presidency in 1880.

"That is a question which, I presume, no one, not even Tilden
himself, could answer categorically at present. I can express to you
my own conviction, and you may take it for what it is worth.

"Mr. Tilden has scarcely been in a position at any time, since the
election, to consult his own tastes or personal comfort in this
matter; if he had been, I think he would have notified his friends
immediately upon his return from Europe in 1877 that they must
look for another leader. He forbore to take that step, because
he shared the popular belief that he was the President-elect of
the United States, and that he was thereby clothed with certain
responsibilities to his party at least, anomalous and unprecedented
it is true, but which were of the gravest character and which it was
impossible for him to put off.

"He was still the commander in the midst of a campaign in which
he had defeated the enemy, but had not yet realized the fruits of
victory. To leave his soldiers in the field and in the presence of
the enemy without a leader was a step which would not stand the test
of a moment's reflection. Washington could, with equal propriety,
have resigned his command after the battle at Yorktown and delivered
his sword to Cornwallis, instead of himself taking the sword of the
British general.

"Such a procedure on Mr. Tilden's part would have practically
disarmed the Democratic party and compelled its surrender at
discretion. What in 1877 would have been only compromising
subsequent events would now make disgraceful. Conscious that they
had come into office by criminal processes, and that Tilden was the
choice of the people, the administration has exerted all the powers
of the Federal government in the effort to reconcile the country
with this result by defaming and maligning the character of Mr.
Tilden, and persecuting him, if possible, out of public life.

"In the latter purpose, they would probably have succeeded had Mr.
Tilden been a poor man, and dependent upon his profession for his
daily bread.

"Mr. Tilden could easily accommodate himself to the choice of any
good man for the Presidency, for it is no vulgar ambition which has
led him to accept the prominence which his party has given him, but
he cannot be expected to make the slightest concession that involves
his personal honor. He will defend that as long as he has a drop of
blood in his body, whoever may stand by him or desert him. Of this
you may feel perfectly assured.

"Now, I do not see how it is possible for Tilden, under the
circumstances, to withdraw from the canvass for 1880; and just so
far as it seems impossible for him to withdraw, it seems impossible
for his party to assent to his withdrawal.

"There are three questions which must take precedence of every other
in the next national convention.

"1. Was Tilden elected by the people in 1876?

"2. Was Hayes counted in by corrupt and fraudulent means?

"3. Has Tilden done anything since the election to forfeit the
confidence of his party or of the nation?

"Its answer to these three questions will exercise a controlling
influence over its final action.

"On the proofs already in the possession of Congress, I venture to
say that there could not be found a jury of twelve disinterested and
unbiased freeholders in the land who would hesitate to hold---

"_First._ That Tilden was elected President by the people.

"_Second._ That he was deprived of the office by fraud; and,

"_Third._ That the charges of attempting to purchase electoral
votes are not only not proven, but that they are the foul offspring
of the most ruffianly and rancorous partisanship.

"To take another candidate in 1880 is to admit that Tilden was
never the choice either of his party or of the country, and that he
was unworthy of the support of either. It is to sanction the base
conspiracy by which the people were defrauded of their choice. It
is to lie down under the degrading imputations by which, through
Tilden, the conspirators have sought to humiliate and demoralize his
party.

"Can you believe for a moment that the Democratic party is or can be
reduced to such extremities?

"The calumnies which have been propagated against Tilden will rather
strengthen than weaken him as a candidate if renominated. They will
be fatal to any other candidate, and for the obvious reason that any
other candidate would have to contend with the practical admission
of his party that it had presented and supported a candidate at
the last Presidential election who was unworthy of its own or the
country's confidence, and whom they had in consequence deliberately
abandoned.

"Such an admission would be fatal, and the more surely fatal both
because it would be an act of the most flagrant injustice to Mr.
Tilden, and because the responsibility for such an act of political
brutality would be directly traceable to the unreasonable ambition
of men whose first duty it should be to sustain and defend him.

"It is, therefore, a vital necessity for the party to vindicate
itself no less than Mr. Tilden, while to desert him would be as
much more disastrous to the former as the interests of a nation are
greater than those of any individual citizen however eminent.

"I do not think there are many people in the Democratic party so
dull as not to see this, or so wanting in loyalty to a brave and
successful leader as not to feel that they themselves will have to
suffer most by deserting the man who has endured three years of
unparalleled persecution rather than desert them.

"To you I need not dwell upon other obvious reasons for renominating
Tilden--I need not remind you of what he has done for the
Democratic party during the last fifty years, and especially since
1874; I need not tell you how he has stood and stands to-day, like
Saul in Israel, a head and shoulders above all his countrymen as a
statesman and party-leader; of the impossibility of our carrying
his native State for any other candidate whose nomination must of
necessity be an insult to him and to it; of the vast power and
promise treasured up in the political personality, which for several
years has enjoyed the distinction of concentrating upon itself the
hostility and malignity of all those classes and parties which it
has always been the paramount effort and duty of the Democracy to
subdue or to exterminate.

"Independent of these obvious, though on that account none the
less important, considerations, and looking solely to the special
questions which for the first time in our history will confront
the next national Democratic convention, I do not see how it can
hesitate to renominate Mr. Tilden by acclamation unless he refuses
to be a candidate. Nor do I see how, under the circumstances, he
can refuse to be a candidate. I have never heard him express any
determination upon the subject, but I think it safe to presume
that if he had not intended to be a candidate again he would have
purchased the peace and repose which such an announcement would have
procured him long before this, and when such a step was beset with
fewer difficulties than at present.

"That I have not incorrectly interpreted the drift of public
sentiment on this subject, I send you a copy of the Albany _Argus_
containing five or six columns of extracts from the leading
Democratic journals of nearly every State in the Union. They show
how much more logically the people generally are reasoning upon the
subject than many who aspire to lead them. These journals, as you
will see, almost unanimously recognize not only the expediency, but
the necessity of renominating Mr. Tilden. Yours faithfully,

  JOHN BIGELOW."

  "_Hon. William H. Peck._

       *       *       *       *       *

The universal conviction that Mr. Tilden was going to receive the
votes of the nation for President in 1876 compelled Mr. Hayes, or
his official dependents in Washington, to begin, in the fall of
that year, a campaign of defamation against the one who promised to
become General Grant's inevitable successor.

Mr. Tilden's public services and character, and the expressions
of popular favor with which the press was teeming, left the
administration no resource but calumny.

The prosperity which he had enjoyed in the prosecution of his
profession during the years succeeding the election of Mr. Lincoln
to the Presidency inspired the suspicion that he had become a man of
far greater wealth than he had yet realized; and through the control
which the administration could exert over the machinery of the
Federal courts, they hit upon the device of charging him with giving
false reports of his income to their officers.

Without any proof except their corrupt suspicions, they directed
the United States District Attorney at New York to institute
proceedings for the recovery of the income supposed to have been
illegally withheld. By such a proceeding they not only expected to
subject Mr. Tilden to enormous expense in reproducing records of his
professional income reaching back fifteen or twenty years, but to
hold him up, in the press, at least, until after the election or his
retirement from public life, as a defaulter to the government and as
a perjurer in his returns of his professional earnings.

This suit moved along very leisurely, but actively enough to keep
the subject and the victim of it before the public during the
election. Later on they realized that its partisan uses not only had
not been exhausted, but were more important than ever to them; for
the fraudulent means by which Mr. Tilden had been deprived of the
office to which he was elected made him apparently the inevitable
candidate to succeed Mr. Hayes.

In due time the weakness of their machinations could no longer be
concealed, and in the winter of 1878 they were obliged to confess
that they never had any testimony on which to go to trial in support
of their caluminous allegations; but to keep the charge alive in
the servile prints of the administration, they filed a "bill of
discovery" to extort from Tilden himself proof of their infamous
charges. It was in consequence of this aggravating persecution that
Mr. Tilden invited Mr. O'Conor to assist in his defence, which led
to the following correspondence.

The history of this vexatious and vicious prosecution will be found
in ample detail from its initiation, in 1876, to the government's
ignominious retreat, in 1882, in the _Biography of Tilden_, p. 225.


O'CONOR TO TILDEN

  "_March 20, 1879._

"DEAR SIR,--As I never accept retainers,[23] you will
pardon me for returning the enclosed.

  "Yours truly,
  CH. O'CONOR."

  "_Hon. Samuel J. Tilden._

  [23] This I afterwards learned from Mr. O'Conor's own lips was
  his invariable practice. He never asked pay for his professional
  services until he had earned it.


MEMORANDUM OF CASE FOR O'CONOR'S OPINION

  "_March, 1879._

"A copy of the draft of the Bill of Discovery intended to be filed
in the United States Circuit Court is submitted. It is for discovery
merely, and is in aid of a common-law action pending in the district
court. The complaint in that action is also submitted.

"Some of the questions on which Mr. O'Conor's opinion is desired in
the first instance are the following:

"First.--If to the Bill of Discovery a plea, or an answer in the
nature of a plea, should be made denying the right of action of the
United States in the suit in the district court, and, consequently,
its claim to a discovery on the ground that the quasi judicial
determination of the assessor as to the amount of the tax, and the
satisfaction of the judgment rendered by him are conclusive against
the United States, and if the Circuit Court should overrule that
point and grant the discovery, would that decision of the Circuit
Court be a final judgment on which an appeal would lie to the
Supreme Court?

"Second.--Would that appeal probably be effectual to obtain the
rulings of the Supreme Court on the main question of the controversy?

"First.--If to the Bill of Discovery a plea, or an answer the
defendant's income was in excess of the amount found by the assessor
to be his income, calls on the defendant to state on oath every item
of income during ten years, and every item of deductions therefrom
and many items of receipts which are not income. There is no
proposition between the foundation and the superstructure.

"What are the rules applicable to such a case?

"The interrogatories are not even limited to taxable income, but
would involve accretions of value which are not taxable.

"Can the objection (_a_) that there is not any proper foundation for
any interrogations? (_b_) that an interrogatory is too broad? (_c_)
that an interrogatory relates to a matter in which the plaintiff has
no interest or concern, as, for instance, to a subject not within
the tax laws--can such objections be taken by way of special plea if
we prefer that mode?

"The opinion or advice on the first and second questions is more
emergent--the others can be dealt with later."


CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

  "_Monday, Mar. 24, 1879._

"DEAR SIR,--I have your note requesting me to examine some
questions touching a bill of discovery. No papers accompanied it
except the original complaint and a copy of the bill.

"This controversy has been some time in the courts. The law case
is at issue, and arguments and a judgment have been had in it. The
nature and merits of the law case should be understood by any one
who would venture to advise in the equity case.

"It is true that I could investigate all this matter from the
beginning without aid from any one; but, considering that you have
had counsel in the law case, it seems to me that a statement from
them, with points referring to statutes and authorities, might
be put into my hands with advantage. As this might facilitate my
researches, it would expedite my conclusion and you indicate a
desire for speed.

  "Yrs. respy.,
  "CH. O'CONOR."


TILDEN TO O'CONOR

  "NEW YORK, _March 25th, 1879_.
  "TO CHARLES O'CONOR.

"MY DEAR SIR,--The action of the United States in the
income tax case is a common-law action. The complaint has been sent
to you.

"The substance of the plea is that the defendant had been assessed
by the proper officers of the United States. The tax and penalties
fixed and the amount collected by the government. A copy of the plea
will be sent to you, but the above is the substance of it.

"The question argued before Judge Blatchford in the district court
was on the point raised by the defendant that the action of the
government officers was quasi judicial, and their determination
conclusive and exclusive.

"The points of the defendant are sent herewith.

"In this state of things the District Attorney proposes to file a
bill of discovery to obtain the facts which shall establish the
right of action.

"It is understood that the District Attorney desires, if possible,
to have the judgment of the Supreme Court on the main question. But
that purpose may, perhaps, be regarded as confidential.

"The advance sheets of the bill of discovery intended to be filed,
which had been informally furnished to one of the defendant's
counsel, have also been sent you.

"The first point upon which your opinion has been asked is
whether, in case we plead to the bill of discovery, that the
plaintiff is barred as to his right of action by the quasi judicial
determinations of the officers, and has no right to discovery by
reason of having no right of action, and that plea is overruled by
the Circuit Court, the decision will constitute such a judgment as
will be appealable to the Supreme Court.

"There are other questions, but this is the most immediate.

"I write this note to give you information at once without the delay
incident to getting the counsel together to write out a case for
submission.

  "Very truly yours,
  "(Signed) S. J. TILDEN.

  "Hon. Charles O'Conor."


TILDEN TO GEORGE W. CLINTON

  _"August 26, 1879._

"DEAR JUDGE,--I thank you for your kind letter.

"The life I am leading with out-door exercise and physical activity
alternated with rest has left me little time for correspondence
after I get through with other calls upon my attention. But I none
the less appreciate intercourse with such men as yourself. Nor do
I forget that there are three generations since my ancestors were
first allied to the great founder of your family, amid the trying
scenes which attended our national independence, and the formation
of a genuine government of the people.

"You are quite right in the impression that I would not think it fit
for me to run for _Governor_ at the coming election. The reasons
against it are conclusive.

"In the first place, I don't want to add to the burdens I have had
and now have connected with public affairs.

"In the second place, although I do not expect to be installed in
the Presidency to which I was elected, I deem it due to the four and
a quarter millions of voters who have been defrauded of the fruits
of their suffrages, that I should not, during the term for which I
was chosen, do anything inconsistent with their moral right.

"In the third place, I should not like to be a convenience to
the dictation to the Democratic State convention that they
must surrender their choice if it be Governor Robinson, whose
administration has deserved so well of all good citizens.

"I have not time to dilate on these topics, but I do not doubt that
you and I will think the same things concerning the Republic.

"It will give me great pleasure to hear from you whenever you find
time to write me, and I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you
personally.

  "Very truly yours,
  "(Signed) S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO JOHN GILL, JR., CHAIRMAN

  "NEW YORK, _September 27, 1879_.

"GENTLEMEN,--I have received the letter of the Democratic
executive committee in the city of Baltimore inviting me to attend a
mass-meeting at the Maryland Institute on the 29th inst.

"It would give me great pleasure to meet so respectable a
representation of the Democracy of Maryland, but my engagements will
deprive me of that gratification.

"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.'

"Mr. Tilden: 'Every one of these statements is totally false; no one
of the three pretended interviews ever happened. I never sent either
of the two letters attributed to me; I never referred any agent
bearing such a proposition to Mr. Brown or to Mr. Anybody else. All
the details concerning the package of money being sent and recalled
and my conversations respecting it also are wholly destitute of
truth. They are simply a fabrication from beginning to end.'"


GEORGE L. MILLER TO S. J. TILDEN

  "_Personal and Confidential._

  "'HERALD' OFFICE, EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT,
  "OMAHA, NEB., _Dec. 26th, 1879_.

  "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Pardon a preliminary statement before I
reach the main object of this letter.

"Since I last saw you I have met the slanders circulating against
you, to the effect that you were seeking a second nomination to
the Presidency by corrupt and other means, by saying in my paper,
as a matter of my own opinion, that you would neither seek nor
accept such nomination. I have also said, on my belief in Governor
Seymour's sincerity, that _he_ would not accept a nomination to
the Presidency. I now want to give you some news for your special
information.

"I have a letter from a leading Democrat of Oneida County who has
peculiar facilities for getting at the 'true inwardness' that
Horatio Seymour will not decline a nomination to the Presidency. He
will not write any letters forbidding the use of his name, and if
he is interviewed at all the result will be uniformly that which
was recently seen in the New York _Times_. He will not change front
exactly. No one will be authorized to say he will consent to run,
but it will appear that the Governor's health is greatly improved,
and that he was never better in his life, and nothing authentic will
be got from him to show that he would not accept a nomination.

"I said this is sent to you as _news_. It may not be such to _you_.
But the information I get is such a great surprise to _me_ that I
could not rest without sending it to you.

  "I am, most truly yours,
  "GEORGE L. MILLER."


JOHN A. McCLERNAND TO TILDEN

  "SPRINGFIELD, ILL., _Jany. 27th, 1880_.

  "EX-GOVERNOR SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--There is no other motive for this communication
than a patriotic one. Its purpose is not to intrude counsel or to
invite confidence. A common interest upon a subject of vital public
concern is its only warrant.

"The fundamental right of the people to choose, according to
constitutional forms, their Chief Magistrate has been violated in
your person. This fact devolves upon every true Democrat and, no
less, upon you as their representative, the solemn and binding
duty of redressing the wrong. In no other way can that duty be
so effectually performed as by renominating and re-electing the
old ticket. The masses are emotional and sentimental rather than
metaphysical. They feel that the old coach stands ready to be
hitched to, and that, that done, a safe and prosperous journey is
before them.

"If anything like a concerted appeal to the country had been
sustained by its leading Democratic press, the renomination and
reelection of the old ticket would have resulted by an overwhelming
vote. Nor is it too late now to amend the omission, notwithstanding
the supervening complication of the late New York elections. Putting
the latter upon a salient issue of _principle_ and _faith_: whether,
indeed, the organization and voice of the Democratic party in that
State shall prevail, or whether a predatory faction of bolters shall
be allowed to dominate both. Such an appeal ought and, I think,
would meet with an approving response from true and tried Democrats.

"The bolters failing to retrace their steps, what else is left but
for a strong and emphatic demonstration to be made declaratory of
the above issues. Pardon my boldness. I deem it advisable, nay,
necessary, for you to lead the way in a speech or paper couched in
such form and terms as you may consider appropriate, and as will be
effective to ring throughout the land. A leader who is demonstrative
will always find followers.

  "Very respectfully,
  "Your obt. sert.,
  "JOHN A. MCCLERNAND."


JOHN BIGELOW TO G. PITMAN SMITH

  "58 E. 34TH ST., NEW YORK, _March 10, 1880_.

  "HON. G. PITMAN SMITH.

"DEAR SIR,--Mr. Tilden has shown me your favor to him of
the 25th ult., and desires me to thank you for its friendly counsel.
In complying with his wishes, I will take the liberty of adding a
few words on my own account for which I trust my cordial sympathy
with the manifest objects of your communication will be a sufficient
apology.

"There is no one in this country, I suppose, who can suffer more
from a popular misunderstanding of his motives than Mr. Tilden, but
circumstances constrain him, no less now than heretofore, to leave
the vindication of his conduct as the leader of his party in the
last Presidential contest to its good sense and its love of justice.
There has been no time when he could participate in any public
discussion of the methods finally adopted for counting the electoral
vote, without appearing to criticise the conduct of statesmen
standing high in the confidence of the Democratic party and whose
patriotism is above suspicion. That alone would be a sufficient
reason with him for maintaining silence, and for declining to make
of what might seem to some a personal grievance a provocation of
unprofitable party dissension.

"But in my judgment he had another and a better reason. He knew
that whenever, if ever, it should become necessary for the people
of the United States to pass judgment upon his conduct during and
subsequent to the canvass of 1876 they could not fail to acquit him
of any responsibility for its final result.

"The logic of nations is far more rigorous than that of the
individuals composing it, and it would be doing the understanding of
the American people great injustice to suppose they cannot see that
there was no time when Mr. Tilden could have taken any step towards
seizing the Presidency with any color of right or with any prospect
of success. There were just two contingencies, and only two, in
which it would have been lawful and obligatory on Mr. Tilden to take
the oath as President of the United States.

"The first one would have been presented if Congress had performed
its constitutional duty: had counted the electoral votes, and
declared Mr. Tilden the chosen of the electoral colleges. The duty
of verifying the electoral votes is given by the Constitution to
the two Houses of Congress and to them only; it has always been
exercised by them at the choice of every previous President from
the foundation of the government. It was known to all who came in
contact with Mr. Tilden--for he was unreserved in the expression of
his opinion upon that subject--that in his view this power and duty
of Congress was lodged nowhere else.

"The two Houses of Congress, however, did not see fit to exercise
that power nor to discharge that duty, and as a consequence this
contingency in which it would have been proper for Mr. Tilden to
take the official oath never presented itself. Before the time
fixed by law for counting the electoral votes, Congress passed
the electoral bill by which they practically abdicated in favor
of a tribunal unknown to and, in my judgment, unknowable by the
Constitution, and enacted that the electoral commission should in
the first instance make the count, and that its count should stand
unless overruled by the concurrent action of the two Houses. This
electoral tribunal counted Mr. Tilden out, and counted in a man
who was not elected. Congress did not overrule their count, in
consequence of which the false count stood as law under the act of
Congress.

"The only other contingency in which it would have been obligatory,
or even lawful, for Mr. Tilden to have taken the oath of office was
in case of a failure in the choice of President by the electoral
colleges, the House of Representatives had itself proceeded to make
the election, voting by States in the manner prescribed by the
Constitution and pursued in the election of John Q. Adams.

"This contingency, like the first, never presented itself, and,
both failing, any attempt on the part of Mr. Tilden to seize the
Presidency by violence would have been not statesmanship, but simply
brigandage.

"Courage is too common a virtue among Americans for any one to make
a boast of it, and the lack of courage too rare to explain the
conduct of any body of representative men. At the same time, there
is no doubt that if there was any place where a special display of
heroism could have prevented the defeat of the popular choice and
installed the elect of the people in the Presidential chair, that
place was the floor of Congress. I suppose I say nothing which any
Democratic member of that Congress will be disposed to dispute when
I state that it was the fear that the Senate would lead a resistance
to the rightful judgment of the House, and that President Grant
would sustain this revolutionary policy with the army and navy, and
with the militia of the great States in which the Republicans had
possession of the State governments, that deterred the House of
Representatives from the assertion of its rights, and induced its
vote for and acquiescence in the electoral commission.

"But without speculating upon the causes or motives for such
vote and acquiescence the facts are beyond dispute. The House of
Representatives did not elect Mr. Tilden in the manner prescribed by
the Constitution or in any other. On the other hand, it did concur
with the Senate in anticipating and preventing the contingency in
which it might have had to act, and in providing beforehand an
expedient which incapacitated it for supplying a failure of an
election by the colleges. It adopted the electoral law, and went
through all the forms of the electoral scheme. True, it afterwards
rebuked itself by passing a declaratory resolution condemning the
electoral commission, and asserting that Mr. Tilden had been the
choice of the people. But the Constitution had not provided that
a man should or could take office as President on a declaratory
resolution of the House of Representatives. If that resolution could
have had full effect to abrogate the electoral law which the House
had assisted to enact, it would still have furnished Mr. Tilden
with no warrant of authority for taking the oath of office. Had Mr.
Tilden been declared President-elect by either of the constitutional
methods, no one who knows him can doubt that he would have taken the
oath and the office or sealed the people's choice with his blood, as
he was in duty bound to do.

"I do not weary you with the recapitulation of these facts, because
I suppose any of them new to you. On the contrary, they are all now
matters of history. It is because they are of public notoriety, and
because they point so directly to the one and inevitable conclusion
that Mr. Tilden's responsibility in the late canvass terminated at
the ballot-box, that I recall them here to justify in your eyes his
silence upon the subject referred to in your letter, and his perfect
faith in the good sense and justice of his countrymen.

"I need hardly say that in what I have here written in explanation
of Mr. Tilden's attitude before the country I have written as his
friend, not for him.

  "Very truly yours,
  "JOHN BIGELOW."


TILDEN TO JOHN A. McCLERNAND

  "_Confidential._

  "GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _March 16, 1880_.

"MY DEAR GENERAL,--I thoroughly appreciate the motives
which prompted your note of the 27th of January, and it is not from
any want of consideration for your suggestions that I have not
sooner acknowledged it. I thank you cordially for your friendly
counsels. I agree with you entirely as to the danger to the elective
system of government liable to result from the subversion of the
popular will as manifested in the election of 1876.

"I also concur with you in the opinion that the dissension which
exerted a temporary power in this State in 1879 cannot be continued
or repeated with success in 1880.

"I regret the narrow limits to which a letter confines the
interchange of sentiments between us, but I need hardly assure
you that I shall always be happy to hear from you, and that your
counsel, whenever you are disposed to favor me with it, will not be
wasted upon me.

  "With high esteem, I remain,
  "Very truly yours,
  "(Signed) S. J. TILDEN.

  "_Hon. John A. McClernand, Springfield, Illinois._"


THEODORE P. COOK TO S. J. TILDEN

  "UTICA, _April 6th, 1880_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--The Seymour movement is assuming
a shape which must draw from him, in a few days, a more positive
declination than he has yet made--unless he is really looking for
a nomination, and I am positive that he is not. I think he talks
with me more, and more plainly, than he does with anybody else.
The misunderstanding of his position (which perhaps you share)
grows partly out of the talk of his family and friends, and partly
out of the impression that he leaves on the minds of those with
whom he talks, that he is not particularly friendly to you. He is
fully and firmly resolved to go out of public life and remain out.
But he would like to take his contemporaries out with him. That
is all there is to his opposition. I have made a careful study of
this matter, and I am very confident that I am not mistaken in my
conclusions. A few days, however, will show. Our district convention
will probably adopt a resolution urging Governor Seymour for
President. A letter from him, defining his position, will then be
in order. The _Observer_ is floating in the local current, hopeful
of directing it when the time comes. Mr. Spriggs will probably go
to the State convention. He is with us, as you know. Mr. Grannis,
of the State committee, and Mr. Birt, of Bridgewater, are talked
of for the other two places. Of these three, Spriggs will be the
controlling spirit.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "THEO. P. COOK."


BENJAMIN H. HILL TO TILDEN

  "_Private._

  "UNITED STATES SENATE CHAMBER,
  "WASHINGTON, _April 12th, 1880_.

  "HON. S. J. TILDEN, NEW YORK.

"SIR,--I have not the pleasure of knowing you personally. I
have never sought to make myself consequential in your estimation,
nor have I annoyed you with visits or opinions. I am no politician,
nor given to tricks nor to pretentiousness. Without asking your
pardon for doing so, I take the responsibility of writing this
letter.

"The crime in the Presidential count of 1877 was not against you,
nor was it against the Democratic party. It was a crime against the
American people and against popular government. If the American
people are worthy of popular government they will visit their wrath
upon the authors and abettors of that crime. The most effective way
to do so is by your re-election. You have no right to deny them the
opportunity of doing so. You have no right to deny to the Democratic
party the privilege of presenting your name to the people, nor have
you the right to relieve the party from the shame of refusing to
present your name to the people.

"For three years the Republicans have been laboring to destroy your
good name in order to avoid the issue the presentation of your name
will make. Certain Democrats aided them in committing the great
fraud, and they have been aiding them to destroy you for the same
reason. They say they have succeeded. They seek to impress the
public that you are not available. I do not believe the American
people are idiots or knaves, nor are they ready to consummate their
own degradation at the bidding of this coalition of Republican and
Democratic politicians.

"I was a new man here in 1877 and was myself entrapped. If I had
known certain men then as I know them now, I am almost vain enough
to believe the electoral bill would not disgrace our history. Be
that as it may, I feel anxious to atone for the wrong I helped to
consummate by that bill.

"Some very recent events have added to my information, and
strengthened my convictions in regard to motives, persons, and
things potential in the wrongs of 1876-7.

"I have spoken frankly because I feel deeply, and expect your favor
only because I have spoken briefly.

"With highest regards, I am, yours very truly,

  "BENJ. H. HILL, of Georgia."


R. T. MERRICK TO TILDEN

  "_Private and personal._

  "WASHINGTON CITY, _June 11th, 1880_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--It may be desirable that you should
know something of what transpired at the Maryland convention, in
order to determine correctly the character and sentiments of those
by whom its proceedings were directed.

"Maryland is, as you are aware, the theatre for the operations of a
ring not unlike that which you hate in New York.

"This ring is under the control of Gorman, Colton, and two or three
others, with Governor Carroll as a subordinate but confidential
copartner.

"Carroll is violent in his hostility to you, and equally violent and
unreasoning in his devotion to Bayard.

"These gentlemen, though at one time committed to you, came over to
this city last winter and 'pledged' the State to Bayard.

"Bayard himself, I have occasion to know, designated some of the
delegates and advised the defeat of others. Five days before the
convention assembled he visited the residence of Governor Carroll,
where about a hundred and fifty men of that particular Congressional
district were invited to meet him.

"Carroll resides in the same county in which I reside--viz., Howard.

"I was a candidate in that district for the position of delegate
against a ring ticket. I carried the district and secured, of
my friends in the convention and others not known to me, but
_instructed_ to vote for me by the conventions that appointed them,
more than enough to elect me.

"But Carroll and his associates induced a sufficient number of those
who had been instructed openly to violate their obligation of good
faith and personal honor to defeat me. I confidently believe that of
the _people_ of the district I had two to one in my favor as against
the _Bayard ring ticket_.

"Bayard and his friends seem to cherish a personal bitterness to
you and those interested in having justice done to you, which is as
blind as it is stupid.

"There are some few good men in the delegation, but it is completely
under Gorman's control, who will do everything he can to secure
Bayard's nomination, but directs his efforts _principally_ to
_appear_ on the successful side. I beg leave to suggest that you
intimate to such of your friends at Cincinnati as may have your
confidence, and be in possession of your views and wishes, to be on
their guard in any consultation or interview they may have with this
gentleman or the members of this delegation.

"I presume Mr. Blair has written--he carried his county, though not
his district, and for reasons similar to those indicated above is
not a member of the delegation.

"With most profound respect,

  "Sincerely your friend,
  "R. T. MERRICK."

       *       *       *       *       *

As introductory to the following letter, I quote the following from
my diary under date of May 12, 1880:

     "Mr. Tilden has finally determined, I believe, to be a candidate
     for the Presidency before the Cincinnati convention.

     "I have no responsibility for advising him to expose himself to
     such an ordeal in his present state of health, though I rather
     congratulate myself that he has taken that responsibility for
     himself. He has been so abominably calumniated that nothing but
     a renomination and re-election can fully vindicate him and his
     friends. Should the exposure cost him his life, could it be
     spent in a better cause for him? As long as he can make himself
     heard, he is capable of making a better President than any man
     besides him that either party is likely to nominate.

     "While the Terre Haute and Alton suit was pending against him,
     I think he was fully determined to withhold his name from the
     convention. He complained to me, as we were riding one day,
     of his want of the requisite strength to prepare his defence,
     though sure of winning if the case were promptly presented. He
     then added, 'If I have not strength enough to prepare a case for
     trial I am not fit to be President.' In saying this he turned to
     me as if it were in answer or as a remonstrance against pressure
     to run. I said to him: 'Governor, I am the last one to ask you
     or to urge you to run. No one has a right to ask you to accept
     a burden like that at the risk of your life, and there is no
     disguising the fact that there is nothing from which you have so
     much to apprehend as from excitement of any kind, and especially
     of the kind and degree to which a canvass for the Presidency,
     and the first six months' service in that position, would
     inevitably expose you.' It was on that ground that I advised him
     to settle the Terre Haute and Alton suit without reference to
     the cost in money. It was fretting the life out of him.

     "Then just before the State convention for the election of
     delegates to Cincinnati the income tax suit was noticed for
     trial. This completely unsettled him for several weeks, so
     completely that I was again confirmed in the conviction that any
     increase, or even continuance, of excitement like that under
     which he was laboring would soon destroy him."

Mr. Tilden's brother Henry took with him to Cincinnati Mr. Tilden's
letter to the Democratic national convention in 1880 declining
a renomination to the Presidency, and this letter pictures the
confusion into which the convention was thrown by it.


SMITH M. WEED TO S. J. TILDEN

"FRIDAY, _June 25, '80_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I have not had a moment's time to write
until now, and I have very little to write except what you have
already read in the papers.

"It was very apparent to any one that it was not possible to have
nominated you even if you would have taken it, as I know you would
not. The element that sold you out in Washington in 1877, with those
who were _honestly_ fearful you could not win, were enough to defeat
you under any circumstances, and yet the fear that we meant to try
to do it prevented our being able to.

"This feeling was kept alive by earnest but injudicious friends of
yours from New York and elsewhere, and this and the action of our
own delegation absolutely destroyed our influence in the convention.
The Brooklyn people did not want you, and Jacobs, Pratt, and others
told people they would not go for you or be transferred by you. Had
they been absolutely with us, and had Manning spoken your wishes,
we could have nominated Mr. Payne. M. seemed to fear the Brooklyn
people, and I don't wonder, for I never saw any set of men act so
very ugly as they and the Fox-Shay New York gang.

"Randall also acted bad, and talked bad, and yet, under your advice,
or what I took to be your advice, I acted with the Brooklyn and Fox
gang and named him as our second choice. I did not like to do so,
for I feared Hancock's nomination, but did not fear it so early.

"Had your letter been there Saturday morning, and had _we_ all acted
together--_i. e._, your friends--we could have nominated Payne. I
don't think we could have nominated Randall.

"The South and Southwest and New Jersey were represented by a bad
lot, and the convention was nothing to compare with the convention
of 1876. So far as I was concerned, I was good for nothing, for it
took about all my time to keep our delegation from kicking over the
traces in some way.

"I cannot write in detail, but will talk it all over with you if you
want to know anything more of the disgusting subject. I do not think
it an easy victory for any one, and am confident that the ticket is
a fairer representation of _that_ convention _than you would have
been_. The fact is that in the talk and action the old dictation of
the South was prevalent without the old intellect.

"I cannot express my contempt for New York's and Brooklyn's acts.

"Barnum will tell you of the talks with Hancock people. I hope he
(H.) will make it apparent that he is to be your friend, and if so
that you will help him through. I am about dead, as I have not slept
over two hours a night since I came.

  Yours very truly,
  "SMITH M. WEED."


CASSIUS M. CLAY TO TILDEN

  "_June 26, 1880._

"MY DEAR SIR,--Though personally unknown to you, my
devotion to your interests, I think, warrants me in giving you my
sincere sympathy in your unjust defeat.

"I sent you, soon after your count out, the original resolutions
carried by me in county convention of Madison, which was made
the basis of the Louisville convention, and which caused me to
be made its president, without my solicitation, being myself for
a constitutional count without compromise. I was a candidate for
delegate for the State at large, and was only beaten by your
opponents and the Greenback element, after I vindicated you in a
speech which united all the opposition against me. But as alternate
of our mutual friend, General William Preston, as directed by the
convention, I stood for you--till your letter of declension, which
left me free to defeat those who defeated you and me. The position
of Payne overshadowed by Thurman, with him, Jewett, and Foster
candidates, I foresaw that Payne could not lead; and Randall had
the opposition of all your opponents, handicapped with the high
tariff record, which is more and more hateful to all Democrats.
Under these circumstances, I deemed Hancock the man of destiny. I
brought over seven of our delegation, and through my friend, General
W. C. C. Breckinridge, who was not a Hancock man, pressed a vote on
Wednesday, against all attempts of the opponents of Hancock, and
placed him in the lead, thus insuring his selection on the second
ballot Thursday, as we anticipated. I had a great respect for
Bayard, but told General Wade Hampton and his other friends that his
war records and his action in the eight to seven commn. were fatal
objections; and now we have a man who is bound to win, as it seems
to me, as you could have done but for your want of health, as set
forth in your letter. I spoke several times in your behalf before
our commn. at Lexington, and I honestly believe you were the choice
of seven-eighths of the people of Kentucky. But the Congressmen
defeated you--almost all of whom were against you--first, because of
your Southern-claims letter, and that other principle of our weak
human nature, never to forgive those whom we have injured.

"General Preston grows old, has lost an eye, and is very deaf: which
sets him back in oratory--but he made with me the only two speeches
in your behalf in our Jefferson convention. He was the first to
leave Bayard for H--and is a true gentleman and patriot. His speech
in your behalf was very able.

"I close by assuring you that your letter is one of the ablest
State papers of our annals; and brough[t] with all intelligent and
patriotic men conviction of your wrongs, your ability, and your
patriotism.

"Please accept assurances of my sincere respect.

  "C. M. CLAY.
  "_Hon. S. J. Tilden, New York, &c._"


LETTER FROM H. A. TILDEN (NED) TO S. J. TILDEN

  "GRAND HOTEL, CINCINNATI, MONDAY, 9 O'C. A. M., _1880_.

"I reached here at twelve; found Weed and Green at station. Every
one expected a letter, and a rush was made to know all about it. I
gave it to Mr. Manning as soon as I could, and he read it over and
had a copy--the original he has and will keep--and deliver up to you
on his return. He wanted to do this. I yielded.

"On my way I had a room at one end of the car, and was not
disturbed, and saw no one till the last hour but Judge Parkerson,
and we only talked about last fall. He wanted some explanation,
which I gave, and relieved some wrong impressions. I found that
Tim Campbell admits that Robinson was cheated out of over 20,000
votes. Pasters were rubbed off, and the ballot counted for Cornell.
The cheat is estimated at enough to have elected Robinson. The
delegation had adjourned till Monday 10 A.M. I advised holding the
letter till then, and not make it public till read in convention.
This was intended, but the pressure was so great that Weed, Manning,
Barnum, and all hands wanted it as early as possible, that it would
be of benefit on the Payne effort, &c., and they called a meeting
of the delegation, read it, and gave it to the press. I stayed up
till three this morning to see that the proof was all right. The
sentiment it has created is good, the antagonism all gone out, and
regret takes its place. Now they have no one to grumble about and
fight. There are three classes: those who are against us accept it
as final; the moderate men, who have doubted if we could carry the
State, want it reserved and not acted upon as final; then there are
our friends, who say it shall not be regarded, and must come before
the convention for final action.

"As the day wears on the sentiment in favor of the old ticket will
increase, and we cannot tell where it will end. I don't believe
any man can be picked up and get through the convention. I think
perhaps Whitney, Weed, and Faulkner rushed Payne too sharp--did not
do it in a suggestive form--and they have got up a feeling with the
Brooklyn delegation. The Brooklyn people have started Pratt lively,
and, clashing with Payne men, got up considerable feeling, and I
hear Hughes has been deputed to charge you with not having explained
to him, as fully as you should, the Payne relations. I have had no
chance to talk with Hughes, but shall quiet this sentiment. I can
remove it.

       *       *       *       *       *

  "MONDAY, _5.30 P.M._

"I have just left Manning. We construe your despatch about P. to
Randall as positive instructions to force a fight on Payne, and M.
is unwilling to modulate it, because he greatly fears disaster.

"I have had a talk with Henderson and Babcock, and they say the
Standard Oil monopoly is so very unpopular that they can't see their
way clear to go P., and are anxious to do all they can, and go with
Manning, and fear the effect in these elections. The Oil Company
has ruined so many men in this locality that it is impossible to
get up a sentiment for any one directly or indirectly in it; the
same feeling exists in Pittsburg, and those delegates will not go
for Payne. There is no Payne sentiment from any States but New York
and Ohio that I can hear of. I have sent you the enclosed despatch,
somewhat reduced, which Manning dictated.

"I send you a list of delegates as they stand at this hour. The
discussions are lively. Tilden men are cheered and have all the
sentiment.

"Faulkner is sour; thinks he is not fully consulted. Manning is
managing him best he can. There is little to consult about. There
is so much jealousy, and so many statesmen, I am glad you are out.
_Hewitt is in._ Green thinks lightning may strike him. So we go.
Have not heard from Randall. Barnum was to see him, but has been so
engaged did not yet. One of the Illinois delegation says he cried
when he read the letter.

  NED.

       *       *       *       *       *

"The Pratt movement dates back a long way. Fowler intent on securing
delegates to represent certain interests, and explains now how
McL. declined to go as delegate at large, and Jacobs came in and
got from Manning a word that any one satisfactory to McL. would be
satisfactory, and then put forward Pratt. Weed says that the Pratt
movement is made up of the mining speculating class, who have made
money, and brag they have more to put up for him than Tilden would
put in.

"Will close for mail. Will send full memorandum by mail and
telegraph important points.

  NED.

       *       *       *       *       *

"Strong objection to P., because of Oil Company in our delegation;
also because Brooklyn is aggressive for Pratt. Thurman holds Ohio
firmly; how long, uncertain. Steadman has gone over to Jewett.
Manning thinks it will never do to push P. upon Ohio; she must act
first. Several States voluntarily agree to follow our lead.

"Shall we make fight now for anybody, or wait for developments?
Answer, yes or no."

       *       *       *       *       *

General Winfield S. Hancock was nominated for the Presidency by the
Democratic convention at Cincinnati on the 23d day of June, 1880.
A short time after, Mr. Tilden received the following note from
General Hancock at the hands of General W. G. Mitchee, to which Mr.
Tilden suggested the addition which follows it.


GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK TO TILDEN

  "GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, N. Y., _July 27th, 1880_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I introduce my friend, General W. G.
Mitchee, who will hand you a copy of the lines of acceptance which I
have resolved to issue.

"Will you have the kindness to read it and give me any suggestions
in regard to it which may occur to you? I intend to issue the letter
before the 1st of August.

"I also send for your perusal a copy of a letter which I addressed
to General Sherman under date of December 25th, 1876, which will no
doubt be published a week or so after my letter of acceptance.

"With best wishes for yourself, and pleasant remembrances of your
hospitality which I so much enjoyed last week,

  "I am, very truly yours,
  "WINF'D S. HANCOCK."

[Enclosed card.]

"General W. G. Mitchee, who would like to see Mr. Tilden for a few
minutes to deliver a package to him.

  "W. S. H., Governor's Island.

"If Mr. Tilden is in the country General M. will go there."


DRAFT OF ADDITION FOR LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE OF GENERAL HANCOCK

  "_July, 1880._

"It is time we should enjoy the benefits of that reconciliation
and restoration of fraternal feelings which has cost so much blood
and treasure. As one people, having a common interest, the welfare
and prosperity of all would be advanced, a generous rivalry would
be stimulated for the growth of our merchant marine which has been
destroyed by the policy of the party in power. The extension of our
foreign and domestic commerce with nations naturally tributary to
us, and the further development of our immense natural resources
would result. A wise and economical management of our governmental
expenditures should be maintained in order that labor may be lightly
burdened, and that every individual may be protected in his natural
right to the immediate fruits of his own industry."


TILDEN TO MRS. W. C. BRYANT

  "NEW YORK, _Sept. 17th, 1880_.

"MY DEAR MRS. BRYANT,--After I left the city two weeks ago,
thinking not so much where I would go as where I would not remain,
I found in my pocket a note which I supposed had been left to be
sent to you. It was designed to aid an article which has doubtless
appeared in your household in explaining its own advent--a friendly
office, which, although too long delayed, must still be fulfilled.

"I could not resist the impulse to supply what you had, one day
when I last had the pleasure of visiting you, casually mentioned
as your _only want_. It may never again happen to me--if I lose
that opportunity--to be able to fill the measure of a housekeeper's
contentment; and I am anxious, if you will permit me, to procure
for myself the gratification of witnessing such a novelty, as well
as the sense of having contributed to produce it. Perhaps I ought
to acknowledge a still more selfish motive. If the example of so
much moderation shall have the influence to which it is entitled, I
shall, doubtless, at some period not yet distinctly foreseen, share
its benefits; and, notwithstanding all I can now do to signalize my
appreciation of it, be reminded that I am forever your debtor. In
the mean time, I remain, very truly,

  "Your friend,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


MRS. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT TO TILDEN

  "_Monday Evening._

"MY DEAR TILDEN,--If I said, 'A bamboo settee is my only
want,' I had forgotten it long before your present arrived, which
certainly fills most commodiously a vacant space in my hall or on my
piazza, as the weather may be; and for which I make you my very best
acknowledgments. I do not think I was a 'discontented housekeeper'
before I had it, but I admit I have much more reason to be contented
now.

"I wish I could as easily send you in return the thing you most
want for your future household, or even tell you where to obtain
it. But permit me to say that I have observed that people become
more fastidious and less enterprising the longer they postpone the
acquisition of what, we are told by high authorities, was the only
thing wanted to make the first man happy in paradise.

"Your lilies, I am happy to say, are all alive and doing nicely. The
first leisure you have come and look after them.

  "Yours most truly,
  "F. F. BRYANT.

  "ROSLYN, _Monday Evening_."


TILDEN TO YOUNG MEN'S DEMOCRATIC CLUB

"GREYSTONE, _October 26, 1880_.

"GENTLEMEN,--I have received your invitation to be present
and address a meeting of the Young Men's Democratic Club of the city
of New York at Chickering Hall this evening.

"My voice is not yet sufficiently restored to make it prudent for me
to address a large meeting. My cordial sympathy with your efforts to
elect General Hancock has already been conspicuously expressed.

"As the canvass advances every day renders more manifest the duty
to promote that result incumbent upon all who believe in the
traditions of free, constitutional, representative self-government
as illustrated in the better days of the Republic.

"One Presidential election, as made by the people, has been
subverted by a false count of the votes cast by the Presidential
electors founded on a substitution of votes known to be fraudulent
or forged.

"If the next Presidential election should be controlled by corrupt
influence exercised by the government upon the voters in particular
States, opening a vista of third terms, and an indefinite series of
terms, and the undisputed mastery of the office-holding class in the
successive elections, our government will be degenerated into a bad
copy of the worst governments of the worst ages."


ALEXANDER T. McGILL TO TILDEN

  "THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,
  "PRINCETON, N. J., _Nov. 27, '80_.

  "HON. SAML. J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I cannot refrain from writing to you, as
I often desired to do in times past, to testify my respect and
admiration alike, when you were covered with merited honors and
persecuted with unmerited obloquy. I am an old man, senior professor
in this institution since the death of Dr. Charles Hodge. Mr. J.
F. D. Lanier first made me acquainted with your character, and my
wife met you once at his residence near Lenox, where she was on
a visit to her particular friend, Mrs. Lanier. I am a native of
western Pennsylvania, and was professor in the Theological Seminary
of Allegheny until 1854, when the Presbyterian General Assembly
transferred me to this seminary as successor to Dr. Archibald
Alexander.

"I am indebted to you for the surpassing ability and probity with
which, in connection with Lanier, you saved my savings, which I had
invested in the Pennsylvania and Ohio, now 'The Wayne' Railroad. It
was therefore my duty, when you were abused by various lying papers
on every occasion, to tell my own personal knowledge of the rare
integrity with which you secured to a multitude of poor men what we
thought was lost in the bankruptcy of that great road. My son, a
lawyer in Jersey City, 'Prosecutor of the Pleas' for Hudson County,
was vastly more efficient, of course, in using the information I
gave him. I have now three sons in Jersey City, professional men,
who would rejoice exceedingly to have the opportunity of yet voting
for you if you ever consent again to a nomination for the Presidency.

"We all rejoice in the downfall of that wicked and treacherous
conspirator, John Kelly. His vindicative antipathy to you now meets
a recompense in the just indignation of Providence. It is the signal
overthrow of this bad man which prompts me to write these lines at
this time, to congratulate you that your faithful and distinguished
life is illustrated by that detestable enemy in the foil of his
nature coming to the notice of all men sooner than we expected.

"Pardon me for tasking you to read so long a letter. I think it is
due to you from me to inform you a little more how deeply you are
esteemed and loved for your integrity, pureness, patriotism, and
moral courage. Not one in a thousand of our best public men would
have relinquished the Presidency when it was fairly in his grasp,
and that, too, for the sake of peace. History will do you justice.
A memorial unique and grand, better far than the actual Presidency,
showing to all generations the moral sublimity of an American
citizen, will be yours. May your precious life and health be long
preserved.

"With great respect and true friendship,

  "Yours,
  "ALEXR. T. MCGILL."


TILDEN TO MONTGOMERY BLAIR

  "GREYSTONE, _Nov. 29, 1880_.

"DEAR MR. BLAIR,--If I seem slow in replying to your letter
of the 10th inst., you must ascribe it to the difficulties presented
by its chirography which have not been surmounted until this
morning. As your productions always repay a real perusal, a third
and successful attempt to read that letter was persisted in.

"In this connection I must tell you a story. Mr. Cambreling wrote
Mr. Van Buren a long and argumentative letter in favor of the
annexation of Texas while the latter was preparing his letter
upon that subject. It was written in an ink which stuck the pages
together, and Van Buren was foiled or gave up in the attempt to
decipher it. I have a vague impression that he afterwards thought
that letter might have modified his own view. Possibly it might have
changed the course of events.

"Mr. Smith has brought up some photographs of three sorts. I send
herewith three of each kind.

"If a man can afford the slightest pleasure to friends who have been
so partial, so kind, and so faithful by a photograph, it is a real
delight to comply with their wishes.

"I have not yet gone down to the city for the winter, and probably
shall not until next week.

"My health is gradually improving, and I intend to persevere in
living a purely physical life, alternating between out-of-door
exercise and rest until the experiment shall have been fairly and
fully tried.

"With best regards to Mrs. Blair, and to the other members of your
family,

  "I remain, very truly yours,
  "(S'g'd) S. J. TILDEN.

  "I return Mr. Fox's letter."


JOHN C. THOMPSON TO TILDEN

  "BOSTON, MASS., _Dec. 25, '80_.

"DEAR SIR,--The night before Mr. James F. Starbuck, of
Watertown, New York, deceased, he completed an article intended
for the Albany _Argus_ entitled 'Political Cowardice,' a copy of
which (the original being retained by his family) I am requested by
his daughter, Miss May Starbuck, to place in your hands, with the
request that if upon perusal you recognize the power and logic of
the intellect that penned the article, you will please forward the
same to the Albany _Argus_ for publication.

"I am the son-in-law of Mr. Starbuck. Will you do me the honor to
acknowledge receipt of this and oblige, with great respect,

  "Your obt. servant,
  "JOHN C. THOMPSON."


JAMES F. STARBUCK TO TILDEN

("POLITICAL COWARDICE")

"The following facts are instructive:

  In 1876 Tilden majority was                32,818
  In 1879 Robinson's vote was     375,790
    and Kelly's vote was           77,566
                                  -------
       Total Dem. Vote in 1879    453,356
  Cornell's Vote was              418,567
                                  -------
       Democratic Majority         34,789
  But the votes for Cornell being           418,567
    and Robinson's Vote                     375,790
                                            -------
    gives Cornell his plurality of           42,777

"The following table shows the number of votes cast for Kelly in
1879 and the Democratic loss in 1880, as compared with 1876 in each
of the counties named:

                    Kelly      Loss in 1880
  Cayuga              712               557
  Duchess             673             2,171
  Kings             5,788             9,179
  Monroe            2,088             1,749
  New York         43,047            12,640
  Niagara             574               861
  Onondaga          1,468               658
  Orange              980               762
  Oswego            1,327               678
  Queens            1,586               783
  Rens'             1,144             1,313
  Saratoga            452             1,317
  Ulster            1,666             1,882
  Westchester       1,755             1,985
                   ------            ------
                   63,260            36,535

"The following table shows the same facts as to the counties therein
named:

                   Kelly
  Franklin           16
  Jefferson          86
  Otsego             74
  St. Lawrence       35
  Schoharie          16
  Tompkins           35
  Warren             83
  Wyoming            65
                   ____
                    410  In these 8 Counties the Democratic loss
                         was only 684.

"These eight counties, having a population of about 350,000 and
nearly 100,000 voters, gave to the Kelly bolt in 1879 only 410
votes, and in 1880, as compared with 1876, they lost only 684. If
only this ratio of loss had obtained throughout the State, our
candidates would have succeeded by more than 25,000 majority.

"But political cowards lacked the courage so to bear themselves
as to command success. At the behest of the malcontents, who only
one year before had fatally conspired against the Democratic party
and its principles, they committed the cowardly act of calling
the Saratoga convention for the avowed purpose of reinstating the
traitors of 1879, and restoring them to influence and power. Being
thus restored to position and power, the figures above presented are
useful as tending to show how that power was used.

"This, however, is by no means the only act of political cowardice
connected with the late canvass. In 1876 the people elected Mr.
Tilden to the Presidency. There is not at this day an intelligent,
fair-minded man in America who doubts it. He was cheated of his
rights, and the people were defrauded of their choice of President
by the most atrocious crimes known to civilization. The time arrived
to select a candidate for 1880. Mr. Tilden still lived, and, though
his physical powers were somewhat impaired, he was conceded to be
one of the ablest statesmen living. He was reluctant to enter upon
the canvass, and asked the people to relieve [him] of so great
a burden. Those by whom the crimes referred to were committed,
impelled by the desire for self-protection, had devoted themselves
for years to unprecedented efforts to destroy him. The logic of
the situation, and the exercise of a manly courage, pointed to
one single line of duty. That duty was to refuse to accede to Mr.
Tilden's request, and to move forward with united voice and action
to right the great wrong that had been done by placing him in
nomination and electing him to the office from which he had been
excluded only by the high crimes of his adversaries. Instead of
doing this, men forgot their courage, and took counsel only of their
fears. They listened to the clamor of the criminals by whom this
great man was maligned, and allowed themselves to be intimidated
even by the malcontents who defeated the party only one year before.
Mr. Tilden was abandoned, and another candidate was selected. That
abandonment was a most conspicuous act of cowardice! And who shall
say it has not borne just such fruit as might have been expected?

"The selection made was undoubtedly an excellent one. General
Hancock is a true, pure, and able man, and eminently worthy of the
high place for which he was named. His nomination was, however, the
outcome of a great act of cowardice, and there is not a State in
the Union in which multitudes of men did not experience a feeling
of disgust at the manifest lack of courage to stand manfully and do
what clearly ought to have been done.

  "JAMES F. STARBUCK.

"This was completed Dec. 9th, 1880. Mr. Starbuck _died_ Dec. 11,
1880."


TILDEN TO CHAUNCEY F. BLACK

  "NEW YORK, _January 27, 1881_.

  "HON. CHAUNCEY F. BLACK.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have received your letter notifying me of
my unanimous election as the first honorary member of the Jefferson
Democratic Association of New York.

"I accept the distinction thus conferred, in order to testify my
approval and commendation of the objects of your association.

"Thomas Jefferson has a title to the esteem and gratitude of the
American people, even greater than that which he derived from being
the Author of the Declaration of Independence, and from being the
Author of the Statute of Religious Freedom by the State of Virginia.

"During all the bloody conflicts of the American Revolution, and the
civil struggles out of which our system of government emerged, and
the controversies through which was impressed upon it the character
of a government 'by the people, for the people,' he was the apostle
of human freedom, and the greatest leader of that beneficent
philosophy which was embodied in our institutions.

"At a time when powerful tendencies are at work to subvert the
original character of our government--to break down the limitations
of power established by the Constitution--to centralize the action
and influence of official authorities--to create a governing class,
using the machinery of government as a corrupt balance of power in
the elections, and then shaping legislation and administration in
the interests of the few against the many--the precepts and example
of such a man as Mr. Jefferson cannot be too often invoked.

"The formation of societies which can act as centres of discussion,
and as agencies for the propagation of the pure principles of the
fathers of the Republic, is a measure capable of great service to
the people and to mankind.

"With assurances of sympathy and esteem--to the members of your
association and to yourself, I have the honor to be

  "Your fellow citizen,
  "(Signed) SAMUEL J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO BIGELOW

(HIS HEALTH FIVE YEARS BEFORE HIS DEATH)

  "15 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK,
  "_Monday evening, January 31, 1881_.

"DEAR MR. BIGELOW,--I have just received and read your
letter of the 18th, and resolve to answer it on the spot. I seem to
be free from all engagements and obstructions, and am desirous to
atone as far as possible for delinquencies in respect to your two
former letters. At the end of two lines, however, I was compelled to
refuse to admit a caller. With John's help, to whom I am dictating,
both of us sitting before the wood-fire in the dining-room, I will
ramble through a few of the many things I would like to say.

"I was not without hope that you had heard of me through Poultney.
Mrs. Bigelow gave me a charge to take some care of the desolate
members of the family remaining in America, and I have been doing a
little to entertain Poultney.

"In respect to my personal health, I cannot make a very decided
report, although, on the whole, I think I am improving. I am taking
no tea and rarely any coffee. I substantially take no medicine
internally. For a month past I have been trying electricity--the
continuous current from a galvanic battery--with some apparent
advantage. When you consider that the latter period of my work was
passed under the aid of the borrowing power of the will, and with
some help from medicine to hold my own--when these are withdrawn,
is in itself a gain. The later impression is that I have taken
rather too much exercise; that the malady is an exhaustion of the
central nervous force by overwork and overwear, and that rest
rather than physical activity is indicated. It is a problem to
avoid fatigue, and yet take exercise enough to keep in order the
general functions and particularly the digestion. You will see the
situation does not favor very active travel or overmuch sight-seeing
or sociable festivities--but I am going too much into detail and yet
imperfectly. It is better to reserve opinions for a month or two
longer.

"Whether I can go over early enough to do much in Italy is not easy
now to say. My disposition is to cross the ocean at some time in the
spring. I am snugging up my affairs, and getting out of the way all
business matters. Indeed, that is substantially done.

"I should like to know what your own plans are for the spring
and summer, or, if they have not taken definite shape, what your
contemplations are.

"I am not troubling myself much about business, but perceive a
tendency in little things of my own and everybody else to come in
and occupy the vacancy. I do not propose to indulge this tendency.

       *       *       *       *       *

"I thank you for your suggestions in regard to the acquisition of
works of art. They seem to me judicious. As to the bust of Cicero
of which you sent a photograph, the important question is the
authenticity of the bust.

"If you can find satisfactory evidence on that point and think the
purchase judicious, you may make it for me.

"The fact is I have really had very little to do with the political
movements which you mention--perhaps nothing at all. I do not think
I have done more than to express an opinion.

"There are many more things about which I would like to say, but I
must reserve them until some future occasion.

"Present my regards to Mrs. Bigelow and the girls, and accept them
for yourself.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


G. W. SMITH TO W. A. WILKINS

  "NEW YORK, _Feb. 21, 1881_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Mr. Tilden requests me to acknowledge
the receipt of your two notes, and to say that he gives them the
earliest attention in his power.

"It is a settled policy of Mr. Tilden to abstain from all
transactions which may impose upon him any future care. What he can
afford to do he gives outright. In addition to claims upon him from
kinship or other special relations, every day brings to him more
applications by letter and by personal appeal than is possible for
him to grant.

"Mr. Tilden has every disposition to be kind to you, and, as a token
of his good-will, sends his check for two hundred and fifty dollars,
which he will not expect you to repay, and which he hopes will be
more serviceable to you than the loan suggested.

  "Very truly yours,
  "G. W. SMITH."


FROM THE NEW YORK "HERALD," MARCH 5, 1881

(MR. HAYES GOES OUT)

"A rough Republican wit remarked, the other day, that 'Mr. Hayes
came in by a majority of one and goes out by unanimous consent.'

"We are not certain that this is quite accurate. A good many people
will remember that Mr. Hayes gave the country peace and rest for
four years, and that, while he did not make the unimpeachably
'clean' administration of which some of his favorites boast, and
did continually, and as may be justly said, brazenly violate his
repeated pledges for civil service reform, he managed to avoid great
scandals. Most of his Southern appointments were disgraceful; they
were worse even, for they did great harm, and there is no denying
the truth of the accusation that he put, or kept, corrupt and base
men in office--not a few, but dozens upon dozens--to reward them
for political and personal services of a kind which no decent
public man would recognize. But he passed two or three years in
the White House in constant terror of threatened disclosures which
would compel him to leave the Presidency a disgraced man, and he
probably regarded the improper appointments he made as necessary in
self-defence.

"The very general contempt and dislike of Mr. Hayes, felt and openly
expressed by public men of both parties, rests, we believe, on a
sound basis. That he took the Presidency, knowing he was not elected
to it, forms but the smaller part of the ground for this feeling;
for, after all, he took it on the decision of a high court of
arbitration which was final. His real offence is that he took office
at the hands of his party, having carefully deceived it up to the
last moment as to his purposes when he got what they only could give
him. That great and, in a free government, criminal act of deceit
has rightly called down on him the lasting dislike and contempt of
his party's leaders and of honest men in both parties."


W. R. MARTIN TO TILDEN

  "_March 9, 1881._

  "HON. S. J. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--In reading this article in the _Herald_, I
feel with greater force the duty you owe to yourself, and to all,
to gather your materials to fix your place in the history of the
country. I once spoke to you of this, and you said you would recur
to it.

"If you had filled an administration, the records of it would have
marked your influence on the progress of the country, but you did
not.

"You must gather them, under your own supervision, collect, select,
and arrange them, and give the general outline of your positions and
purposes yourself.

"It is what the French call, '_Memoirs pour Servir_.' There are many
passages where autobiographical sketches will be very valuable.

"You run this great risk of the future: that, while in one light
your action after the election may be regarded as in the highest
sense patriotic, in the other it may be said that your failure to be
President was because of something you lacked.

"It depends upon who your biographer may be. He must be well
supplied with all materials, on your arrangement, and informed with
your ideas.

"The time that you may devote to this, will it not be the best use
you can make of it?

  "Yours very truly,
  "WM. R. MARTIN."


STILSON HUTCHINS TO TILDEN

  "WASHINGTON, _March 18, 1881_.

"MR. TILDEN,--The article which I wrote and published in
the _Post_ on the morning of the 4th of March, the day on which
Mr. Hayes took his leave of his usurped office, you may not have
seen, and hence I take the pains to cut it out and enclose it to
you. I think few persons--not even your most intimate and immediate
friends--have pursued the great fraud or denounced it with more
consistency and pertinacity than myself. I have never forgotten
for a moment, nor have I allowed an opportunity to pass, to remind
the beneficiary or his supporters of the great wrong they have
inflicted on the people and the country and the institutions which
have endeared it to us. And yet, had you taken your seat, I do not
suppose there was one of the four millions who worked for you who
would have less to ask than myself.

"With great respect and great regret,

  "Yours,
  "STILSON HUTCHINS."


TILDEN TO HON. STILSON HUTCHINS

  "15 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _March 26, 1881_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I had seen the article, a slip of which
you have kindly sent me, and also another similar article of yours
largely copied.

"You are entitled to great credit for your faithful vindication of
the rights of the Democratic party, and the interests of the people
in respect to the election of 1876.

"I never considered the question as at all personal to myself.
It seemed to be a duty cast upon me by events to represent the
public grievance until the Democratic party and the people had
an opportunity to take the matter into their own hands. That
duty was very onerous, and certain to be prolific of nothing but
sacrifices; and though I would not retire from it, I was glad when
it was completed, and I was discharged of responsibility for all
consequences of the violation of the elective principle, whatever
they made hereafter prove to be.

  Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


J. S. BLACK TO TILDEN

  "BROCKIE, near YORK, PA., _April 5th, 1881_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--At Washington last week I took a tentative
look at the business you wot of. The Attorney-General was made
to understand the whole affair. He is anxious to be amiable,
and, I think, would stop this dirty persecution at once but
for Blatchford's decision, which I cannot help but admit is an
embarrassing fact, though seen to be perfectly lawless. He proposes
that a memorial or formal application be made which he will refer
to the local authorities for their report, and he promises to do
whatever he can to accomplish the object. He is, of course, not fool
enough to believe that the proceeding against you is justified by
law. He thinks you had better give a final judgment for any amount
that the District Attorney wants, coupled with a protest, and trust
to a writ of error.

"The thing looks badly. An appeal to the magnanimity of these people
will be so humiliating that I don't see how you can go through it.
It will have to be discussed officially and unofficially by the
inside and the outside of the administration--in public and in
private, and I do not know when it will be ended. Speeding to-day,
it may be put back to-morrow, and be lost at last. On the other
hand, if you give a _pro forma_ judgment, your chances of reversal
will be in inverse proportion to the amount of it for certain
reasons which I need not now give.

"I think Blaine would have manhood enough to do right, disregarding
all other considerations, and sense enough to see that he would make
more politically than he would lose, if the responsibility rested
entirely upon him, but he is not in a situation to force his advice
upon the others.

"The President is not at all equal to such an occasion. He will
probably think it a kind of duty to repeat wrongs upon a man whom he
has already injured.

"Please to think over all this at your leisure, and decide whether
it is not best to defy these devils to their worst.

  "I am, yours truly,
  "J. S. BLACK."


TILDEN TO DAVID DOWS

"_Personal and confidential._

"NO. 15 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _April 22, 1881_.

"DEAR MR. DOWS,--I recollect that some time ago you
casually mentioned that you were a considerable holder of N. Y.
Elevated R. R. bonds, and I replied that I held all I ever had;
whereupon you reminded me that you knew how many I collected
interest on in January.

"It seems to me appropriate to the cordial friendship existing
between us that I should tell you that my situation in respect to
that investment has changed. I desired before I should go into
the country, and especially if I should decide to go abroad, to
revise my knowledge in respect to that investment; and before I had
completed my investigation it seemed prudent to reduce my interest
or dispose of it altogether. I have substantially done the latter.

"I called at your home last evening, but not finding you, and not
liking to leave word asking you to call upon me this morning, I send
you this note.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


DAVID DOWS TO TILDEN

"_April 22d, 1881._

"DEAR GOVERNOR,--Your note of this date rec'd. I am very
much obliged to you for it.

"I think you have acted judiciously, not that I think the bonds
unsafe, but I think the chances are that they will decline in price.

"Your note will be regarded as you request and again thanking you
for it,

  "I am, y'r friend,
  "DAVID DOWS."


S. J. TILDEN TO GEORGE BANCROFT

"GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _July 11, 1881_.

"DEAR MR. BANCROFT,--I thank you for your kind attention
to Mrs. Rummel's[25] request. She is the same lady whom you knew in
Berlin.

  [25] A daughter of S. F. B. Morse, who is credited with having
  established the first telegraphic line of communication in America.

"I presume that you read other things in preference to the
newspapers. That is often the taste of retired statesmen and men of
letters. Notably it was of Mr. Jefferson. To mention little things
with large, it is my own.

"You remind me that it is five years since I have had the pleasure
of seeing you. I hope the interval may not be so long hereafter. In
the mean time, I am always glad to hear of your health and happiness.

"With remembrances to your family, and with assurances of cordial
esteem for yourself, I remain,

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


RESOLUTIONS DRAWN BY MR. TILDEN FOR A MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF
YONKERS ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD

  "_September, 1881._

"The citizens of Yonkers, convened in public meeting, on the
invitation of the Mayor and Aldermen of the city, and presided over
by the civic authorities, resolve:

"_First_--That the death of the President of the United States by
the individual crime of a private assassin is a deplorable event
in our national history; that the evil example is intensified by
the occurrence of such an event a second time within about sixteen
years; that such treason against the elective sovereignty of the
people tends to encourage future attempts to subvert the Chief
Magistracy of the Republic by criminal violence, under the influence
of progressively increasing temptations to personal resentments and
private malignity, which are incident to the ever-growing power
and patronage of the executive office; and that all good citizens
ought to join in every wise measure for limiting these temptations,
and for restoring and strengthening every moral security which
heretofore surrounded the First Citizen of the Republic as he moved
without guards among the people.

"_Secondly_--That to Mrs. Garfield and the other members of the
bereaved family of the heroic sufferer and illustrious victim is
given our heart-felt sympathy and condolence."


S. J. TILDEN TO HON. WILLIAM PURCELL

"GREYSTONE, _October 3, 1881_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have received your letter stating you
intended to call on me and your inability to do so.

"I should have written to you earlier except for an illness, and the
pressure of claims upon my attention during my convalescence.

"It would have been agreeable to me to have seen you, and to have
treated you with that frankness and courtesy you have always
experienced from me.

"In respect to your assurance that you would not be a candidate for
nomination, if your nomination 'would be disagreeable to me and be
discountenanced by me,' I have to say that I cannot assume any such
position. I have neither the right nor the wish to exclude you from
a legitimate and honorable competition for any public trust. My
practice, when I was at the head of the party organization, was not
to become a partisan of any particular candidate, but to confine
myself to such advisory suggestions as might seem fit and useful
during the deliberations of the convention; to defer largely to the
judgment of the best men of the counties, formed at the convention,
in view of immediate action on the complex considerations which
enter into the formation of a collective ticket. I need not say that
I have not undertaken any such function on the present occasion, and
have not possessed myself of the information to make me competent
to such a work. I assume that you have not given credit to the
idle fictions of Republican and other newspapers which ascribe to
me a desire to control the nominations and canvass for the present
year with a view to becoming a candidate for Governor next year.
The truth is, I ran for Governor in 1874 simply for the purpose
of sustaining the reform movement to which I had given the three
preceding years, and I should not have continued in the office for
a second term in any possible event; nor would I now entertain the
idea of returning to it, even if I flattered myself that I would
receive a unanimous vote of the people.

"All I desire for the Democratic party in the coming canvass is,
that it shall make the best possible choice of candidates, and do
everything to advance the principles of administration to which I
have devoted so many efforts and sacrifices.

  "With cordial good wishes, very truly yours,
  "(Signed) S. J. TILDEN.[26]

  "_Hon Wm. Purcell._"

  [26] This was in reply to a note of the 9th September, 1881, from
  Mr. Purcell, the editor of the Rochester _Union and Advertiser_,
  stating that he had been "mentioned" as a candidate for the office
  of Secretary of State, and wishing to know if the nomination would
  be disagreeable to him and be discountenanced by him: in which case
  he would prefer not to be considered a candidate.


TILDEN TO GEORGE W. SMITH

  "GREYSTONE, _October 26, 1881_.

"DEAR MR. SMITH,--Will you see Mr. Cooper and communicate
to him the following:

"The view which I took of the matter talked about between Mr. Cooper
and myself yesterday is unchanged. If nothing can be raised in New
York for the State committee, the best way is frankly to communicate
the fact. It could scarcely be expected to foray on one man for the
whole supplies desired. I am subject to a continual running fire
of contributions. To deal with them, and with the applications now
before me, or sure to come, will be as much as ought to be expected
from me.

"When I was at the head of the committee I stopped the practice of
distributing funds from the State committee to the localities; and
nothing of the kind was done in any campaign which I directed, or in
which I was a candidate. I doubted the system, and can scarcely be
expected to renew it single-handed on my individual account.

"Of course, nobody will give or take any trouble to collect money,
if all that is necessary is to ask one man for it.

"I do not just now feel very affluent. I have given away so much
this year, and have been led into such large expenses that I am
trenching upon my capital, and do not feel as indifferent to
unnecessary extravagance as I might under other circumstances.

  S. J. T."


HARRIET F. TYLDEN TO TILDEN

  "CUMBERLAND HOUSE, CHILHAM, N. CANTERBURY, KENT,
  "_3d Decr. 1881_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--In looking through the books in the
library at Chilham Castle yesterday I came across four ponderous
volumes of Halsted's _History of Kent_, published about one
hundred years ago. In referring to the index of the second and
third volumes, I found several entries of the name of _Tilden_
as holding possession of manors in the reign of King Henry the
Second. There was a parish called Tilden also, but, in the reign of
Charles the First, the names of Tilden and Tylden seem to be used
indiscriminately to designate the same individual. This carries
out my husband's often-disputed assertion that there were family
records in existence when he was a child proving that Tilden was
the original name; but that, in the reign of Charles the First, the
family divided into two branches, one following the fortunes of King
Charles, calling themselves Tylden, and the other who sided with
Cromwell, keeping to the old spelling, _Tilden_. And it seems to me
that the Puritan names in your family, 'Samuel,' 'Solomon,' goes
far towards proving the truth of the statement. We, while adopting
the 'Y' in the surname, have kept fast to the Christian names of
Richard and of John, but especially Richard. Nearly every Tilden in
Halsted's History for centuries past has borne this Christian name.
I think it likely you may have seen the book or have had extracts
from it made for you. Should such _not_ to be the case, I shall be
_only too pleased_ to copy out everything relating to your ancestors
from the history at Chilham Castle. A lady in Kent is busy on a
genealogy of the Tyldens, but as yet I have not seen it, and no
doubt she differs from my husband in thinking the Tildens dropped
the 'y' and inserted an 'i' in the time of Cromwell when they are
supposed to have emigrated to America.

"I hope you continue in good health. We have seen your name
prominently brought forward during the elections. The weather was
dreadfully rough here after your nieces sailed. I hope they got
safely back.

"I expect Dick to spend his Christmas with me. Katie is staying with
a friend, but I expect her home next week. Mr. Parnell has done
great harm in Ireland: six hundred ladies are in the Unions (parish
work-houses), owing to non-payment of rent.

"Believe me to be,

  "Always sincerely yours,
  "HARRIET F. TYLDEN."


C. A. DANA TO TILDEN

"'THE SUN,' NEW YORK, _Feb. 23, 1882_.

"DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I have been slow in thanking you for the
box of Steinberger Cabinet, because I only wish to taste it in the
most adequate society; and now, having had a suitable opportunity,
I am prepared to say again that the wine is one of the very noblest
products of nature, and that I am, as ever,

  Sincerely yours,
  "CHARLES A. DANA."

       *       *       *       *       *
"This shows that two men at least knew Steinberger Cabinet of 1868,
which cost $84 a case--gold--in 1870.

  "G. W. S."

       *       *       *       *       *
The following letter was in reply to a gentleman in Texas, who
proposed to start a newspaper at Floresville, Wilson County, Texas,
with Mr. Tilden's name at the head of its editorial columns as its
candidate for the Presidency. It was dated May, 1882. The answer
was written at Mr. Tilden's request by George W. Smith, then his
secretary.

       *       *       *       *       *

  "GREYSTONE, _July 8, 1882_.

"DEAR SIR,--Mr. Tilden thanks you for the kind sentiments
expressed towards him in your volume of poems, a copy of which you
so kindly sent to him.

"In respect to your starting a newspaper and keeping his name 'at
the masthead as the Democratic nominee for President in 1884,' I
would say that Mr. Tilden started in life and passed almost through
the allotted time of human existence, on the theory of performing
all the duties which a citizen of the Republic owes to the State
without ever entering upon an official career. His entrance into
public life was a deviation from his plan, made for a temporary
period and for a special purpose. He has no desire, I think, to
again quit his home, his books, and his private pursuits.

  "Very truly yours,
  "G. W. SMITH, Secretary."


GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON TO TILDEN

  "797 GREENE AVENUE, BROOKLYN, _2 Aug. 1882_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--May I trespass upon your attention, briefly,
in behalf of a literary undertaking in which I think you will feel
an interest? The facts are these: Mrs. Charlotte M. Clarke, who
has won a very decided success as a novelist while writing under
a pseudonym, has now in press a novel of a good deal more than
ordinary breadth and power, in which she treats the social and
political history of this country during the period immediately
preceding the late war and later. It is now her purpose to carry
the review forward in another novel to be entitled _The Theft of an
Empire_, and to concern itself with the events of 1876.

"From the character of the work now in press, which I have had
occasion to read in proof, I am satisfied that in the hands of this
writer the story of the election frauds of 1876 will have such a
dramatic setting forth as will command respect and attention in
quarters where the facts are now misconstrued. I need not suggest
to you the potency of fiction to impress truths of this nature upon
minds which receive such truths in no other way, but I may assure
you that I know of no author likely to make so effective use of this
material as Mrs. Clarke.

"The lady already has possession of very valuable materials, and in
making further collections she will have the active assistance of
some of the most prominent editors and public men of the country,
who are her friends; but she is especially anxious to get possession
of certain facts which you can doubtless furnish at once, but which
it would be difficult to get elsewhere. In her eagerness to get full
and accurate information for this purpose, she asks the privilege of
an interview with you at your own convenience, and my own interest
in the due performance of this necessary work induces me to make
this request for her. With respect to myself, and the sincerity
of my interest in the establishment of historic truth in this
connection, I beg to refer you to my friend Mr. Parke Godwin, under
whom I served upon the editorial staff of the _Evening Post_.

"Mrs. Clarke is staying for a few days at the Hotel Branting,
Madison Avenue and Fifty-eighth Street, and, if you are willing to
grant her request for a brief interview, she will call upon you at
any time you may name, and will trespass as little as may be upon
your time.

  "Very respectfully, your obt. servant,
  "GEO. CARY EGGLESTON."


D. B. HILL TO TILDEN

  "MAYOR'S OFFICE, ELMIRA, N. Y., _Sept. 2, 1882_.

  "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I would very much like the Democratic
nomination for Lieutenant Governor, and, if you can consistently aid
me in securing it, I shall be under renewed obligations to you. I
think I am as much entitled to it as either of the other gentlemen
mentioned for the place. My district has been solid for 'our side'
ever since you asked me to take hold of it and make it right,
which was early in 1875. I have had to fight strong men--such men
as Arnot, McGuire, Walker, and McGee, who have all been combined
against me, and who started a newspaper to crush me out, and I have
come out ahead every time. It has, however, been a hard struggle for
many years.

"If I could receive this nomination, I should be greatly gratified.
The party leaders on our side--such men as Messrs. Manning,
Faulkner, McLaughlin, Thompson, Whitney, Weed, and others--will
accept your suggestion on this subject, and be glad to adopt a
course which will meet with your approval.

"If you will speak a good work for me for this nomination, it will
settle the question. If there is any plan or arrangement agreed
upon, which renders my candidacy embarrassing to you or our friends,
or makes it inexpedient or impolitic, I should like to be advised of
it.

"I trust you will see your way clear to do this for me.

  "I remain, faithfully yours,
  "D. B. HILL."


PARKE GODWIN TO TILDEN

  "ROSLYN, _Oct. 3d, '82_.

"MY DEAR TILDEN,--I am one of the committee appointed
to raise subscriptions for the Statue of Liberty to be placed on
Bedloe's Island, and we propose, this fall, to go to work earnestly
to raise the necessary money. I should like very much to put down
your name as the first, in a good sum--and my own as the first
successful applicant. Evarts, the head of our committee, has been
dilatory, but there is no doubt we shall succeed. It is an important
object, in which I have interested myself from the first, and am
still interested. I know that applications of this kind are often
made to you--and, if you have the least reluctance, just burn this
up, and consider it unwritten.

  "Yours truly,
  "PARKE GODWIN."


PARKE GODWIN TO TILDEN

  "MURRAY HILL, 19 EAST 37TH ST., _Oct. 12th, 1882_.

"MY DEAR TILDEN,--It seems to be the general opinion of our
committee on the Statue of Liberty that we ought to have the name
of an ex-President and ex-Governor of New York on the list of our
subscribers. I concur in that opinion, and hope you will be induced
to lend us a helping hand. The subscriptions range thus far from $1
to $5000, and we shall try to get $10,000 from Vanderbilt and Astor
each. I should like to see one great representative of Liberty, in
all the best senses of the word, at the head of the poll.

  "Yours very truly,
  "PARKE GODWIN."


MARY TILDEN TO S. J. TILDEN

  "ST. OLAVE'S, TRINITY CRESCENT, FOLKESTONE, _Oct. 12, 1882_.

"DEAR SIR,--Some few years back I heard that you came to
England to look up some of your relations. I so much regret that I
did not have the pleasure of making your acquaintance, as we are the
old family of Tildens of Ifield Court in the parish of Northfleet.

"I have always heard my husband say that there were three branches
of the Tilden family: one lived at Milsted (Sir John Tylden), they
altered the spelling of the name; one branch went to America, and
the other to Ifield Court. My husband was the fourth John Tilden who
had lived at the old place; we were married in 1838, and I lived
there with him thirty-four years, as he died in 1872 at the age
of seventy-six. He was twenty years older than me; we have three
children--my eldest son John still has Ifield Court. My daughter
Lucy married, in 1868, Captain Miller, of the Royal Engineers; he
died of typhoid fever at Gibraltar in 1876, leaving his wife and
four children--three girls and one boy; they are now living with me.
William, my youngest son, is a major in the Sixtieth Rifles; he has
just engaged himself to be married to a Miss Bell, a lady of good
family and connections.

"If you should visit England again, I hope I may have the
opportunity of meeting you. I have long wished to write to you, but
did not know where to address you. This summer I was spending a few
weeks at Thonne in Switzerland, and an American gentleman and his
wife were staying at the hotel. They were struck with my name and
asked if we were related to you. I asked if he would give me your
address, which he did, and I made up my mind to write to you as soon
as I returned home.

"There is a church not far from here called Lynne, where Canon
Jenkins took me to see where some of our ancestors were buried,
spelling their names as we do, _Tilden_. My dear husband was very
proud of his family; his brothers are all dead; he has only three
sisters living; there _were_ twelve in the family. I hope you
will pardon my writing to you, but I feel you would like to know
something of the Ifield Court, Tildens.

"My daughter unites with me in kind regards to her kinsman, and
believe me,

  "My dear sir, yours very truly,
  "MARY TILDEN."


TILDEN TO MRS. LOWELL

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _November 15, 1882_.

"DEAR MRS. LOWELL,--I received, on Saturday evening, your
letter dated November 3d, and take the first time at my command to
answer it.

"You do not overestimate the influx of communications which you
are pleased to term 'begging letters.' They count by thousands. It
is only in rare and exceptional cases that they can be answered.
To comply with their requests would overmatch the journalistic
exaggerations of the income and fortune which, in the mind of
each applicant, is compared with a single want, presented as most
meritorious, and as very inconsiderable in amount.

"I had occasion to tell the principal of a college, who tried to
tempt my vanity with the offer to call an edifice by my name,
that I should regard it as a calamity to be published as a
philanthropist--having discovered that a dim suspicion of that
character is scarcely consistent with the repose of a retired life.

"Nevertheless, I am open to consider the case to which you call
my attention. Would it be convenient to you, some day when I am in
New York, to call upon me, or to send some well-informed person to
explain to me your scheme--what it needs and what your plans are? If
so, I will make an appointment not earlier than next week.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO MRS. LOWELL

  "_January 2, 1883._

"DEAR MRS. LOWELL,--I have received your note containing
some account of the subscriptions for the Charity Organization
Society.

"Herewith is the speech which I promised to send.

"My subscription, which was to be paid after the beginning of the
New Year, will be ready whenever you may come, in person, to collect
it. Since almost seven years elapsed without my having the pleasure
to see you, I do not like to throw away this occasion.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN.

  "_Mrs. J. S. Lowell._"


TILDEN TO CHARLES A. DANA

  "YONKERS, N. Y., _January 2, 1883_.

"DEAR MR. DANA,--I reciprocate your good wishes for the New
Year for both yourself and Mrs. Dana.

"I fear there is some danger that the unsettling of the established
system in regard to the canals may lead to projects for enlargements
which will be of no real utility, but mere pretences for a renewal
of abuses.

"I send herewith a copy of my speech on the canals in the convention
of 1867, which, I think, you once expressed a wish to see; and also
a copy of my first Message which contains a passage on the same
subject.[27]

  [27] See _Tilden's Public Writings and Speeches_, Vol. I., p. 348.

"It is sad to think of Louis Blanc and Gambetta, who have just
passed away. In September and October, 1877, when Mr. Bigelow and
I were in Paris, we saw something of them. Louis Blanc was an
intelligent, mild man of gentle manners, and with the air of a
scholar or professor. Gambetta seemed to be an impersonation of
great forces. I brought back a magnificent photograph of him, which
I have been examining with fresh interest to-day. Both knew enough
of American politics to sympathize with the view you take of the
electoral transaction of 1876-7.

  "Very truly yours."


TILDEN TO PARKE GODWIN

  "GREYSTONE, _January 11, 1883_.

"DEAR MR. GODWIN,--I intended to answer your first letter
in respect to the foundation of the Statue of Liberty, although it
expressly waived a reply. My thought then was to have a conference
which should explain to me the scheme proposed; but, in the progress
of time, that result came about of itself....

"My impression has been, and still remains, that other objects ought
to have a preference; and those will suffice to consume all I shall
at present devote to such purposes.

"With my best wishes for the health, prosperity, and happiness of
yourself and family, I remain,

  "Very truly yours."


HENRY ADAMS TO TILDEN

  "1607 H STREET, WASHINGTON, _24 Jan., 1883_.

"DEAR SIR,--Your kind letter of the 12th, acknowledging the
receipt at some past time of a copy of _New England Federalism_,
reached me yesterday. I am forced to confess that I have equally
forgotten sending you the book, and can recall nothing except
the fact that I sent you my _Life of Gallatin_ in consequence of
assistance which you rendered me in regard to it. Probably the other
book was sent in the same connection. I am quite sure that while in
Europe, where I went for papers after the _Gallatin_ appeared, I
received a letter of acknowledgment from you for the volume.

"To do justice to Gallatin was a labor of love. After long study
of the prominent figures in our history, I am more than ever
convinced that for combination of ability, integrity, knowledge,
unselfishness, and social fitness Mr. Gallatin has no equal. He was
the most fully and perfectly equipped statesman we can show. Other
men, as I take hold of them, are soft in some spots and rough in
others. Gallatin never gave way in my hand or seemed unfinished.
That he made mistakes I can see, but even in his blunders he was
respectable.

"I cannot say as much for his friends Jefferson, Madison, and
Monroe, about whom I have been for years hard at work. In regard
to them I am incessantly forced to devise excuses and apologies
or to admit that no excuse will avail. I am at times almost sorry
that I ever undertook to write their history, for they appear like
mere grasshoppers kicking and gesticulating on the middle of the
Mississippi River. There is no possibility of reconciling their
theories with their acts, or their extraordinary foreign policy with
dignity. They were carried along on a stream which floated them,
after a fashion, without much regard to themselves.

"This I take to be the result that students of history generally
reach in regard to modern times. The element of individuality is
the free-will dogma of the science, if it is a science. My own
conclusion is that history is simply social development along the
lines of weakest resistance, and that in most cases the line of
weakest resistance is found as unconsciously by society as by water.

  "I am very truly y'rs,
  "HENRY ADAMS."


JOHN BIGELOW TO TILDEN

  "THURSDAY MG., _April 19_ (_1883_).

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Referring to the request of L. Smith
Hobart, of New Haven, in regard to your collegiate residence at
New Haven, I find myself only partially prepared to answer his
questions, and though I had it on my mind when I saw you Tuesday
morning to question you of other matters, I left without bethinking
me of that duty.

"Your correspondence shows that you entered Yale College a
third-term Freshman in the year 1834, and left at the close of that
term never to return, for in December you were settled in New York.
I find no evidence of your having returned to college in the fall.

"But there is nothing in your correspondence to show what _room_ you
occupied. As you ate at Commons, I infer that you had a room in the
college.

"If you will have the goodness to supply the information about the
number of your room and the name of the college building that you
occupied, I will be prepared to answer Mr. Hobart.

"If I am not right in assuming that you were a Yale third-term
Freshman in 1834, and no longer, please correct me.

  "Yours faithfully,
  "JOHN BIGELOW.

"P. S.--If you did not room in the college, please tell me where or
with whom you had lodgings."


TILDEN TO BIGELOW

  "GREYSTONE, _April 20, 1883_.

"DEAR MR. BIGELOW,--I entered Yale College in the third
term of the Freshman class, in June, 1834. I had no room in the
college building, but I had a room in the house of a Mr. Goodman,
which was situated below the Tontine, in a street at right angles
with the front of the college buildings. At first I took my meals
at Commons, but soon found that the diet would not answer for my
delicate stomach. I left the college at the end of the Freshman
year, expecting to return after the long vacation, but found myself
unable.

"As Mr. Hobart seems to desire more particulars, I enclose herewith
two copies of the _Courier Journal_ Biography. Would it not be well
for you to open communication with Mr. Hobart, saying that his
letter had been referred to you?[28]

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."

  [28] Mr. Tilden was aware that I wrote the biography of him which
  is here referred to, and which first appeared in the Louisville
  _Courier-Journal_ during the campaign of 1876.


TILDEN TO MRS. MARY TILDEN

  "GREYSTONE, _June 19, 1883_.

"DEAR MRS. TILDEN,--Your kind and interesting letter
of October 12, 1882, has ever since awaited an opportunity for
me to answer it, which, with the best intentions, has not been
accomplished until now. I regret that I did not have the pleasure of
making your acquaintance when I was last in England in 1877.

"My grandfather's name was John, which seems to have been a favorite
name in that branch of the family. The ancestor who migrated to
this country was Nathaniel; he came from Tenterden, of which he and
several of his kinsmen had been Mayor.

"I am interested in the particulars which your letter contains in
respect to your family.

"I send a photograph of myself. Please present to your daughter and
accept for yourself my best regards.

  "Very truly yours,
  "(Signed) S. J. TILDEN."


MARY E. BLAIR TO TILDEN

  "FALKLAND, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD., _June 26th_.

  "MR. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--Mr. Blair was much touched by your kind note
of sympathy received a few days since. When I wrote Mr. Bigelow I
was anxious and hurried, fearing the fatigue of the drive to the
country on Mr. Blair. The change has been most beneficial, and his
improvement since we came very decided, though our city papers will
contrive to say that he is very ill. We are all greatly encouraged.
He has less pain--is stronger and sleeps better. I follow your
advice, and only present the most agreeable topics for his thoughts.
The arrival of a young Holstein or Jersey calf--the Silo well
filled--and a touch of the New York _Sun's_ sarcasm often diverts
his attention from himself and interests him. He desires me to
remember him kindly to you. I hope the papers report truly when they
say your own health is so good.

  "Very truly yrs.,
  "MARY E. BLAIR."


TILDEN TO MRS. BLAIR

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _July 28, 1883_.

"DEAR MRS. BLAIR,--I am deeply afflicted by the sad
intelligence concerning Mr. Blair which comes to-day. I share with
you and his children in the great bereavement, lamenting that I am
so impotent to lessen your sorrow while mingling with it my own.

"Tendering you my heart-felt condolences, I am,

  "Very truly yours."


WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER TO TILDEN

  "TRINITY BUILDING, 111 BROADWAY, _Sept. 10, 1883_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I am asked to write you a line about
the law school of the New York University whose work and wants
have, I understand, been brought to your attention. While the early
plans of my father and his associates, Judge Kent and Mr. David
Graham, Jr., were not carried out according to their full intention
in its foundation, the later years of the school have been full of
encouragement, and it is now prospering under good management. The
class of young men who avail of its instruction is largely drawn
from those students who must make their way in the profession for
themselves; and the training they get is, I believe, exceptionally
thorough and conscientious. I have no right to make any suggestions
on the subject; but you will, I am sure, appreciate my interest in
the school and my motive in saying what I have said in regard to its
merits.

  "Yours very truly,
  "WM. ALLEN BUTLER."


W. P. SCOTT TO TILDEN

  "_Personal._

  "NEW ORLEANS, _Sept. 16th, 1883_.

"DEAR SIR,--There come times in men's lives when, it
matters not how carefully they have builded, how deep the structure
strikes its foundations, or how critically material shall have been
selected, all fail if the keystone be not placed skilfully, in
season, and well.

"In these States, your sagacity, ability, firmness, and all that
pertains to stamp the man as leader, is recognized to such an extent
that it renders success impossible to any but yourself. The scheme
of politicians may succeed in party conventions, but when candidates
nominated by the party appear 'in the fierce light that beats around
the throne,' the Democracy will soon find that the voters have
discovered that a stronger element has been discarded than won, if
you be not nominated.

"In 1880 success was impossible without your name for President,
and the case applies with equal vigor at this moment. Since your
resignation of its command, drift has been its policy, blunder its
action.

"In '74, when nominated for Governor of your State, a Republican
majority of 50,000 stared you in the face; your former efforts in
the interests of reform nominated you; you had builded well.

"The 14th of September, '74, in this city, drew aside the full
curtain and allowed the American people to view the workings
of Republican reconstruction in the South; showed how hollow
the Republican State government was, and committed the general
government to the 'bayonet policy' more absolutely than ever. The
people of Louisiana appealed to the nation, through the mouths
of cannon, to free her of her oppressors, who were at the moment
attempting to deny the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.
The leader of that movement was Fred N. Ogden whom C. A. Burke is
now vigorously opposing for the Governorship of this State, which
nomination takes place in a few months and the election in April,
'84. When the convention meets it will in all probability elect
delegates to the national convention.

"Two years before your nomination the Democratic party was not able
to place a candidate in the field for President, and in '76 elected
a President. Louisiana contributed her eight votes to yourself,
and maintained, through Fred N. Ogden, on the 9th of January, '77,
the genuineness of her vote by destroying every opposition to the
Nicholls government, and compelling Hayes to stamp his election as
fraudulent without recourse.

"When your election for Governor took place the people were not
disappointed, and your reforms heightened the enthusiasm engendered
by the campaign of '74, and made your nomination certain for the
highest office in the gift of the people. You know much better
than myself the causes of its end, and suffice to say that, in my
opinion, your patriotism came to me in a stronger and purer light
than ever before by your action in not precipitating a civil war of
unknown consequences.

"At this moment the situation of the Democratic party is this, in my
opinion:

  Electoral votes South        153
  New Jersey                9
  Connecticut               6
  New York                 36-- 51
                              ----
                               204
                              ----
       Majority                  3

"You are the only man who can carry New York and fill the void that
her loss would incur.

"Now, I ask you, Mr. Tilden, to ponder well the refusal of yourself
through friends for the candidacy of President.

"Have you not placed yourself so high that you cannot refuse; cannot
even afford to deny the right of your friends to run you for your
just vindication?

"Let your friends announce that you will accept the responsibility
if nominated, however great the sacrifice, and your nomination is
assured and your election certain.

"With other candidate I fear the usual result: 'defeat.' You have
builded well; your ability will not allow you to cease at the moment
of your triumph. You stand upon the banks of Rubicon. Empire is
beyond, wilderness behind.

"Enemies delight in publishing your unalterable determination not to
be a candidate; your friends cannot even say that you will accept
the position if nominated.

"In the past, as in the future, I will trust in your patriotism; and
in your own due season, when the fruit be ripe, I trust and know
that you will not fail to gather the harvest properly, honestly, and
well.

  "Your obt. servant,
  "W. P. SCOTT."


TILDEN TO WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER

  "_Oct. 11/83._

"DEAR MR. BUTLER,--You are right in supposing that I do not
fail to appreciate the motives of your suggestion in respect to the
law school, but I am not prepared to say anything on the subject.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


M. W. FULLER[29] TO W. H. BARNUM, CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC
COMMITTEE

  [29] Present Chief Justice of the United States; appointed in April,
  1888.

  "CHICAGO, _December 23, 1883_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--It is clear to demonstration that Mr.
Tilden should be our nominee, and if he would consent to run, that
he would be again elected, this time by an overwhelming electoral
as well as popular majority. From the moment of the nomination to
the close of the polls, the canvass would be a triumphal progress.
We should be obliged to do some hard fighting, but always under
the influence of assured victory by fighting. The nomination and
election would not simply vindicate Mr. Tilden, but the right
of the people to elect their own officers. Nor is this all. If
Mr. Tilden would accept the nomination, that would relieve the
Democracy of all jealousy and heart-burning--all controversy between
rival candidates, all difficulty in the convention or after the
convention. Again, the platform could be carefully drawn before the
meeting of the convention, and ought to be by Mr. Tilden himself.
Since the days of Jefferson and Franklin, this country has not had
a statesman whose pen could delineate so accurately and so simply a
principle, a policy, or a line of conduct. What the people need is
somebody who can tell them with accuracy and simplicity just what
they themselves think. This is the secret of Mr. Tilden's great
popularity with the masses, the existence of which eminent jackasses
in our party have often denied, and do not seem to comprehend now
that they are beginning to be driven to concede it. There are always
political prophets (I don't mean to speak irreverently) looking
for power in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, instead of
the still, small voice. Now, the question of Mr. Tilden's health
presents itself about which I know absolutely nothing. His age is
no objection. Cato learned Greek at eighty, and Goethe completed
'Faust' after he had passed eighty. Taney and Shaw delivered
judgments when nearly ninety. Look at John Quincy Adams and
Gladstone and 'old Palm.' Why, Lord Palmerston at the age of eighty
saved his administration by a masterly practical speech delivered
without a note in the early hours of the morning. And, speaking of
him, McCarthy, in his _History of Our Own Times_, commences the
chapter on the death of Lord Palmerston with the quotation, 'Unarm,
Eros, the long day's task is done and we must sleep.' Mr. Tilden's
day has not been so long by eleven years. Is his task done? The
unfinished window in Aladdin's tower must not remain unfinished. The
art of prolonging life lies in an object to be attained. I admit
that various things are to be taken into consideration as assisting
in sustaining health, and in that way prolonging mere existence;
but all these, while mere adjuncts to vegetation, really amount
to nothing if there be not a sufficient object for living outside
of keeping one's self on this side of the river. I can conceive of
no higher object than the attainment of the Chief Magistracy with
the view of benefiting the people of this Republic. Here I do Mr.
Tilden justice. He is now at an age when he doubtless feels that
merely being President is in itself vanity. That doll is stuffed
with saw-dust, just as all other dolls are found to be by all men,
children of a larger growth. But if he can, by being President,
benefit this people by saving their institutions, now in utmost
peril, by reforming the methods of administration, by teaching
both the great parties, and, in an especial degree, his own,
that adherence to principle is as desirable in a party as in an
individual, &c., &c., is that not an object worthy the attainment of
any man? And is it not an object that would prolong life, and not
bring it to termination? I am very much mistaken if renomination,
and election, and administration would not do Mr. Tilden good. Of
course, as the returns came pouring in, there might be some hours
of excitement which possibly would lead to a reaction; but I think
not, as what is to be done would still lie ahead. The election would
simply give him the certificate, but his duty would commence after
the 4th of March. And here consider that what hurried Harrison
into his grave was probably office-seeking; but that a man who
could lug Roman consuls into his inaugural address probably thought
it necessary to listen to every tide-waiter--a kindly but fatal
error. I have seen a suggestion in the papers which, by the way,
might have come from Mr. Tilden himself, which assigned to others
selected by the President the burden of administrative detail.
Certainly, in such particulars, my opinion is that Mr. Tilden knows
who to choose to carry out his ideas. The difference between one
man and another lies a good deal in the ability to do work through
others, and the sagacity to select them. So far as the canvass or
the administration is concerned, Mr. Tilden would be benefited by
both, and injured by neither. As to the second place on the ticket,
I think it should be given Governor Hendricks. Napoleon said,
'Imagination rules the world,' and you may depend upon it that
sentiment cuts no inconsiderable part in all elections. It must be
taken in solution, it is true, but it is a necessary ingredient.
Apart from the necessity of the 'old ticket,' it has great strength
because it _is_ the old ticket. There is a certain sense of justice
that has gone unsatisfied since March, 1877, and you blunt its edge
if you change the ticket. Undoubtedly Mr. Hendricks made a great
mistake in 1880, but such mistakes are often inevitable, and ought
never to be irretrievable. That he should now be in favor of the old
ticket simply shows that he wishes to reattain his old position in
politics. His error threw him out of the line, as everybody knew it
would. That he should desire to get back again is natural enough.
I thought yesterday you were entirely wrong in attributing another
motive entirely foreign to his character. Assuming that the old
ticket is to be nominated, and by acclamation, as it would be, this
would as readily happen at Chicago as anywhere else. It is much
better to have it done here than in any Eastern city. The only doubt
is, would it not be better, partly as a matter of sentiment, to
select St. Louis, and have the same temporary chairman, committees,
and so on, as in 1876, and the same platform, corrected by Mr.
Tilden so as to adapt it to the changes produced by lapse of time,
and to shape it on the subject of the defeat of the people's will
in 1876-7? So far as any other ticket is concerned, Chicago is the
place, and so far as the old ticket is concerned, it is the place,
except upon the ground above indicated.

"I have but little doubt that Mr. Tilden could carry this State. It
would need a good State ticket to ensure it. But if it were known
that the old ticket was to run, I think we should get a good local
ticket.

"Excuse the length of this letter and, if you can write me, I wish
you would.

"The compliments of the season to you and yours.

  "Very truly yours,
  "M. W. FULLER."


CYRUS H. McCORMICK TO TILDEN

  "CHICAGO, ILL., _April 7th, 1884_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I had a meeting of a few friends at dinner
at my house last Friday, some mention of which, I trust, may not be
entirely without interest to you. The gentlemen present were Senator
McDonald, of Indiana; Mr. W. C. Goudy (member of National Democratic
Committee); Mr. F. H. Winston; Mr. Henry G. Miller; Mr. Commissioner
Mattocks; Mr. Perry H. Smith, Jr., and my son, all of this city.
Judge Shepard, Mr. C. C. Copeland, and Mr. Melville Fuller were
invited but could not attend.

"My letter of the 27th of March addressed to yourself was read to
the gentlemen present and unanimously approved. I had had a call
from Senator McDonald the day before, and had shown him a copy of
my letter to you and discussed the subject with him to some extent.
He seemed to think that 'the old ticket' (Tilden and Hendricks)
would take better in this State than _Tilden and McDonald_, seeming,
himself, not inclined to antagonize Hendricks on a ticket headed by
yourself; but, at the same time, he stated unhesitatingly that, as a
politician, in the ranks of the Democracy, he felt himself subject
to the orders of the party.

"There was a striking unanimity of sentiment between the gentlemen
present (except Senator McDonald) as to the contents of my letter
referred to, while our family physician (a prominent Republican)
remarked to me that the ticket mentioned would suit him precisely,
and that it would give him pleasure to vote for it. An editorial
article in the _Chicago Times_, in speaking of the prospective
Democratic candidates, remarked that 'nobody wanted Mr. Hendricks.'

"Since the date of my letter to you, I have observed in the papers
very favorable comments by Horatio Seymour on the subject of your
health and ability to stand for a Presidential nomination; and I
have also observed sundry reviews, by other parties, of the same
character--perhaps in all which it may be said that, while you
are disinclined to deprive yourself of your home comforts and
enjoyments, you have in no case been found to say positively that,
if nominated by the convention, you would not accept.

"I may add that Senator McDonald agreed heartily with the other
gentlemen present at our dinner party that _no other name could
command the support of the Democrats of the country that yours
would_.

"Under the circumstances, I beg to ask whether it would be agreeable
to your feelings or wishes that I should say anything publicly
in regard to the momentous issues briefly referred to in this
correspondence.

"I remain, my dear sir,

  "Your friend and servant,
  "CYRUS H. MCCORMICK."


HENRY C. SEMPLE TO TILDEN

  "GILSEY HOUSE, NEW YORK, _April 23d, 1884_.

"DEAR SIR,--I regret that your business engagements make
it inconvenient for you to receive me for a few minutes, as I
am obliged to set out for home on Thursday evening, and came on
from Washington (where I have been in attendance on the Sup. Ct.)
principally to see you.

"You must be aware that the Democratic party will not even consider
the question of selecting among candidates for the Presidency,
unless satisfied that you will be incapable of entering on the
discharge of the duties of the office when elected.

"Sensible men in the party will not ask that you _consent_ to be a
candidate, nor will they regard the fact that you decline to become
a candidate.

"Those who wish to see the Republican party maintained in power till
we shall cease to have a Republican _government_ try to persuade the
people that your health renders it _impossible_ for you to discharge
the duties of the office. Those in our own party, who look to their
own interests rather than to the good of the people, would also have
us believe this.

"Though comparatively a young man, I acted in 1848 as secretary of a
meeting of distinguished men in the Senate who, indignant at Cass'
answer in the question of slavery in the territories, proposed to
bring out another Democratic candidate, so as to insure his defeat
and teach the majority of the party a lesson.

"They selected Littleton Waller Tazewell, of Virginia, and addressed
him a letter, asking that he should become a candidate. I, as
secretary, preceded this letter to him with a private letter,
assuring him that in addition to the names of Yancey and others
composing the committee, that the movement would be supported by
Jefferson Davis and other leaders who would also write to him to
urge his candidacy.

"Mr. Tazewell replied at once, saying substantially that, while
entertaining the same opinions, and cherishing the same hopes
expressed by the committee, he must decline to allow the use of
his name as a candidate, and that no additional numbers, however
respectable, would alter his views.

"He advised them to select a candidate from another class; that
the Priams of the party said that he could only hope to last _telum
imbellisim ictu_, etc., etc.

"In his private letter to me he said that, recognizing me as the son
of an old friend, he would say that, while old and infirm (upwards
of eighty, I think), he regarded it as the duty of the citizen to
serve the State when called on. That Coriolanus had admitted this.
That any man could say he would not become a _candidate_, but no one
could say he would not _serve_ the State.

"I am one of the few survivors of the patriotic but mistaken
associates who addressed that letter to Tazewell thirty-six years
ago. On his declination no further steps were taken, and the matter
was kept quiet. Some of them have since filled high offices--one was
afterwards a justice of Supreme Court, New York, others Senators in
Congress--places which they would never have filled had this affair
become public. Had it become public it is possible that Yancey's
influence would have been so far impaired that he would not have
possessed the power, in 1860, to 'precipitate the South into a
revolution.'

"I thought that a history of this matter might be interesting to
you, and that I might draw some inferences from its discussion
with you which might enable me to render a valuable service to the
country. I believe that Hon. John A. Campbell is the only man now
living who could be compromised in any manner by what I have said as
to the correspondence with Mr. Tazewell in 1848; but can rely, of
course, on your discretion for the preservation of a curious bit of
political history.

  "Resp'y and truly yours,
  "HENRY C. SEMPLE."


D. MAGONE TO DANIEL MANNING

  "_Confidential._

  "OGDENSBURG, _Apl. 24th, 1884_.

  "DANIEL MANNING, ESQ.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Permit me to advise that whatever your
individual opinion is, as to the propriety of Mr. Tilden's candidacy
for the Presidency, he should not authoritatively decline until
after the election of the delegates to our State convention.

"His name will greatly aid in securing honest delegates. Please give
me any point you can, as I only wish to know what may better enable
me to second you in the hard work that I know you have to do.

  "Truly yours,
  "D. MAGONE."


LYMAN TRUMBULL TO TILDEN

  "CHICAGO, _June 7, 1884_.

  "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--The Republicans have now made their
nominations for President and Vice-President of men who are fair
representatives of the Republican organization. Their election
means a continuance of the partisanship, abuses, corruptions, and
centralizing tendencies of the last twenty years which you and I
both believe dangerous, and, if continued, in the end destructive
of Republican liberty. It seems to me the patriotic duty of all men
so believing to sacrifice all personal considerations for their
country's good. The Democracy all over the land are looking to
you as the one person above all others to lead them in the coming
political contest. The only question seems to be: will you consent
to be the candidate? I know nothing of your determination, except
what may be gathered from the conflicting statements of the press,
and I do not expect or ask a reply to my letter. My only object in
writing is to urge upon you the _duty_ of yielding to the united
demand of the Democracy. There are times when patriots must not
hesitate, if necessary, to take their lives in their hands for
liberty's sake. I know not your physical condition, but mentally
you are all that your friends require; and even at the hazard of
your life, I believe it your duty to listen to the united voice of
the friends of constitutional liberty. I _know_ that you were once
fairly elected President. I feel confident that you can be again.
Whether any other Democrat can be is uncertain. I fear not. It was a
great mistake not to have nominated you four years ago. I felt it at
the time. The country now sees it. With the highest regard for you
personally, I beg of you to let us make you President in fact.

  Yours very truly,
  "LYMAN TRUMBULL."

Memoranda made by Charles O'Conor in conference with Mr. Tilden and
myself about Mr. Tilden's will, which his brother Henry's death
had made it necessary to remodel. It was the last professional
consultation O'Conor ever held. He left New York the following day
to return to Nantucket (Thursday), and on Monday lay down upon
the bed from which he never rose alive. Before leaving New York,
however, he posted the following notes to Mr. Tilden:

     "Trusts cannot be created to receive and accumulate rents or
     income of real or personal estate for any of the purposes you
     have in view.

     "You will be obliged to set off at once their shares or
     allowances to your kindred out of your _capital_.

     "The residue can be appropriated to such public purposes as you
     may name to be created by the legislative allowance within two
     specified lives after your death."


PATRICK FORD TO TILDEN

  "OFFICE OF 'IRISH WORLD,'
  "PARK PLACE, NEW YORK, _May 13, 1884_.

"ESTEEMED SIR,--One with whom your name is sacredly linked
is passing away--a private telegram informs us that Chas. O'Conor
can live but a few hours. As Americans first, as likewise of the
race upon whose name his genius and character shed lustre, we desire
to fittingly honor his memory. If you will say a few words to our
representative as to the public worth and services of Mr. O'Conor,
that we may give to the _Irish World_ readers as your personal
estimate of the man, it will be a favor that we shall heartily
appreciate.

  "Very faithfully yours,
  "PATRICK FORD,
  "Per A. E. FORD, Man. Ed."


MR. TILDEN'S REMARKS ON THE DEATH OF CHARLES O'CONOR

"In my judgment, Mr. O'Conor was the greatest jurist among all the
English-speaking race. He carried the best spirit of philosophical
inquiry into every professional investigation.

"In variety of resources, in every form of experience, participating
in every important legal controversy during fifty years, with
unexampled power of discrimination and memory, he had a vast mass of
information on every professional subject.

"He was a man of lofty integrity and honor, and scorned all idea of
making his professional abilities the means of acquiring money.

"His character is worthy of a more elaborate tribute than I have the
opportunity to pay to him in the brief time of your call."


JOHN A. McCLERNAND TO TILDEN

  "SPRINGFIELD, ILL., _June 5th, 1884_.

  "To His Excellency, SAMUEL J. TILDEN, President-Elect.

"DEAR SIR,--The crime which defeated the will of the people
in 1876, and kept you from exercising the Presidential office needs
to be avenged.

"Time and your example have subdued and conciliated all factious
opposition to you in the Democratic party. The opponents of former
years are now your most noisy partisans. Your nomination in July
will follow as a spontaneous and consentaneous act unless you
prevent it.

"Preventing it calamitous consequences must ensue. The Democratic
party will be left to fall into strife, anarchy, and impotency.
The Old Guard and your old friends--what will become of them? The
barriers to latitudinous construction will be broken down, and
license given to public extravagance, official corruption, and the
greed of unscrupulous and powerful monopolies.

"Your declination is inadmissible. Accept the nomination, even if
death should overcome you during or after the fight. If I know
myself, I would, in the present extremity of country and party,
suffer the martyrdom for you vicariously if it was possible to do so.

"Excuse the freedom and energy of these remarks. They proceed from a
sense of duty. I have done.

  "Very truly your obt. sert.,
  "JOHN A. MCCLERNAND."


JOHN A. McCLERNAND TO TILDEN

  "SPRINGFIELD, ILLS., _June 6th, 1884_.

  "To His Excellency, SAMUEL J. TILDEN, President-Elect.

"DEAR SIR,--Respectfully reiterating everything I wrote
yesterday, I write again to-day to deprecate, if possible, still
more emphatically, but with all courtesy, any purpose on your part
to decline a renomination.

"I am aware that the question of acceptance has a personal, as well
as a political, aspect. I have given consideration to both, though
it may be not without prepossession. The wish is often father to
the thought. The grave matter of health has already received my
attention. Life, even comfort, may well challenge our solicitude and
care; still, I am of opinion that both may be dutifully staked upon
a transcendent issue involving the welfare of a people. _Dulce et
decorum est pro patria mori._

"What is the situation? The ruling party has overridden the voice
of the people, usurped their sovereignty, oppressed the laboring
classes by discriminating and unjust taxation, and that as a means
of perpetuating its domination and enriching political adventurers.
It would be worth the life of the greatest and best man in the land
to expel it from its ill-gotten and abused places of power.

"In saying this, I am not unmindful of the memories of the past: of
the shameful persecution which the same party wreaked on you, and of
its unhesitating readiness to return to its habitual vomit; nor of
the ungrateful return formerly made by recusant Democrats to your
steadfastness and devotion, but such has not unfrequently been the
lot of other public men of positive and decided qualities. Jefferson
and Jackson, your illustrious predecessors, did not escape it;
yet it is known and admitted that it detracted nothing from their
energy, usefulness, or merited renown. Persecution and ingratitude
are often the price paid for envied eminence and superiority. But
may I not say that the march of events and opinion has raised you
above the reach of harmful malice: that it has reformed the sin of
recusancy?

"I am persuaded that the rank and file of the Democracy are with
you, and are eager and resolute, under your leadership, to vindicate
their violated electoral rights and the sanction of the ballot-box.

"Lately I was in Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, where I sought
and conferred with a number of leading men, who assured me on my
representation that the Northwest was almost, if not quite, unitedly
in favor [of] your nomination; they would heartily co-operate to
effect it, and, indeed, while I was in Texas, several districts
passed instructions in favor of it.

"As to the 'Old Guard,' although its ranks are thinned and time
has stricken it with age; although it can scarcely hope to survive
much beyond the impending contest, yet its spirit is unbroken. It
asks not office or emolument: it covets only the post of duty and
danger. It never surrenders: it will stand by you whether for a
nomination or an election--for both it will keep the faith to the
end. Will you not lead it, as its tried, trusted, and honored chief,
to deliverance from the humiliation of unceasing contumely and
proscription?

"Upon the whole your refusal to lead the Democratic masses would
fall on them as a stunning and bewildering blow. It would balk
their welling expectations and overwhelm them with disappointment.
Would it not provoke a reaction of feeling and opinion injurious--
seriously injurious--to both you and the country? I candidly think so.

"In conclusion, I assume, as I believe, that your nomination would
be followed by your election.

  "Your obt. sert.,
  "JOHN A. MCCLERNAND."

       *       *       *       *       *

In spite of the earnest and almost oppressive urgency of friends to
whose counsels he was always anxious and usually ready to defer,
Mr. Tilden's consciousness of his lack of strength for the work
that would be expected of him if elected President and ought to be
required of him, did not permit him to weaken in his purpose. It
even hastened his official termination of these importunities before
the meeting of the State convention, which had seemed to him the
appropriate occasion for any announcement that the four preceding
years had worked no change in the views previously expressed of
retiring from public life. The circumstances which led him to
anticipate by a few weeks what he regarded as the fit time for such
an announcement, I hope I may be excused for giving, as I set them
down at the time in my diary, premising that delegates from every
part of the State to the national convention were already appointed
with instructions, or with the understanding that they should
support Mr. Tilden for the nomination.


D. MANNING'S APPEAL IN BEHALF OF CLEVELAND TO HAVE TILDEN FORMALLY
DECLINE BEING CONSIDERED A CANDIDATE IN 1884

"On or about the 8th day of June, 1884, Mr. Daniel Manning, chairman
of the New York Democratic State Committee, called at my house in
New York and asked me to accompany him to Greystone to see Mr.
Tilden. The motive he assigned for his visit there, and for wishing
me to accompany him, was to persuade Mr. Tilden, if persuasion
should be necessary, to no longer delay the formal announcement of
his intention, well known to Mr. Manning and myself, not to accept a
renomination to the Presidency.

"Mr. Manning said while there was a hope, but no certainty of Mr.
Tilden's consenting to run, his friends, embracing a large majority
of the Democratic party of the State, were getting divided as to
their second choice, and there was danger, when he came to withdraw,
that the party would be hopelessly distracted, and its influence
in the convention dissipated. He had been so impressed by a sense
of this danger, he said, that on the Sunday previous he called on
Governor Cleveland, laid the whole case before him, and pressed
upon his attention the necessity of doing something immediately to
prevent the friends of Mr. Tilden from getting pledged to other
candidates as their second choice.

"On the following day we repaired to Greystone. Mr. Manning then
repeated to Mr. Tilden substantially what he had said to me of his
interview with Governor Cleveland and of his mission, except that
in regard to the cabinet. I think he said, 'You can name any member
of the cabinet you please--an unobjectionable man, of course, like
----, for instance' (naming a gentleman whom he knew Mr. Tilden
would regard as such a man).

"Though the general import of the conversation was that the cabinet
would be selected in harmony with Mr. Tilden's wishes, I did not
hear him state distinctly to Mr. Tilden, as I understood him to
state to me in New York, that the cabinet in its entirety should
consist of men whose selection Mr. Tilden should approve of. During
that part of the conversation with Mr. Tilden which I overheard,
he said that Mr. Tilden might name any member of the cabinet he
pleased, which might mean many or only one. This statement was
reinforced by the remark that Governor Cleveland would do anything
that he (Manning) should advise him to do, for he was conscious that
his only hope now was from and through Mr. Tilden. The letter to Mr.
Manning declining a renomination appeared in the morning prints the
second or third day following the interview.

"He at the same time expressed his conviction that the only way of
securing the result was for Mr. Tilden to signify at once and before
the election of any more delegates to the State convention, which
were in the main to be chosen during that week, that he would not be
a candidate.

"Mr. Manning went on to say that Governor Cleveland promptly and
unhesitatingly authorized and expressed the desire that Mr. Manning
would go at once to Greystone, represent the situation to Mr.
Tilden, and give him any assurances he required in regard to the
naming of the cabinet, and of his disposition and purpose to regard
Mr. Tilden's friends as his friends, and, if elected, to have as
nearly as possible a thoroughly Tilden administration.

"I said that I approved entirely of an early publication of Mr.
Tilden's intention not to allow himself to be made a candidate.
I believed a manifesto to that effect was already written, but
was withheld partly out of deference to the wishes of some of
his friends in Washington, and partly for what seemed to be the
more obvious and appropriate occasion--the assembling of the
State convention that was to choose the delegates to the national
convention; and finally I promised to accompany him to Greystone."


TILDEN TO DANIEL MANNING (DECLINING A RENOMINATION FOR THE
PRESIDENCY)

  "NEW YORK, _June 10th, 1884_.

  "TO DANIEL MANNING,
  "_Chairman of the Democratic State Committee of New York_.

"In my letter of June 18th, 1880, addressed to the delegates from
the State of New York to the Democratic national convention, I said:

"'Having now borne faithfully my full share of labor and care in
the public service, and wearing the marks of its burdens, I desire
nothing so much as an honorable discharge. I wish to lay down the
honors and toils of even _quasi_ party leadership, and to seek the
repose of private life.

"'In renouncing renomination for the Presidency, I do so with no
doubt in my mind as to the veto of the State of New York, or of the
United States, but because I believe that it is a renunciation of
re-election to the Presidency.

"'To those who think my renomination and re-election indispensable
to an effectual vindication of the right of the people to elect
their rulers--violated in my person--I have accorded as long a
reserve of my decision as possible, but I cannot overcome my
repugnance to enter into a new engagement which involves four years
of ceaseless toil.

"'The dignity of the Presidential office is above a merely personal
ambition, but it creates in me no illusion. Its value is as a great
power for good to the country. I said four years ago in accepting
nomination:

"'" Knowing as I do, therefore, from fresh experience, how great
the difference is between gliding through an official routine and
working out a reform of systems and policies, it is impossible
for me to contemplate what needs to be done in the Federal
administration without an anxious sense of the difficulties of
the undertaking. If summoned by the suffrages of my countrymen to
attempt this work, I shall endeavor, with God's help, to be the
efficient instrument of their will."

"'Such a work of renovation after many years of misrule, such a
reform of systems and policies, to which I would cheerfully have
sacrificed all that remained to me of health and life, is now, I
fear, beyond my strength.'

"My purpose to withdraw from further public service, and the
grounds of it, were at that time well known to you and to others;
and when, at Cincinnati, though respecting my wishes yourself, you
communicated to me an appeal from many valued friends, to relinquish
that purpose, I reiterated my determination unconditionally.

"In the four years which have since elapsed, nothing has occurred
to weaken, but everything to strengthen, the considerations which
induced my withdrawal from public life. To all who have addressed
me on the subject, my intention has been frankly communicated.
Several of my most confidential friends, under the sanction of their
own names, have publicly stated my determination to be irreversible.
That I have occasion now to consider the question is an event
for which I have no responsibility. The appeal made to me by the
Democratic masses, with apparent unanimity, to serve them once more,
is entitled to the most deferential consideration, and would inspire
a disposition to do anything desired of me, if it were consistent
with my judgment of duty.

"I believe that there is no instrumentality in human society so
potential in its influence upon mankind for good or evil, as the
governmental machinery for administering justice, and for making and
executing laws. Not all the eleemosynary institutions of private
benevolence to which philanthropists may devote their lives are
so fruitful in benefits as the rescue and preservation of this
machinery from the perversions that make it the instrument of
conspiracy and crime, against the most sacred rights and interests
of the people.

"For fifty years, as a private citizen, never contemplating an
official career, I have devoted at least as much thought and effort
to the duty of influencing aright the action of the governmental
institutions of my country, as to all other objects. I have never
accepted official service except for a brief period, for a special
purpose, and only when the occasion seemed to require from me that
sacrifice of private preferences to the public welfare.

"I undertook the State administration of New York because it was
supposed that in that way only could the executive power be arrayed
on the side of the reforms to which, as a private citizen, I had
given three years of my life.

"I accepted the nomination for the Presidency in 1876 because of the
general conviction that my candidacy would best present the issue
of reform which the Democratic majority of the people desired to
have worked out in the Federal government as it had been in that
of the State of New York. I believed that I had strength enough
then to renovate the administration of the government of the United
States, and at the close of my term to hand over the great trust to
a successor faithful to the same policy.

"Though anxious to seek the repose of private life, I nevertheless
acted upon the idea that every power is a trust, and involves a
duty. In reply to the address of the committee communicating my
nomination, I depicted the difficulties of the undertaking, and
likened my feelings in engaging in it to those of a soldier entering
battle; but I did not withhold the entire consecration of my powers
to the public service.

"Twenty years of continuous maladministration, under the
demoralizing influences of intestine war, and of bad finance, have
infected the whole governmental system of the United States with
the cancerous growths of false constructions and corrupt practices.
Powerful classes have acquired pecuniary interests in official
abuses, and the moral standards of the people have been impaired.
To redress these evils is a work of great difficulty and labor, and
cannot be accomplished without the most energetic and efficient
personal action on the part of the Chief Executive of the Republic.

"The canvass and administration which it is desired that I should
undertake would embrace a period of nearly five years. Nor can I
admit any illusion as to their burdens. Three years of experience
in the endeavor to reform the municipal government of the city
of New York, and two years of experience in renovating the
administration of the State of New York, have made me familiar with
the requirements of such a work.

"At the present time, the considerations which induced my action in
1880 having become imperative, I ought not to assume a task which
I have not the physical strength to carry through. To reform the
administration of the Federal government; to realize my own ideal,
and to fulfil the just expectations of the people, would indeed
warrant, as they could alone compensate, the sacrifices which
the undertaking would involve. But, in my condition of advancing
years and declining strength, I feel no assurance of my ability
to accomplish those objects. I am, therefore, constrained to say,
definitely, that I cannot now assume the labors of an administration
or of a canvass.

"Undervaluing in nowise that best gift of Heaven--the occasion
and the power sometimes bestowed upon a mere individual to
communicate an impulse for good; grateful beyond all words to my
fellow-countryman who would assign such a beneficent function to me,
I am consoled by the reflection that neither the Democratic party,
nor the Republic for whose future that party is the best guarantee,
is now, or ever can be, dependent upon any one man for their
successful progress in the path of a noble destiny.

"Having given to their welfare whatever of health and strength I
possessed, or could borrow from the future, and having reached the
term of my capacity for such labors as their welfare now demands, I
but submit to the will of God in deeming my public career forever
closed.

  "SAMUEL J. TILDEN."

This letter of Mr. Tilden insured the nomination of Grover Cleveland
for the Presidency, and the adoption of the following resolutions by
the convention:

     _Resolved_, That this convention has read with profound regret
     and intense admiration the statesmanlike and patriotic letter of
     Samuel J. Tilden expressing the overpowering and providential
     necessity which constrains him to decline a nomination for the
     highest office in the gift of the American people.

     _Resolved_, That, though fraud, force, and violence deprived
     Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks of the offices
     conferred upon them by the Democratic party of the nation in
     1876, they yet live, and ever will, first in the hearts of the
     Democracy of the country.

     _Resolved_, That this convention expresses a nation's regret
     that this same lofty patriotism and splendid executive and
     administrative ability which cleansed and purified the city
     and State governments of the great Empire State, cannot now be
     turned upon the Augean stable of national fraud and corruption
     so long and successfully maintained by the Republican party at
     the national capital.

     _Resolved_, That copies of these resolutions be suitably
     engrossed, and that the chairman of the convention appoint a
     committee whose duty it shall be in the name of the convention
     to forward or present the same to the Hon. Samuel J. Tilden and
     the Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks.

When these resolutions were presented to Mr. Tilden by the committee
named for that purpose by the convention, Mr. Tilden sent them the
following reply:

  "GREYSTONE, _Oct. 6, 1884_.

  "_Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee_:

"I thank you for the kind terms in which you have communicated the
resolutions concerning me adopted by the late Democratic national
convention.

"I share your conviction that the reform in the administration
of the Federal government, which is our great national want, and
is indeed essential to the restoration and preservation of the
government itself, can only be achieved through the agency of the
Democratic party, and by installing its representative in the Chief
Magistracy of the United States.

"The noble historical traditions of the Democratic party, the
principles in which it was educated, and to which it has ever been
in the main faithful; its freedom from the corrupt influences which
grow up in the prolonged possession of power, and the nature of the
elements which constitute it, all contribute to qualify it for that
mission.

"The opposite characteristics and conditions which attach to the
Republican party make it hopeless to expect that that party will be
able to give better government than the debasing system of abuses
which, during its ascendancy, has infected official and political
life in this country.

"The Democratic party had its origin in the efforts of the more
advanced patriots of the Revolution to resist the perversion of our
government from the ideal contemplated by the people. Among its
conspicuous founders are Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson;
Samuel Adams and John Hancock, of Massachusetts; George Clinton
and Robert R. Livingston, of New York; and George Wythe and James
Madison, of Virginia. From the election of Mr. Jefferson as
President, in 1800, for sixty years the Democratic party mainly
directed our national policy. It extended the boundaries of the
Republic, and laid the foundations of all our national greatness,
while it preserved the limitations imposed by the Constitution and
maintained a simple and pure system of domestic administration.

"On the other hand, the Republican party has always been dominated
by principles which favor legislation for the benefit of particular
classes at the expense of the body of the people. It has become
deeply tainted with the abuses which naturally grow up during a long
possession of unchecked power, especially in a period of civil war
and false finance. The patriotic and virtuous elements in it are now
unable to emancipate it from the sway of selfish interests which
subordinate public duty to personal greed. The most hopeful of the
best citizens it contains despair of its amendment except through
its temporary expulsion from power.

"It has been boastingly asserted by a modern Massachusetts
statesman, struggling to reconcile himself and his followers to
their Presidential candidate, that the Republican party contains
a disproportionate share of the wealth, the culture, and the
intelligence of the country. The unprincipled Grafton, when taunted
by James the Second with his personal want of conscience, answered:
'_That is true, but I belong to a party that has a great deal of
conscience_.'

"Such reasoners forget that the same claim has been made in all ages
and countries by the defenders of old wrongs against new reforms.
It was alleged by the Tories of the American Revolution against
the patriots of that day. It was repeated against Jefferson and
afterwards against Jackson. It is alleged by the conservatives
against those who, in England, are now endeavoring to enlarge the
popular suffrage.

"All history shows that reforms in government must not be expected
from those who sit serenely on the social mountain-tops enjoying the
benefits of the existing order of things. Even the divine Author
of our religion found His followers not among the self-complacent
Pharisees, but among lowly minded fishermen.

"The Republican party is largely made up of those who live by their
wits, and who aspire in politics to advantages over the rest of
mankind, similar to those which their daily lives are devoted to
securing in private business.

"The Democratic party consists largely of those who live by the work
of their hands, and whose political action is governed by their
sentiments or imagination.

"It results that the Democratic party, more readily than the
Republican party, can be molded to the support of reform measures
which involve a sacrifice of selfish interests.

"The indispensable necessity of our times is a change of
administration in the great executive offices of the country. This,
in my judgment, can only be accomplished by the election of the
Democratic candidates for President and Vice-President.

  "SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

  "_To R. H. Henry, Chairman; B. B. Smalley, and others,
    of the Special Committee of the Democratic National
    Convention._"


W. H. BARNUM TO TILDEN

  "_Telegram._

  "CHICAGO, ILL., _July 4, 1884_.

  "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN, YONKERS, N. Y.

"There is much thought here about nominating you by acclamation.
Will you accept an unanimous nomination from the convention?

  "W. H. BARNUM.

  "(Rec'd 6.30 A.M., July 5th.)"


DANIEL MANNING TO S. J. TILDEN

  "_Telegram._

  "CHICAGO, ILL., _July 4th, 1884_.

  "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN, YONKERS, N. Y.

"It seems absolutely necessary that you should answer Barnum's
telegram of this evening as soon as possible.

  "DANIEL MANNING.

  "(Rec'd 6.30 A.M., July 5th.)"


TILDEN TO WILLIAM H. BARNUM

  "_Telegram._

  "GREYSTONE, _July 5th, 1884_.

  "TO HON. WILLIAM H. BARNUM, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

"I have received your telegram informing me of the disposition to
nominate me for the Presidency and asking, 'Will you accept an
unanimous nomination from the convention?'--and also a telegram from
Mr. Manning saying, 'It seems absolutely necessary that you (I)
should answer Barnum's telegram as soon as possible.'

"Your inquiry was explicitly answered in the negative by my letter
of June 10th to Mr. Manning.

  "S. J. TILDEN."

Attached to these telegrams was the following pencil memorandum in a
strange handwriting, and presumably a suggested modification of the
despatch actually sent:

     "If the convention should nominate me, I should consider it
     as intended merely to acquit the Democratic party of any
     shortcomings in respect to the fraudulent possession of the
     government in 1876, and with the knowledge that I would not
     accept the nomination."


CHARLES A. DANA TO TILDEN

(WISHES TO STUDY MR. TILDEN'S PERSONAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY)

  "'THE SUN,' NEW YORK, _July 18, 1884_.

"DEAR MR. TILDEN,--In the desperate situation in which
presumption and incompetence have involved the Democratic party,
I feel a natural desire to study more closely and to know more
thoroughly the model of genuine Democratic statesmanship.

"Could you put me in possession of the facts and records of your own
personal and political history, so that I may examine them at such
leisure times as I may be able to rescue from my absorbing daily
occupations?

"I wish for this not alone for my own instruction and gratification,
but that I may be enabled, as occasion requires, to present the
truth accurately to the public, and to discuss the principles
involved with knowledge and effect.

"I remain, dear Mr. Tilden,

  "Faithfully yours,
  "CHARLES A. DANA."


TILDEN TO CHARLES A. DANA

  "_July 22d, 1884._

"DEAR MR. DANA,--I could not but feel much gratified at the
interest in my career manifested in your note of the 18th inst.

"It will afford me pleasure to collect such materials for your
purpose as I can procure. It may be necessary to have a personal
interview to define more exactly what you desire. That will be an
occasion for an additional pleasure.

"In the mean time, with assurances of my regards and esteem, I
remain,

  "Very truly yours."


CHARLES A. DANA TO TILDEN

(PROJECTS A POLITICAL HISTORY)

  "'THE SUN,' NEW YORK, _July 24, 1884_.

"DEAR MR. TILDEN,--What I wish is to enlarge my studies of
the politics of the last fifty years by going over it all in your
relations to it, and in its relations to you.

"Perhaps the best beginning would be made if you could lend me
your printed letters, speeches, reports, messages--in short, your
published documents of whatever nature and character. I would keep
them in my safe and only take out one at a time, so that they would
be very little exposed to accident.

"When I have thoroughly studied these papers a great deal will have
been accomplished, and I shall then be ready for the next step.
My ultimate purpose is to put myself in a situation to write the
political history of this half-century between 1835 and 1885.

"It seems to me that in our day there have been three statesmen who
have had the genius to rule men through their intellects. I mean
Bismarck, Disraeli, and Tilden.

"I remain, dear Mr. Tilden,

  "Faithfully yours,
  "C. A. DANA."


SMITH M. WEED TO S. J. TILDEN

  "PLATTSBURG, N. Y., _July 28, 1884_.

  "HON. S. J. TILDEN, GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y.

"MY DEAR GOVR.,--I found, in talking with Manning
yesterday, that Govr. C. [Cleveland] had offered to go down and see
you about his letter, and had, through M., asked you to name a day,
and was anxiously waiting for you to do so.

"I thought I would write you by the very first mail, as I thought
that you did not understand it as they do. The Govr. is expecting to
come into this country on the 7th or 8th and wants his letter issued
before. I write in haste. I did not see Govr. Cleveland, but learned
the above from Mr. Manning.

  "In haste, yours truly,
  "SMITH M. WEED."


DANIEL S. LAMONT TO TILDEN

  "STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
  "ALBANY, _Aug. 1, 1884_.

"DEAR SIR,--I am directed by Governor Cleveland to say
that, if agreeable to you, he would be glad to call on you at
Greystone in company with Mr. Manning on Tuesday next, the 5th
instant.

"He takes the liberty of naming the day, because he has engagements
which compel his presence here every other day previous to his
departure for the woods.

  "Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
  "DANIEL S. LAMONT, Private Secretary."


SAMUEL J. RANDALL TO TILDEN

  "BERWYN, PA., _Aug. 28, 1884_.

  "HON. SAM. J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Allow me to make a suggestion. On the 3rd of
September a committee appointed by the unanimous vote of the recent
Democratic convention will call upon you with an honorable message
from the representatives of the American Democracy. I urge you take
this occasion to address yourself to the American people, covering
the issues of the coming struggle. No man in the United States knows
better than you do just how to do this. The country will listen, the
influence of your utterances will be great, and I cannot overstate
the importance of such action. It is of the highest moment, and may
make success certain. You can take your own time to do this, and can
tell the committee you will answer in full in a few days if you are
not yet ready for such course.

"An appeal from you for administrative reform will be accepted by
the Democrats as conclusive as to their duty at this time, and will
determine the doubting and the estranged to fall into line.

  "Yours truly,
  "SAM. J. RANDALL."


TILDEN TO J. P. TOWNSEND AND OTHERS

  "GREYSTONE, _October 13, 1884_.

"GENTLEMEN,--I have just received your letter on behalf of
the New York Produce and Maritime, Independent Merchants' Cleveland
and Hendricks Club, and representing, also, several other classes
of business men, inviting me to be present at the Business Men's
Mass-meeting, to be held at the Academy of Music on Wednesday the
15th inst., in aid of the election of Cleveland and Hendricks to the
offices of President and Vice-President of the United States.

"I regret that the delicate condition of my health compels me to
forego the pleasure of joining with you on that interesting occasion.

"I remember gratefully that when it was my duty as Governor to
engage in a grapple with the Canal Ring, which then swayed all the
administrative, legislative, and judicial powers of the State, a
majority of the local organizations of the Democratic party and all
the organizations of the Republican party, the New York Produce
Exchange rallied to my support, and stood by my side throughout a
prolonged appeal to public opinion until that gigantic power was
completely overthrown.

"I cordially concur in your opinion that the election of Cleveland
and Hendricks is demanded by the best interests of the country. I
believe that their election will be a substantial victory for the
cause of good government; that it will assure a safe and prudent
administration of the Chief Magistracy of the Republic in all our
relations with other countries; that it will restore simplicity,
economy, and purity to the Federal government so far as that
result depends upon the Executive; that it will give to business
men immunity from sudden changes of policy, and enable them to
repose under the shelter of a stable, moderate, and equitable
administrative system free from favoritism to particular interests
or classes and from the injurious fluctuations to which such
favoritism always leads.

  "SAMUEL J. TILDEN."


GEORGE HOADLEY TO TILDEN

  "STATE OF OHIO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
  "COLUMBUS, _November 22, 1884_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--On the occasions of my last two visits to
New York, I was unable to command the time to go to Greystone, so
that I did not, during the canvass, have the pleasure of expressing
my hopes and anticipations to you with reference to its progress in
Ohio, or of exchanging congratulations with you upon its apparently
favorable prospects. Now, however, we may rejoice over results,
and you are especially to be congratulated. At last a Democratic
administration takes possession of power: most fortunately, one
whose chief has been trained in New York and has sat at your
feet and studied his Democracy in the school of Van Buren and
Silas Wright. Your judgment that Ohio was not to be trusted is
vindicated. I confess I thought differently. I underrated the forces
of corruption, and especially of the money that could be brought to
bear. You judged more wisely, and the event proves it. Indeed, I saw
this before the Chicago convention, and with my full approval my
friends there labored for Governor Cleveland's nomination, and by
dividing Ohio made it possible.

"I was asked by telegram during that convention if I would accept
the Vice-Presidency. I answered in the negative, my ambition
being in the line of our profession and to be a busy man, not an
idle man. As I said to you when we last met, I should like to be
Attorney-General. If that cannot be, I am content to remain as I am
or return to private life.

"There are some other facts connected with this matter which I
should be glad to lay before you in person had I the opportunity,
but which cannot well be committed to writing.

"I take it for granted that your wishes will have great weight with
the President-elect. I should esteem it the success of my life, more
valuable than the office itself, to know that you approve, or do not
disapprove my ambition, and wish my appointment. I would rather be
_your_ Attorney-General than hold any office in the Republic short
of the highest, and as the value of that lies in being _your_ choice
and having your confidence in a place wherein something may be done
to give effect to your principles an equal importance attaches to
your recommendation to your successor. But while I am ambitious,
I am not greedy or insubordinate. Your disapproval of my ambition
would be law to me. You are the honored head of our party, and I
am ready as a loyal soldier to submit to my commander in this, not
grudgingly, but cheerfully.

"Please take this matter into consideration, and at your convenience
let me know your thoughts.

  "With great respect, yours, &c.,
  "GEO. HOADLEY."


TILDEN TO GOVERNOR HOADLY

  "_Confidential._

  "GREYSTONE, _December 5, 1884_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR HOADLEY,--The present is the earliest
opportunity I have had to acknowledge your letter.

"I notice that you mention that there are some things fitter to be
discussed in personal interview than by letter.

"You will not doubt my high estimate of your abilities and your
character, or of the strong personal regard I feel for you.

"I do not know to what extent or in what cases, if any, I shall be
consulted by Mr. Cleveland in respect to the constitution of his
cabinet. I do not intend to intrude upon him any advice unasked, or
to volunteer any recommendations or requests.

"If consulted I shall not act as a partisan of any of my numerous
friends who would like to enter his cabinet, but shall endeavor,
with judicial impartiality, to canvass the personal merits and other
considerations which ought to influence the choice.

"I am anxious that he should do the best thing possible for the
country and for his administration, and shall desire rather to help
him in his official task than to add to his embarrassments.

"The formation of a cabinet is a piece of mosaic in which each
element may be affected by the size, texture, and color of the
others entering into the combination; and it is impossible to
foresee how much an individual element may be affected by the cast
of the whole.

"In the event that you should be wanted for some other post than
the one you prefer, do you mean to say that you have an invincible
repugnance to every other post, even though not inferior in dignity
or importance?

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


GEORGE HOADLY TO TILDEN

  "EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, COLUMBUS, O., _December 13, 1884_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Your letter of the 5th inst. was received in
due course of mail, and I embrace the first opportunity to reply.

"While my ambition, and I think my qualifications, for public
service are in the line of my profession, I should not feel at
liberty to refuse any duty consistent with my personal dignity and
self-respect which the President might assign me. I am well aware
that he must have a wider survey of the situation than I can have,
and that he must bear the chief responsibility of failure. As I
said in my former letter, I am too good a soldier not to take orders
cheerfully and obey them ungrudgingly.

"My dear Mr. Tilden, if I had had the least doubt of your esteem and
regard I should not have written you as I did or as I do.

"You intimate a doubt whether you will be consulted by President
Cleveland with reference to his cabinet. This disturbs and
distresses me. To begin by ignoring you, especially if the men whose
timidity and self-seeking sacrificed you and the cause in 1877 are
taken into confidence, would be a sad prophecy of disaster to come.
A statesman can get along, sometimes, by selfishly disregarding
considerations of gratitude to the elements that made him--in other
words, by kicking down the ladder by which he has climbed; but
if he add to this the closing of his ears to the wisest and most
far-seeing of his counsellors he is lost. The new administration
may perhaps safely throw Ohio overboard, although our fight here in
October made success in November possible, as the national committee
has fully acknowledged to our State committee; the new President
may perhaps safely turn his back upon the men who risked their own
political lives to save his at Chicago, but it will be a sad day for
him and for his government if he ignore you and do not seek your
counsels.

"The circumstances to which I alluded as not to be written are well
known to Mr. Smith M. Weed and to Mr. William L. Scott (I think) and
possibly to Mr. Daniel Manning.

"I have the honor to be,

  "Very truly your friend,
  "GEO. HOADLY."


SAMUEL J. RANDALL TO TILDEN

(SENATOR BAYARD'S PLANS)

The following Associated Press despatch appeared at about this time:

     "When Senator Thomas F. Bayard came to Albany and paid his
     respects to President-elect Cleveland, it is understood that
     he left for home with the assurance that he could make his
     choice of any position in the cabinet, and he would receive the
     appointment. It is said on good authority that, after having
     duly deliberated over the matter, the Delaware Senator sent a
     note to the Governor, which was received yesterday, indicating
     his preference for the portfolio of Secretary of the Treasury.
     It is rumored that he will be accordingly appointed."


  "HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. S.,
  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Dec. 17, 1884_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Unless you interfere at once and with
determination, I apprehend Mr. B. will be selected as Secretary of
Treasury. That means an end of your friends.

  "Yours truly,
  SAM. RANDALL."[30]

  [30] That would have meant rather an end of Samuel Randall's career
  as the agent of the protectionists in Congress.--_Editor._


ROBERT M. MCLANE TO TILDEN

  "EXECUTIVE MANSION, ANNAPOLIS, MD., _Dec. 29th, '84_.

"My dear Governor,--I wish you a happy New Year, and I would be
delighted if I could offer my greeting in person. I would do so if
I knew when you were to be in the city, or if it would be quite
convenient to drop in on you at 'Greystone,' as I am going to pay a
New Year's visit to my sister, Mrs. Hamilton, at Poughkeepsie.

"I have not heard from any of my New York friends since the
election, and I can see little from the bottom of my well here. I
saw Mr. Randall in Washington on Saturday just as he was starting
for Kentucky, and was sorry to hear from him that he had expressed
the wish that his name should not be associated with any cabinet
appointment, for though I appreciate his disinterestedness, no man
in the country is better able than he to dispel all distrust in
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Indiana when we come to deal
practically with the revision of the tariff. He could and would
easily reduce duties and increase revenue, ridding us forever of
excise taxation! We are, it seems to me, in very nearly the same
fix we were in under Jackson and Polk, when we drove the high
Protectionists and Free Traders into one camp in opposition to a
revenue tariff! Under Polk, Governor Marcy brought from New York the
experts employed by Mr. Walker in the Treasury, who gave the maximum
revenue duty upon every article imported under the Whig Tariff of
1842. We could raise now over $300,000,000 by applying the same
principle, greatly increasing the revenues, and to the advantage
rather than to the injury of our industries. Mr. Randall is able to
do this, and none of the doubtful States would distrust him. If we
do not find such a solution of this question our victory will turn
to ashes on our lips! Once more wishing you a happy New Year, and
many returns thereof, I remain,

  "Very sincerely yours,
  "ROBERT M. MCLANE."


TILDEN TO MR. GROSS

  "GREYSTONE, _December 29, 1884_.

"DEAR MR. GROSS,--I regret that the temporary obstruction
to your hearing, and the weakness of my voice, made the interview
which I accorded you of so little utility.

"I have felt obliged to adopt a rule, thus far adhered to, to
write no letters to Mr. Cleveland making any recommendations or
requests in regard to appointments which may come within his gift.
I intend not to volunteer any advice to him on that subject, and,
if consulted in any case, I do not design to become a partisan of
any one of my numerous friends who may desire his favor, but only
to communicate with judicial impartiality such information as I may
possess, and such opinions as I shall have formed concerning each of
the competitors.

"It seems to me that your prospects of being selected for some
such office as you desire will depend mainly upon the extent and
character of the support which you may receive from your own
locality.

"It can better be judged of, when the cabinet shall have been
formed, whether and to what extent you may require extrinsic help.

"I need not say that I regard your connections with great esteem and
respect and as entitled to high consideration, and I do not doubt
that your qualifications are of a peculiarly excellent character.

"With cordial good wishes, I remain,

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO GOVERNOR CLEVELAND

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _January 2, 1885_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR CLEVELAND,--When you shall relieve yourself
of the urgent duties of your present office, if it will be agreeable
to you to take a few days' repose at Greystone, it will give me
great pleasure to welcome you, and make you as comfortable as
possible. I shall be happy to invite Mr. and Mrs. Manning at the
same time--which intention, I believe, has already been communicated
to you.

"With cordial regards, I am,

  "Very truly yours,
  "(Signed) S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO HUGH McCULLOCH

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _January 24, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MCCULLOCH,--I have received the reports which you
were kind enough to send me, and for which please accept my thanks.

"I note your remark that you hope to have the pleasure of meeting
me in Washington. I presume you have seen the rumor in the public
journals that I have taken rooms in Washington. That rumor is
unfounded. I have a disorder of the nerves of motion, which is
aggravated by the fatigue and exposure of travel. I therefore forego
all such pleasures.

"This note will be handed to you by Mr. C. N. Jordan, formerly
cashier of the Third National Bank and an intelligent financier,
whom I beg leave to introduce to you and commend to your confidence.

"He is requested, while in Washington, to obtain information
which may enable me to guide my judgment as to what measures are
necessary, and will be effectual to preserve the faith and honor of
the government of the United States, and a sound currency for the
people.

"I desire that such voice as a private man in retirement may have
should be given in the right direction.

"With my best wishes for Mrs. and Miss McCulloch and yourself, I
remain,

  "Very truly yours.

"As I write this note, I am reminded that at the last time I was
in Washington you were Secretary of the Treasury under the Johnson
administration."


  DANIEL MANNING TO TILDEN

_"Confidential_.

  "ALBANY, N. Y., _Jan'y 24, 1885_.

"My dear Governor,--Ever since my return home in December, the
cashier of our bank has been absent--ill of pneumonia--and I have
been doing double duty. Until he returns, I cannot leave the city.
We expect him at his desk early next week.

"Mr. Cleveland intends to go to New York on, or about, the 1st of
February, to remain a week, for the purpose of giving everybody who
wants to see him an opportunity to call on him. Either before, or
after, that time (probably after) he will go to Greystone, and he
wants me to go there with him.

"No committals have been made, nor will any be made, until after
those visits have occurred. The situation remains just the same as
when I was last with you.

"Will you want to see me before we make our proposed call?

  "M."


  SMITH M. WEED TO GEORGE W. SMITH[31]

_"Personal_.

  "PLATTSBURG, N. Y., _Jany. 25, 1885_.

"GEO. W. SMITH.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I saw C. (Cleveland) on Saturday
(yesterday) A.M., and talked from 10.30 to 12.30 with him. He was
just as he was when I saw him last, and talked very _freely_ to me.
He is absolutely with _our_ friends in sentiment. Has some queer
ideas, which can all be talked out of him, I think. I told him
what you said about his civil service letter, and it pleased him
immensely. I told him about your financial work and talked over that
subject with him, and it made an impression, and he seemed very
anxious about it and thankful that you sent J. on to W. He spoke of
anticipating seeing you in N. Y., but I did not say anything about
his going to visit you. He will not give B. (Bayard) anything but
Secretary of State, and, I think, _thinks he better stay in the
Senate at that_. He is very set on _Whitney,_ and I think has no
one else but that could be changed. He spoke of regretting both
B.'s and G.'s leaving the Senate. He talked very freely and frankly,
and I do not think it has hurt him to let him alone for a couple of
weeks, as he has been.

  [31] Mr. Tilden's private secretary, and, for intimate
  correspondence, his synonyme.

"I saw Manning a moment and told him he nor C. had acknowledged your
invitation. He seemed surprised, and said he understood that he sent
word to you this eve., and I think C. understood that M. had done
so both for himself and C. I told him I did not so understand him.
He said to write you to-day that C. was _all right in every way_.
That he spent the entire evening with him on Friday, and that among
other things he talked with him about going to see you. That C. said
he had agreed to go to N. Y. and listen to those who wanted to talk
to him, and that he should go Feb. 1, or within a day or so of it,
one way or the other. That he should simply hear what they had to
say, and should make no committals in any way; and that after he had
heard them, he and M. should go to you. C. told M. that was his idea
of the best way to do it--if agreeable to you. I think he said that
C. insisted upon his going to N. Y. with him. They therefore will
visit you the last of the first week in Feb'y--if nothing happens.
I had a very hasty talk with M., as I had but five minutes before
my train started. I think I ought to say that C. has considerable
_dread_ of A. H. G. (Andrew H. Green). He said G. abused every one
and found fault with everything, and evidently had an idea that G.
represented to some extent your views. I undeceived him about that.
I found M. feared that G. would get hold of his letters to you also,
and that, _I think_, is one reason why M. likes better to send
messages than to write, although he probably learned that from you.
I do not know as I should have written the above about _G._, _but
thought_ you ought to know it.

  "Yours very truly,
  "SMITH M. WEED."


R. T. MERRICK TO TILDEN

  _"Private and confidential._

  "WASHINGTON CITY, _Feb'y 1st, 1885_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--On the day after my return to New
York from Greystone, I had a conversation with Mr. Jones as to the
fusing of himself and his political associates, in regard to the
appointment of Mr. Manning as Secretary of the Treasury.

"Mr. Jones spoke, very decidedly, for himself and Mr. Horace White,
in favor of the appointment, and was of opinion that it would meet
the approval of all the leading independents, especially in view of
the fact that such an appointment was, probably, the only means by
which the danger--as he characterized it--of Mr. Whitney's accession
to that office could be avoided. He represented that he and his
friends were opposed to the appointment of the last-named gentleman
to any place in Cleveland's cabinet.

"He requested me to say to you that, in his interview with Mr.
Cleveland on Sunday last, he stated to him that, but for your
course, in reference to him, he certainly would never have been
nominated--and that he impressed upon him the extent of his
obligations to you.

"In all that he said--as far as I am informed--on this subject he
was right, and would have been right had he gone further and given
the President-elect a broader view of the situation.

"_But for you_, and the wonderful power and wisdom with which you
conducted the Democratic party up to and through the campaign of
'76, the rule of the Republican party would have remained unbroken
for another quarter of a century.

"You _regained_, _preserved_, and have _transmitted_ a political
estate to Mr. Cleveland, and from what I know of his intellectual
and moral character, cannot believe that he will fail to appreciate
this condition and history. I cannot believe that he will--in the
great emergency which is upon him--fail to avail himself of your
wise counsel and advice; or that he will, in looking back upon the
events of '76 and those which followed, allow those of your friends
who were with you in your triumph, and then led the forlorn hope in
the desperate fight of that hour of darkness and treachery, to be
pushed aside now by the unscarred sycophants around him.

"The impression seems to prevail here that, since the election of
Evarts, it would be very unwise to withdraw either Bayard or Garland
from the Senate.

"We will, certainly, be overmatched in debate in that body, whether
the gentlemen referred to remain or not.

"Believe me, my dear Mr. Tilden, with great respect, always

  Sincerely yours,
  "R. T. MERRICK."


THEODORE F. SHUEY TO S. J. TILDEN

  "OFFICIAL REPORTER'S OFFICE, UNITED STATES SENATE,
  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Feb'y 1, 1885_.

"DEAR SIR,--I learn, through the N. Y. _World_, that you
have recently purchased for your library a 'Financial Diary' kept
by Thomas Jefferson when President of the U. S. I have at my home
in Virginia a similar diary kept by him in 1774, when a young
lawyer at Williamsburg and a member of the House of Burgesses. It
is the Virginia Kalendar for that year, well bound in leather with
blank pages, on which he wrote, and is a complete diary of his
'pai^{mts},' as well as Mrs. Jefferson's. I have never offered it
for sale, nor exhibited it except to friends who take an interest
in such matters. You would, of course, wish to see the diary in my
possession before purchasing it, if such should be your desire; and
as I do not know the price recently paid by you, I have no idea as
to the worth of the one for 1774. If you wish to have both diaries
in your library, I hope to hear from you on the subject.

  "Very truly yours,
  "THEO. F. SHUEY,
  "_Assistant Senate Reporter_."


DANIEL LAMONT TO TILDEN

  "ALBANY, _February 4, 1885_.

"DEAR SIR,--Governor Cleveland directs me to convey to you
his thanks for your very kind invitation, and to say that he hopes
soon to have the pleasure of making you a visit.

"Mr. Manning will communicate with you concerning the time.

  "Very respectfully,
  "DANIEL S. LAMONT,
  "_Private Secretary_."


WASHINGTON McLEAN TO TILDEN

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Feb. 5th, 1885_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Unless my information is sadly at
fault, and I have reason to believe it is not, your old enemies,
who conceived the electoral commission to cheat you out of the
Presidency, are making both active and insidious efforts to install
themselves in President Cleveland's cabinet. To be frank, Mr.
Bayard and Mr. Thurman, who were your rivals for the Presidential
nomination, and who originated the infamous tribunal which
defrauded not only yourself but the American people of their just
rights, are both using tremendous forces to gain cabinet places.
Mr. Bayard wants the Treasury portfolio, in which desire I have
reason to believe he will fail. In such case, he will take the
State Department. Thurman will be content with any designation. His
candidacy is covertly in the interest of Pendleton. This you may
know and doubtless do.

"I have reason to believe you will have the opportunity, quite soon,
to give your well-matured views as to public men and public policy
to the President-elect. I know too well that our mutual friend, Mr.
Bigelow, holds justly your highest appreciation. So he does mine.
Still, the purpose of my letter, without detracting at all from Mr.
Bigelow's merits, is to call your attention to an old and tried
friend of your own and myself. Governor Robert McLane, of Maryland,
I have in my mind's eye. He is an old friend of thirty years'
standing. He is a radical Democrat. I know he has always been your
conscientious and personal friend and admirer. He has had large and
ripe public experience, both as a diplomat, a legislator, and the
executive of his State. His grandfather was an officer in the war of
the Revolution. His father was distinguished for all those traits
which make true Democracy illustrious. He was a member of Congress,
a U. S. Senator from Delaware, Minister to England, Secretary of the
Treasury, and Secretary of State. For ten years he was the president
of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co.

"To go back to the son. You know as well as I his public service.
Jackson appointed him to West Point. In the Florida war he
served with credit; also under General Scott in the Cherokee
country. In 1847 he began his Congressional term, representing a
Maryland district, and subsequently in 1849. President Pierce,
in 1853, appointed him a commissioner to China with full powers
plenipotentiary. In 1859 President Buchanan appointed him Minister
to Mexico. He was again elected to Congress in 1879 and 1881, and is
now the Governor of Maryland, being elected by 12,000 majority.

"Don't you think, Governor, it would be only fair to Cleveland to
give him the choice between two of your friends: Mr. John Bigelow
and Gov. Robt. McLane?

  "Your cordial friend,
  "WASHINGTON MCLEAN.

  "No. 8 La Fayette Square, Washington, D. C.

  "_Gov. Samuel J. Tilden._

"P. S.--I had forgotten to add that I have conferred on this subject
with Hon. Samuel Randall and other of our old friends, who concur
with me in the endorsement of Gov. McLane.

  "W. McL."


S. J. RANDALL TO GROVER CLEVELAND

  "NEW YORK, _February 8, 1885_.

  "HON. GROVER CLEVELAND.

"DEAR SIR,--The wisdom and public necessity of a discontinuance
of compulsory coinage of bullion into standard silver dollars as
authorized by the act of February 28, 1878, is under discussion in
most of our commercial and trade organizations.

"There is a wide-spread apprehension that the continued coinage
of standard silver dollars may bring about financial and trade
embarrassment. Under these circumstances, I do not consider it
inappropriate that I should ask an expression of your judgment in
relation to this subject.

"I have the honor to enclose a copy of an amendment, which I propose
to have inserted in the bill for the legislative, executive and
judicial appropriations.

  "Yours very truly."[32]

  [32] This is the draft of a letter doubtless emanating from Mr.
  Tilden, as it is in the handwriting of one of his secretaries.


GROVER CLEVELAND TO S. J. RANDALL

  "NEW YORK, _February 9, 1885_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have received your letter containing a
copy of an amendment in relation to the coinage of silver, which it
is proposed should be inserted in a bill now pending in Congress,
and asking my judgment upon the subject.

"I have some delicacy in saying a word that may be construed by
anybody as interfering with the legislation of the present Congress.
But so grave do I deem the public emergency that I am willing
as a private citizen to say that I think some legislation of the
character suggested is eminently desirable.

  Very respectfully yours,
  "GROVER CLEVELAND."


DRAFT OF A LETTER TO THE HONORABLE HUGH MCCULLOCH, SECRETARY OF THE
TREASURY

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _February 11, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MCCULLOCH,--I am much obliged for the kind
attention you gave to my inquiries. I have been delayed in writing
to you my acknowledgments, from the lack of leisure to add some
observations which I desired to make. And if compelled to differ
with you in any respect, I need not say that it is with a high and
respectful appreciation of your opinions and abilities in finance.

"I agree that a currency strictly limited in amount so as not
to exceed, but rather to be less, than the effective demand for
necessary public use, may be kept in circulation at a rate higher
than its intrinsic value. But that is true only on very stringent
conditions.

"As to making a market for silver coin by withdrawing bank-notes
and treasury notes of less denomination than five dollars--and
ultimately of less denomination than ten dollars--there are grave
difficulties. In your letter it is remarked:

     "'You say that fifty millions of silver is about all that the
     country can absorb. This is true; and it is true simply because
     we keep in circulation upwards of fifty millions of one and two
     dollar notes. If these notes were withdrawn, their place would
     immediately be filled with silver and gold. If the five-dollar
     notes were also retired, all of the silver dollars now in the
     Treasury vaults would be in circulation, as they ought to be.
     On this point, permit me to call your attention to page 34 of
     my report. I wish you could see your way clear to use your
     great influence in favor of the retiring of the one and two
     dollar United States notes, to be followed in due time by the
     retirement of all notes below ten dollars.'

"The habits of the people, and their unanimous and strong preference
for the portable currency of paper over the cumbrous currency
of silver, interpose an almost insurmountable obstacle to such
a measure. Borrowing the idea from the practice of England, and
supported by most economical writers, that measure has been often
advocated, and sometimes attempted to be put in practice. But the
expedient has never made much progress, and it has been resisted and
rejected by the people at every opportunity.

"About fifty years ago a law was passed, by the State of New York,
suppressing bank-notes of a less denomination than five dollars.
Although in my general views friendly to free banking, I justified
myself in supporting the measures on the ground that it was
legitimate to apply an artificial restraint to an artificial system.
Enclosed is a copy of the resolutions drawn by myself, opposing the
repeal of that law.

"On that issue, more than on any other single question, the party
of Jackson and Van Buren was overthrown in the State of New York in
the election of 1838. William L. Marcy was defeated as a candidate
for re-election as Governor, and 'Small-Bill' Seward was elected
in his place. The law was immediately repealed. The question had
some special disadvantages at that time; but the indications of the
popular wishes were unquestionable.

"I understand from members of my family, that ladies shopping at
retail stores in New York city almost universally refuse to take
silver dollars. Even one silver dollar is considered an incumbrance,
is, in fact, too large to be carried in a ladies _porte-monnaie_,
while several of them are quite out of the question.

"I understand, also, that our small notes are very popular in
Canada, and in the Bahama Island, being preferred to silver coin.

"I think that the best way of making a market for silver through the
small circulation, is for the government to receive the silver at
its intrinsic value, and to issue certificates against it dollar for
dollar.

"Among your observations on the question of the expediency of making
the nominal value of the silver dollar correspond to its intrinsic
value, it is suggested:

     "'Another objection might be that the adoption of this standard
     would probably operate to prevent joint action, by the leading
     commercial nations, in fixing a ratio of silver to gold which
     would be concurred in by all nations; and, perhaps, thus delay
     or frustrate that which would seem to be very desirable. No
     legislation by the United States alone, would be effectual in
     fixing the rules of silver outside of its own boundaries. Joint
     action of the principal powers appears to be the only mode
     through which a satisfactory solution of the question can be
     reached.

     "'If there is no hope that such an arrangement can be made, it
     would be desirable that the intrinsic value of the silver dollar
     should be brought so nearly as possible to its nominal value.'

"After looking over the discussions of the last two International
Conferences, I cannot avoid the conclusion that it is hopeless to
make any further attempt to obtain the co-operation of the leading
commercial powers in fixing a ratio between gold and silver coins,
and that the contingency in which you would deem it 'desirable that
the intrinsic value of the silver dollar shall be brought as nearly
as possible to its nominal value,' has already occurred.

"The statement of the Treasurer accompanying your letter for January
26, 1885, is as follows:

  Gold coin                                               $172,439,478
  Gold bullion                                              64,195,150
                                                          ------------
  Total gold assets                                       $236,634,628
  Gold certificates outstanding                            107,917,890
                                                          ------------
  Amount of gold actually owned                           $128,716,738

  By the statement of the Treasurer for January 31st, it
  appears that United States notes on hand were
  $43,958,468 83, against which were certificates of deposit,
  $30,130,000, leaving a balance of                     $13,818,468 83
  National bank notes                                    13,880,647 67
  Deposits in nat. banks                                 13,491,186 39
  Gold actually owned                                   128,716,738 00
                                                       ---------------
      Total gold assets                                $169,917,040 89

  Trust Funds:

  Five per cent. nat. bank                              $12,980,825 43
  Fund for redemption of notes of nat. banks "failed in
  liquidation" and reducing circulation                  39,671,925 54
  Undistributed assets of failed nat. bank                  416,131 41
                                                        --------------
  _Amount forward_                                      $53,068,882 38

  _Brought forward_                                     $53,068,882 38

  Agency for paying D. C. bonds                             444,161 55
  Treasury transfer checks and drafts outstanding         2,490,273 13
  Interest due and unpaid                                 1,966,923 86
  Matured bonds and interest                                250,148 90
  Called bonds and interest                               5,203,077 78
  Old debt                                                  756,188 31
  P. O. Department acct                                   2,712,968 02
  Disbursing officers' balances                          25,298,865 44
  Fund for redemption of nat. gold notes                    146,774 09
  Miscellaneous                                              86,681 64
                                                        --------------
                                                        $92,424,945 10

                                        $169,917,040 89
                                          92,424,945 10
                                       ---------------
      Balance gold assets                $77,492,095 79

"These two statements are for different periods. The results,
therefore, are not exact. They afford, however, the basis of a
conjecture as to the actual condition of the Treasury. Although
the amount really belonging to the Treasury, and over which it has
permanent control, is very much reduced, I presume it ventures to
use, for temporary purposes, temporary balances liable to be drawn
at the will of other parties and trust funds, upon the assumption
that the balances are likely to remain about the same, as a bank
uses its deposits.

"Renewing the assurance of my high consideration and best wishes, I
remain,

  "Very truly yours."


TILDEN TO SMITH M. WEED

  "_Confidential._

  "_Feby. 13/85._

"DEAR MR. WEED,--I understand from you that Mr. Manning
hesitates about accepting the Treasury. You may tell him for me that
I do not think he is quite a free agent in the matter.

"Mr. Manning will recollect before the State convention, and when
he wanted my aid in carrying the delegation, he went to New York,
and got Mr. Bigelow and came up to see me. He stated to me and
to Mr. Bigelow that he came at the request of Mr. Cleveland, and
was authorized to give to me any assurance which he might deem
necessary. He said that in case of Mr. Cleveland's election, I
should have a practical influence in the selection of the cabinet,
and particularly should name a member from the State of New York.
The only qualification was that the men should be of good cabinet
material, and he instanced Mr. Bigelow as a specimen and type of the
sort of man to be recommended.[33]

  [33] While knowing nothing of this correspondence, Mr. Tilden asked
  me one day while it proves to have been going on, "how the office of
  Secretary of Treasury would suit me, or rather how I would like it."
  I replied very promptly that I would not like it at all, nor would
  I accept it under any imaginable conditions; that I was principled
  against accepting any station, private or public, that I did not
  believe I could fill creditably, and that I did not feel competent
  to fill that office creditably; nor would I take it if I did, for
  its duties would be, from the beginning to the end, absolutely
  uncongenial to me.

"My friends had particularly wished that I should not publish my
letter of declension until after my name had been presented by the
State convention; they wished this as a matter of delicacy, and
also as a matter of feeling. My letter had been written with that
view. Mr. Manning stated that Mr. Cleveland thought it would do
him good to have my letter published in advance. I had no personal
interest in the nomination, but a desire for the success of the
Democratic party and for Mr. Cleveland's administration; that his
success would be of real value to the country, and that the local
chieftains who had reorganized the Democratic party on a reform
basis, and renovated its moral power before the country, should be
cherished and continued as instruments of public good. I acceded
to Mr. Cleveland's wish, sacrificed the preference and pride of my
friends, and gave my letter to the press immediately. I also aided
what I could at so late a period, in selecting delegates to the
State convention.

"Mr. Manning came again to me prior to the national convention, and
asked for authority to communicate my judgment and wishes to friends
from other States. It is well known that most of the delegates
had been elected either with express instructions, or with the
understanding that they were to vote for my nomination, and it was
not doubted that if I did nothing, the nomination would have been
conferred on me without dissent.

"The circumstances lent weight to my advice as to who should be
nominated. I authorized Mr. Manning to communicate to my friends
from other States that, while I could not assume to dictate to
the Democratic party, my judgment was in favor of nominating Mr.
Cleveland. Mr. Manning said this intimation would be sufficient.

"He communicated it to many of my friends among the delegates
from other States. In addition to this, he gave assurances, in
behalf of Mr. Cleveland to the delegates from several States, that
the administration should be made up from those who had been my
supporters, and who transferred their adhesion to Mr. Cleveland.

"If now the cabinet should be made up largely, and almost
exclusively, from men who were hostile to Mr. Cleveland's
nomination, and unfriendly to the veterans in all the localities
who had created a new success for the Democratic party a cabinet of
rivals of Mr. Cleveland, self-seekers who would be devoted to their
own schemes instead of building up Mr. Cleveland's administration,
it would not only weaken the administration, but chill the masses
with a sense that their leaders had turned their back upon their
followers to whom they were indebted for everything.

"Mr. Manning cannot afford, by any act of omission or commission, to
be responsible for such a result. Unless he accepts the Treasury, I
am not mistaken in the belief that the veterans will have no true
and reliable friend among the advisers of Mr. Cleveland.

"On public ground, also, the Secretary of the Treasury ought to be
taken from the State of New York. He ought to be in communication
with the most intelligent and experienced men in the centre of
finance and commerce. He ought to be a man who can command ready
access to, and have confidential relations not with speculators and
gamblers, but with the solid men of property and business.

"Next to Mr. Manning, if he should refuse--which, I think, he
has no right to do--Mr. Bigelow is the best substitute. He is an
accomplished man, accustomed to deal with great public questions,
utterly unselfish and unambitious, without any tendency to inferior
associations, and would command the confidence and support of the
financial classes.

"But I still adhere to the opinion that Mr. Manning cannot avoid
accepting the trust which sacrifice, duty, and honor toward the
Democratic masses demands at his hands.

"In discussing thus frankly this subject, I serve no interest
personal to myself. My career is completely ended. If the new
administration should drift out of relations to those who have given
me special support during the last ten years, I should be liberated
from all care and trouble, should escape generating discontent
among any portion of the Democracy, and should preserve the almost
unanimous favor enjoyed by me when I retired from public life. To
invite the antagonisms of active politics without the power to
submerge them by shaping a policy which should appeal overwhelmingly
to the people, would be to impair the repose and comfort for which I
have surrendered all public honors. I cannot be induced to meddle at
all, even in the way of private advice or opinion, except under the
influence of patriotic and friendly motives.

"You may read this letter to Mr. Manning, but keep it and return it
to me.

  "Yours truly."


DANIEL MANNING TO TILDEN

  _"Confidential._

  "ALBANY, _Febry. 13, 1885_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--You must release me. The place has
been offered, but I have no heart for it. The very thought of it
has made me ill for two days. The sacrifice will be too great, and
I constantly feel that if I make it, I may as well bid good-by,
forever, to comfort and happiness. I am so contented now, and I
will always, there, be miserable. Telegraph me, to-morrow, one
word--'Released.'

  "Most sincerely yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING."


SMITH M. WEED TO TILDEN

  _"Confidential._

  "_Feby. 16, 1885._

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I had but a moment to write you from
A. (Albany). C. (Cleveland), as you know, had offered the (State
Department) to Bayard, and he had become convinced that it was wise
to offer a place to Lamar. We relied upon him and upon Manning until
we got that fixed with both--that left three places. We all agreed
that Frank Jones was our best man in New England, and we got that
to a practical point, the only question being, where would he go?
I wanted him to have the Navy, but C. seemed disposed to give him
the P. O. That left two places open. Scott and Gorman both agreed
with me that, on the free-trade question, Vilas was not a good
appointment. Cleveland, on the other hand, wants him, and I think,
in the end, will select him for War or P. O. Then came McD. (as he
would not appoint Dr. Miller, for reasons that I will tell you when
I see you, and which are personal to M., and in no way show any
indisposition to go back on his backers), and Scott, G. (Gorman),
M. (Manning), and myself all urged Converse for a place instead of
McD. He almost consented to it. I did it upon the ground that if
Vilas went in, he had to put in some one who stood with Randall
on the tariff, or the consequences would be bad in this State and
New Jersey and Connecticut. When we left him last night, he was
apparently of our mind. This A.M. he wanted to know of me if I did
not think that Whitney, in McDonald's or Converse's places, would be
a good change. I told him that W. was infinitely preferable to McD.,
but I thought W. and C. were much better than V. and McD., as all
the rest were inclined to free trade except Manning. He has an idea
that he should not put any M. C. in who has taken strong grounds on
tariff either way; but I told him Lamar had, and Vilas was an out
and out free-trader, and Bayard was like Lamar.

"Gorman, who really wants Jones instead of Lamar, says that there
will be no trouble with Lamar; that it is his nature to go with his
chief, and he will be loyal. That Bayard is so constituted that he
will not try to influence Lamar, and that he will not set up for
himself, while Garland will always be true to you and your friends.
As I wrote you, Cleveland wants Whitney, and I think it will be a
good thing for your friends that he should go in with Manning.

"This is just as the matter stands to-day. I told him this A.M. that
I will, if desired, come down again, etc., and as he did not ask me
to stay, I am going home. I would have gone to New York had not Mrs.
Weed been quite ill and really needs me; and, again, I did not care
to have C. (Cleveland) get the idea that I was taking the result
of the conference to you. He has, by our advice, gone seriously
into the preparation of his Inaugural Address. I am delighted that
M. (Manning) has consented to go in. Some able, bright man should
be selected for his solicitor, and at least two others for his
assistants. I infer you will see M. (Manning) ere long.

"I am writing on the train to send back by to-day's mail.

  "Very truly yours,
  "SMITH M. WEED."


SAM. J. RANDALL TO TILDEN

  "HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. S.,
  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Feb. 17, 1885_.

"HON. SAML. J. TILDEN,--Your letter received this morning.
The silver interest is much more aggressive than I anticipated it
would be. I was not able to carry the amendment to the Sundry Civil
bill in the subcommittee. So I did not introduce it there; but I
mean to discuss it, and have a vote upon it in the full committee.
Messrs. Scott and Barnum, when they left me, promised to return
to-morrow; and if there are any points which they can attend to, I
will indicate them to those gentlemen.

"I learn that Mr. Warner, of Ohio, and Judge Keagan, of Texas, and
others have sent to Mr. Cleveland a petition with about a hundred
signatures, asking him not to say anything on that subject in his
Inaugural.

"I will keep you further advised as the matter proceeds.

  "Yours truly,
  "SAM. J. RANDALL."


TILDEN TO DANIEL MANNING

"_Strictly confidential_.

  "GREYSTONE, _March 1, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MANNING,--1. I have advised Mr. Jordan that he
must not assume to advise you as to government policy. He can be
useful in doing particular things under direction, and in furnishing
such information as he may have, or as he shall be specially
delegated to obtain, but must not undertake to advise on important
matters. He must not expect to be appointed to a confidential
position in your department. You can recompense his service in some
other way. He has some knowledge which is capable of being made
useful, but his talk is cloudy and confused.

"2. I think you must move very slowly in changing important
subordinates. The impression seems to exist that French must go
sooner or later. I do not think Coon should be changed right away,
if at all.

"3. Mr. Fairchild is rather technical, but is entirely trustworthy.
You might put him in French's place, and let him get the run of
the department, which is a very large and complicated concern,
while the other officers, who are experienced, will be there to
give information and to carry on the routine. Both yourself and Mr.
Fairchild can judge better what changes are desirable after you have
got acquainted with the men and their capabilities, and with the
functions of their several offices, and shall have ascertained your
own wants in respect to assistance.

"4. I hear a Mr. Gilfillen highly spoken of, but I have no personal
knowledge of him.

"5. I send you a letter of Senator Gibson, who is entitled to
consideration. Please return it to me when you have read it.

"6. I think it would be well for you to ask Mr. Marble about
men--what he knows about the existing officers, and what he knows
about any experts with whom he is acquainted."


A. M. GIBSON TO S. J. TILDEN

  _"Private and confidential._

  "17 DUPONT CIRCLE, WASHINGTON, D. C., _Mch. 8/85_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I am dreadfully embarrassed financially,
and, although very reluctant, seek employment in the government,
since I see no other way open to me as a means of livelihood. I have
rendered the Democratic party some service. You, perhaps more than
any one else, know and appreciate the work I have done during the
past ten or twelve years. I came to Washington comparatively unknown
to all the public men of the country save Judge Black. Grant's first
term was just closing, and jobbery and fraud were rioting in every
department of the government. At considerable personal peril, and
with inevitable social ostracism to myself and family, I began the
work of exposing rogues and roguery, rascals and rascality. You
signalized your life by overthrowing the Tweed ring, and destroying
those who organized it and profited by its robberies. You exposed
and broke up the canal frauds. You were rich and powerful
politically, but you know how potent those whom you brought to grief
were to do you injury.

"My first work in Washington was to assail the Navy ring, and to
make known the jobs and frauds by which the Navy had been ruined,
and millions of dollars stolen from the public treasury to enrich
contractors. I followed this work systematically for years, and
I do not exaggerate when I say that the country would not have a
realizing sense to-day of the way its Navy has been destroyed and
its Treasury robbed of hundreds of millions if my work had not been
done.

"The first Democratic House of Representatives after the war was
elected chiefly because of the exposure of the Credit Mobilier fraud
and other disclosures of jobbery which resulted from my work. I
broke up the Shepherd ring in this city and drove out the robbers.
For eight years I labored without intermission to destroy the Star
Mail-route ring, and finally made it possible to bring the guilty
to punishment. That the result was a scandal upon, and a perversion
of, justice was no fault of mine. That I was deprived of the credit
due me for exposing the frauds never grieved me, because I was not
working for glory, but to make good government possible. What I did
to bring to just punishment the authors and abettors of the great
fraud of 1876, and to make forever odious that great crime, you know.

"That I have incurred the hostility of many and excited the envy
of still more is but the natural sequence of the work I have done.
Politicians are not prone to remember those who made their success
possible, unless you are a present potential factor. Of course, in
all that I did I had a fearless newspaper with a great circulation
as an engine to work with. But I created, in no small degree, the
power I used and the influence I exerted. When I began my work here
the _Sun_ had only a _local_ circulation and a _local_ reputation.
It secured, largely through my work, a _national_ circulation and
reputation. It profited largely by my work, while I received only a
modest salary and fell heir to all the enmities provoked.

"Pardon me for wearying you with this long letter, but of all the
Democrats I know you are the only one upon whom I feel that I can
rely for some appreciative exertion in my behalf, now that the
party, in whose faith I was born, and for which the best years
of my life, and the best energies of my poor abilities have been
exerted, is in power. I know I am not egotistical when I say that I
know more of the inner workings of the government than any man in
Washington. I have, for nearly fourteen years, made every department
of the Federal government a close study. I know where and how the
jobs and frauds have been worked, and how the rottenness can be
exposed, and, moreover, can point out the defects of the Treasury
system which made many of these possible. I could be invaluable in
many ways here, but I would prefer a quiet place abroad. I confess
that I am not _en rapport_ with many of those who are likely to be
most influential with the administration. My tastes are naturally
literary, and I have been at work for several years upon the
history of the last four months of Buchanan's administration. I
have a book of 600 pages nearly ready for the press, the principal
data for which I got from Judge Black. The preparation for this
work naturally led me to study closely and carefully the political
history of the United States, so I could succinctly and graphically
deal with the course which led to the Civil War. Becoming deeply
interested in the subject, I began writing _The Political History
of the United States_. I have nearly completed the first draft of
the first volume of this work, and I want the means and leisure to
complete it. The place of all others which I would like, and which
would enable me to have the resources at hand, would be the Consul
Generalship to London; but I presume that it is useless to aspire to
that. Some one with more social and political influence than I can
command will get it. But I think that I might aspire to be Consul
at Liverpool. That place was given to Packard, of Louisiana, as the
price of his yielding gracefully to the Hayes Commission, which, in
pursuance of the _bargain_ made with Southern Democrats in 1876,
went to Louisiana to install the Nichols government. Inasmuch as I
contributed largely to make the work of that commission odious, and
to have the Returning Board indicted and convicted, I think it would
not be presumptuous to claim Packard's place.

"May I not ask you to take more than an ordinary interest in my
behalf? My lifelong friend, who knew me from childhood, and who
always took the deepest interest in my welfare, is no more. You
esteemed him at his true worth. You know how emphatic he always
spoke in my behalf. If Judge Black was alive, he would join heartily
in any effort to secure me the place I seek. But I know no one now,
save yourself, to whom I can appeal. There are possibly a _few_ who
would damn me with faint praise.

"I know how many there are who will importune you, and that there
are others with more and better claims upon you; but I am sure that
none _needs_ your good offices more, and that none will appreciate
them higher than

  "Yours truly,
  "A. M. GIBSON."


TILDEN TO GOVERNOR D. B. HILL

(THE BROADWAY RAILROAD BILL)

  "GREYSTONE, _April 21, 1885_.

"DEAR GOV. HILL,--1. The bill entitled 'An act to annul and
dissolve the Broadway Surface Railroad Company' is a very proper and
necessary bill.

"2. The bill entitled 'An act to provide for the winding up of
corporations which have been annulled and dissolved by legislative
enactment' does not seem to me to contain any deceptive or dangerous
promises, and may be deemed unobjectionable.

"3. The bill entitled 'An act in relation to the consents of
property-owners, order of the general term confirming reports
of commissioners, and the consents of local authorities,' &c.,
preserves, notwithstanding the repeal of the charter: _first_,
the consent of the property-owners abutting on the street to be
occupied by the railroad; _secondly_, the consent of the local
authorities having control of the street or highway to be occupied
by the railroad; _thirdly_, the order of the general term confirming
the report of any commissioners that such railroad ought to be
constructed or operated.

"This bill fails to protect the public from dangerous abuses, with
the experience of them in the case of the Broadway Railroad before
our eyes.

"It is known that the consent of the local authorities was obtained
by bribery. Yet this bill provides that that consent shall be valid
and effectual.

"It is known that the general term appointed improper persons as
commissioners to decide whether or not the Broadway Railroad ought
to be built.

"It is known that the general term confirmed the report of those
commissioners in favor of having the road built by the grantees
without regard to the fact that the compensation to the city from
the grantees was grossly inadequate.

"In the case of the Cable Railroad grant, the same general term
refused to confirm the report of the commissioners on the express
ground that the compensation to the city from the grantees was
inadequate.

"Yet this bill adopts, by legislative act, the consent of the local
authorities obtained by bribery.

"It also adopts the action of the general term which was at least
improvident and unjustifiable in face of its later action in the
cable case. The appointment of commissioners, and the confirmation
of their report, was a substituted consent in behalf of the
property-owners. The direct consent of the property-owners could
probably not have been obtained.

"The substituted consent was obtained only by the abusive action of
the general term.

"Again, the effect of this bill is to deny to the people, to
the local authorities, and the property-owners interested any
opportunity to pass fairly upon the question, whether or not
Broadway should be occupied by a surface railroad; it practically
determines that there shall be a surface railroad in Broadway.

"The only question which it leaves open is, Who shall own and
operate that railroad?

"In my judgment, this bill ought to be held under advisement, after
the two former bills have been acted upon.

"You will thus have opportunity for mature consideration, and for
manifesting your vigilance in protecting the public interest.

"It is very possible that you will come to the conclusion to
withhold from it your approval.

"That is my judgment of what ought to be done.

"I have dictated this letter, after reading, this evening, the
newspapers, and finding out as well as I could what has been done
to-day. I will endeavor to write about the remaining bill to-morrow.

  Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO BIGELOW

  "GREYSTONE, _May 2, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. BIGELOW,--I send you the two addresses. Do not
cut them. Carefully preserve them. If lost, I probably could not
replace them.

"1. The address to which I referred in the account, I gave of it
to you, is entitled 'Address of the Democratic Members of the
Legislature of the State of New York.'

"The first part of it contained on the first and second pages, and
a part of the third page was, I think, drawn by John Van Buren, and
prefixed after the preparation of the main body of the document.

"One of the passages written in by me while revising a part of the
address will be found on pages 11 and 12. It is marked.

"2. On the subject of adapting a colonial system, or entering into
a partnership with mixed races, you will find a declaration in the
address of February 16, 1848, pp. 8 and 9, and also in a resolution
on p. 16. They are marked.

"I should like to know of exactly what use you propose to make of
them. After you have read both papers, I should like it if you could
run up here for half an hour and talk it over.

  "Very truly yours."


TILDEN TO DANIEL MANNING

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _June 9, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MANNING,--I am sorry to hear that the President
has been unwell. Having invoked Mrs. Manning's influence in favor,
in your case, of a reform of the excessive and destructive sway of
the 'interview' evil, I regret that there is no Mrs. Cleveland to
co-operate in this reform in the case of the President. He starts
with an admirable constitution, but there is a limit to what even he
can endure.

"Paper recommendations are a poor reliance at best. A regular
trial on a paper basis, of fourth-class postmasters, is beyond the
strength of any one man.

"It is necessary that the appointing power should find out friends
in every locality, who can be trusted to give accurate information
and conscientious advice, and put the responsibility on them, and
then accept their judgment.

"It is a mistake to suppose that the party leaders are not capable
of being extremely useful as means of intelligence. A party is a
living being, having all the organs of eyes, ears, and feeling. No
man can rise to leadership without having some qualities of value.
The appointing power should not be governed absolutely by local
leaders; but should hear them in important cases, cross-examine
them, derive all the benefits they are capable of rendering, and not
be ambitious of displaying a disregard of them. Distrust of one's
friends will generally result in misplaced confidence in inferior
persons or in ill-advised action.

"The importance of the little postmasters is very great. In many
of the purely rural districts there is one to every hundred
voters. They are centres of political activity. They act as agents
and canvassers for the newspapers of their party, and as local
organizers.

"The immense power of this influence is now wholly on the side
of the Republicans. To allow this state of things to continue is
infidelity to the principles and cause of the administration. The
wrong should be gradually corrected.

"I send herewith some extracts from the letters of Mr. Jefferson,
both because the view taken by him is sound, and because he had
a felicitous mode of statement, which is a good example to his
successors when they have occasion to discuss the same subject.

  Very truly yours."


FRANK McCOPPIN TO S. J. TILDEN

  "THE PACIFIC CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO, _June 9, 1885_.

"DEAR SIR,--The Chinese question has again disturbed the
people, or some of them, upon this coast; but this time it came to
us in a new form, as the printed matter enclosed will explain.

"At one time the President intended to appoint a Californian
Minister to China (he offered it to Mr. S. M. Wilson of this city),
but changed his mind later; hence the present disturbance.

"In this so-called interview I mention the names of all the members
of the cabinet save one, and that one I do not admire. A very witty
friend of mine, the late John B. Fetton, once said, in regard to
very old case cited by opposite counsel, that it was like ox-tail
soup--it came from too far back. And so it appears to be with Mr.
Secretary, judging by his late performance in Kansas; he comes
from too far back. You will, I hope, pardon me for addressing you
in this apparently flippant manner; but, though new to you as a
correspondent, I am a very old friend of yours, and served on
the national committee (Democratic) from 1872 until 1879, when I
resigned in consequence of having to go to the Sandwich Islands.
Therefore, I served through the campaign of 1876, when this State
was lost to us, and the Presidency to you, by a stupendous fraud
committed in this city.

"Mrs. McCoppin is a New-Yorker, was a Van Ness, and a niece of the
late Mrs. Roosevelt, 836 Broadway.

"Before leaving Washington, I wrote Mr. Manning, who, I suppose,
will pay no heed to me, pointing to the fact that our Southern
friends in California are pressing forward, to the exclusion of all
other classes, for _all_ the Federal patronage upon this coast. In
this city we have 51,000 registered voters, 2400 of whom are from
the South; and yet the 2400 want _all_ the offices, and I suppose
they will get them.

"The Gwin clique alone have more than enough to fill every place.

  Very respectfully yours,
  "FRANK MCCOPPIN."


MANNING TO GEORGE W. SMITH

  "MR. GEORGE W. SMITH, GREYSTONE, YONKERS.

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _July 2nd, 1885_.

"DEAR SIR,--I made inquiry, to-day, as to the appointment
of Mr. Noyes as government director of the Union Pacific Railway
Company,[34] and received the copy, which I append.

  [34] As Mr. Noyes had been one of the conspicuous Republican
  emissaries from Washington to corrupt the electoral vote in the
  South in 1876, Mr. Tilden regarded his appointment by Mr. Cleveland
  to any public office as not only a personal indignity to him but as
  an outrage to the country.

"I had previously advised the appointment of Mr. Canda.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING."

       *       *       *       *       *

  "_Tuesday, 2._

"DEAR MR. MANNING,--Noyes was appointed at the suggestion
of Governor Hoadley, who was here when the President and Secretary
of the Interior were considering the matter.

  "D. S. LAMONT."


G. W. SMITH TO MR. MANNING

  "_July 3, 1885._

"HON. DANIEL MANNING, WASHINGTON, D. C.--Letter received.
Such an appointment would be the greatest possible mistake. If
commission is not issued, better defer its issue until we can
communicate.

  "G. W. SMITH."


MANNING TO G. W. SMITH

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _July 3rd, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. SMITH,--Immediately upon receipt of your telegram
this morning, I made the necessary inquiry, and received the reply,
which I append.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING."

       *       *       *       *       *

  "EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, _July 3, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MANNING,--The commissions for the appointment of
Union Pacific Railroad directors were issued on the 1st, and are now
beyond recall.

  "Sincerely yours,
  "D. S. LAMONT."


D. MANNING TO GEORGE W. SMITH

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _July 4, 1885_.

"MY DEAR MR. SMITH,--No one can regret much more than I do
the composition of that railroad list of officers. I had supposed
that in view of what I said as to Mr. Canda that I would hear more
of the case before final action, but in this I was disappointed.
Two, and possibly three, of the number certainly have no good
qualification for the offices given them. Hoadley, it appears (I did
not see him), was over here on some business of his own, just in the
nick of time to be consulted, and the result was what might have
been expected from so good a man--thoughtless and injudicious advice.

"It is not possible that there was any viciousness in the purposes
of the two, who may be said to have been the appointing power. I
shall have further conversation with them, but without expecting any
practical result.

"I cannot, in a letter, write just as fully on this subject as I
should like, and shall reserve this, and some other matters of more
or less consequence themselves, for the conversation with you, that
I promise myself later on in the summer.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING."


DANIEL MANNING TO TILDEN

  "ALBANY, _July 13th, 1885_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I send you herewith a copy of a letter
received to-day. I send it because it may serve to amuse, and
because it enables one to measure the sizes of certain men who are
playing their best on the Washington stage. My correspondent is a
truthful writer, and is well entitled to my confidence.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING,
  "M. F. M."

       *       *       *       *       *

The following is the letter mentioned in the above note:


---- TO DANIEL MANNING

  "WASHINGTON, _July 12th, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. SECRETARY,--I have a piece of news for you,
which I can only hope will not annoy you as much as it has some
of us here. You will remember that on one of my visits to the Hot
Springs, I told you that some of the gentlemen of the department
had organized a social club, and out of respect and admiration for
you had named it 'The Manning Club.' Well, the organization seemed
to be a vigorous and thriving one, and we had in it almost every
Democratic chief of bureau and chief of division in the department.
We had rented a fine house for a year, had partly furnished it, and
were rapidly getting into good shape when a bomb-shell fell among us
in the shape of a notification of the displeasure of the President,
and now the organization is completely disorganized and about ready
to disband.

"So far as we can learn, the President was misinformed of
the objects of the club; he was told that it was a political
organization; but even when its real purpose, that of promoting
good feeling and good fellowship among Democratic officers of
the Treasury Department, was explained to him by Judge Maynard,
he insisted upon continuing his disapproval; and intimated that
if the organization were continued, he would write a letter for
publication, denouncing it and kindred organizations. This I learn
from persons who talked with him about it.

"Of course, under the circumstances, there is nothing for us to do
but disband. The president of the club wrote Mr. Cleveland, asking
for an interview at which he might explain to him its purposes.
This was on Friday last. To-day (the 12th) he received a note from
Colonel Lamont saying that the President referred the writer of the
letter to Mr. Fairchild, to whom he (the President) had spoken on
the subject.

"I had a talk with Mr. Fairchild the other day, and found that he
had been misinformed as to the objects of the club; but even after
I had explained its purpose to him, and while he acknowledged the
legitimacy of that purpose, he expressed disapproval of it as liable
to misconstruction, and apt to become a source of embarrassment
to the administration because of the political qualification for
membership.

"The matter is all the more annoying, because there is treachery at
the bottom of it. Mr. Fairchild tells me that on Wednesday evening
last he heard of it and went to the President about it, and that he
found the President already knew of and disapproved of it, as he
then understood it. Judge Maynard, who saw the President on Friday,
and explained the real purposes of the club to him, tells me that on
Wednesday morning he was informed by Colonel Youmans that the club
was disapproved of by the President. Youmans thus appears to have
been the first person in the Treasury to know that the club met with
disfavor at the White House. He knew of it Wednesday morning. On
Tuesday night his name was proposed for membership in the club, and
the person who proposed his name said he had talked with the chief
clerk about the organization that day (Tuesday). It is hard to
think it possible, but almost every member of the club believes that
Youmans carried the information he had concerning the club and his
own impressions of its purposes to the White House.

"However, the club is now a thing of the past; or will be as soon as
we can close up its affairs and dispose of our house and furniture,
and that part of the incident is at an end; but what puzzles all
of us is that a social club of Democratic officials should be
vetoed, while State Democratic associations, with purposes assuredly
partisan, continue to flourish in Washington.

"I do hope, Mr. Secretary, that the matter may not annoy you or
cause you any embarrassment, but I am fearful that it will. I did
not write you on Friday, because I wanted to wait and see how it
would turn out. It is proper that I should write you about it, now
that the President has refused to have the matter explained to him
by our officers, and that we have determined to disband."

       *       *       *       *       *

Shortly before the receipt of the letter which follows, Mr.
Manning, one day on leaving the cabinet, experienced an apoplectic
attack which compelled him to be transported to his home, and was
destined, I believe, to prevent his ever placing his feet again
in the Treasury Department. As soon as he was able to travel, he
repaired to Albany, where he was accustomed to find the comforts
and consolations of home, and expected in seeking them again to
be speedily restored to health. In this, however, both he and his
friends were disappointed; and though he survived until December of
'87, he early realized that his illness was incurable, and that his
public career, so full of promise, was ended. In the latter part of
July he was invited by Mr. Tilden to join him at the Kaaterskill
House in the Catskills, where Mr. Tilden himself was temporarily
sojourning. To this invitation the following was Mr. Manning's reply:


DANIEL MANNING TO S. J. TILDEN

  "153 WASHINGTON AVENUE,

  "ALBANY, N. Y., _July 26th_ (_1885._)

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I have read and carefully thought over
your letter of the 16th inst. Dr. Hun and Dr. Simons are agreed as
to the heart, the examination of the urine, and the necessity for
careful attention to diet.

"I think that I should much like to go to the Catskill Mountains,
but I doubt if I would be comfortable there without the company of
some cheery friends. I am now under engagement to go to the Watch
Hill House, Watch Hill, R. I., next Thursday. Chancellor Pierson, a
gentleman of great good-humor, talkative, and a jolly disposition,
undertakes to go along. We may spend a couple of weeks there, and
then I shall be at the end of my rope.

"I want to see you very much to talk about my proposed communication
to the President. I feel more and more, daily, that I need your
assistance. Have you thought over the matter? Have you prepared a
form for me? Do you know when our friend will return from Europe? I
should feel much more at ease if everything was ready in advance. I
do not know when I can get to see you. It occupies a day to go from
Watch Hill to New York or Yonkers, and for me the trip will be a
long one. Kindly clear my mind on this point. I do so much want to
decide on my action before the vacation closes. That done, I should
feel comparatively free.

"My health is improving daily. My physician talks encouragingly, and
I feel that I am better, stronger, than I was when I left Greystone.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING,
  "M. F. M."


DANIEL MANNING TO TILDEN

  "_Personal._

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _July 29, 1885_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Will you be at Greystone on the 7th of
August? I want to see you, and perhaps I cannot find a better time
than that day. I expect to leave here with Mrs. Manning and Miss
Mary on the 6th or 7th, and will be compelled to remain in New York
over the 8th. I am booked for Watch Hill for the 10th, to remain
there two or three weeks.

"I have many things to say, and I need your help and advice.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING."


C. A. DANA TO A. H. GREEN

  "'THE SUN,' NEW YORK, _Aug. 28, 1885_.

"MY DEAR MR. GREEN,--If Mr. Tilden would add to the
papers you gave me, the other day, some memoranda on the following
questions, it would help me out a great deal.

"1. Would not the expense of deepening the canal, so as to add two
feet to the depth of water, be very great? I understand that now,
for a great part of its course, the bottom of the canal is composed,
for about a foot depth, of clay and hydraulic cement packed closely,
so as to prevent leakage; and would not the expense of taking this
up and replacing it, after the bottom was dug up, be more serious
than any calculation has yet allowed?

"2. How far does the fact that the lake transportation has almost
entirely passed into the hands of railroad people, affect the
probability of increasing the business of the canal, in case it
should be deepened?

"3. Can the canal be maintained in the face of the increasing
railroad competition?

"I do not want to trouble Mr. Tilden for any elaborate answers
to these questions, but only for hints, such as his knowledge
and experience can easily supply, and that I can make useful in
discussing the points.

  "Yours sincerely,
  "C. A. DANA."


D. MANNING TO GEORGE W. SMITH

  "215 STATE STREET, ALBANY, N. Y., _Aug. 30, 1885_.

  "DEAR MR. SMITH,--I am just back from Watch Hill.
  I want to see you, and will take the early train Wednesday
  morning, stopping off at Yonkers at 10.30 A.M. I expect
  to return to Washington next Thursday evening or Friday
  morning, and as I do not think I can come over again for
  some months, I will be glad of a chance for a long 'talk'
  with you. Please advise me by telegraph if it will be agreeable
  to see me about the hour named; or if some other hour
  on Wednesday or Thursday will be more convenient.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING.

  "_Geo. W. Smith, Esq._

"How the papers do lie!"


GEORGE W. SMITH TO DANIEL MANNING

  "_Telegram._

"The time you name will be agreeable.

  "G. W. SMITH.

"Aug. 30/85. (Sat. 2.36 P.M.)."


S. J. TILDEN, JR., TO S. J. TILDEN

  "NEW LEBANON, N. Y., _Sept. 2nd, 1885_.

"DEAR UNCLE SAMUEL,--Yours of yesterday received this
morning. In reply, would say that I am sorry you had gained the
impression that I was intending to seek a position on the State
ticket this fall, for such a thing was far from any intention
of mine. When this matter was first brought to my notice, by an
article which appeared in the N. Y. _Graphic_, some time since, I
immediately requested a friend of mine, who is connected with that
paper, not to refer to the matter again, as I was not a candidate,
and would not accept a place upon the State ticket. This same answer
I have always given whether spoken to upon the subject, and had so
thoroughly dismissed it from my mind that it did not occur to me to
speak of it when I saw you two weeks ago. I have always made our
business here of first importance and politics secondary, working at
the latter when time would permit. I appreciate only too fully the
position in which one is placed who has only a political life before
him with all its uncertainties to desire such a one, having seen so
many in this position.

"Had I thought of such a step I certainly should not for one moment
have entertained it until I had spoken to you upon the subject, for
I have appreciated and can easily understand the complications which
would arise. Will come up to Greystone the first opportunity I have,
and explain more fully than I can write. With many kind regards, I
remain,

  Yours very truly,
  "S. J. TILDEN, JR."


NOTES ON THE CANAL

[_Written by Mr. Tilden on September 4-5, 1885, in Answer to Queries
on the Subject by Mr. Dana._]

"_Q. 1._ Would not the expense of deepening the canal, so as to
add two feet to the depth of water, be very great? I understand
that now, for a great part of its course, the bottom of the canal
is composed, for about a foot depth, of clay and hydraulic cement
packed closely, so as to prevent leakage; and would not the expense
of taking this up and replacing it, after the bottom was dug up, be
more serious than any calculation has yet allowed?

"_A._ The idea of increasing the depth of the canal two feet is a
gross exaggeration of what is possible or proper to do.

"To build up the banks two feet would necessitate building up the
locks. To excavate the bottom two feet would be impracticable.

"At page 23 of my Message for 1873 it was stated: 'The waterway was
practically never excavated in every part to its proper dimensions.
Time, the action of the elements, and neglect of administration all
tend to fill it by deposits.' There is no doubt that the sides of
the waterway have been changed, and the slope filled in with silt,
narrowing the bottom of the canal, so that it is only in the middle
that the proper depth is approached, and inconvenience is felt in
one boat passing another.

"My suggestion was to bring up the canal to an honest seven feet.
All the structures of the canal were adapted to that. 'Bring
it up to seven feet--honest seven feet--and on all the levels,
wherever you can, bottom it out; throw the excavation upon the
banks; increase that seven feet toward eight feet, as you can
do so progressively and economically. You may also take out the
bench-walls.'

"This suggestion looked to gaining on the long levels, when it was
found practicable, some inches increasing seven feet '_toward_'
eight feet. The suggestion was carefully limited, because in many
places you cannot change the bottom without interfering with
culverts, or carrying the excavation below the mitre sills of the
locks."


_As to the Capacity of the Erie_

"The lockages at Frankfort, during the season of 1884, were 20,800.

"The lockages in 1873 were stated on page 22 of my Message of 1875
to have been 24,960.

"'The theoretical capacity of the canal will be three or four times
the largest tonnage it has ever reached. There is no doubt it
can conveniently and easily do double the business which has ever
existed, even though the locks be not manned and worked with the
highest efficiency.'

"If that was true when the lockages were 25,000, how much more so is
it when the lockages have fallen to 20,800 as in 1884?

"_Q. 2._ How far does the fact that the lake transportation has
almost entirely passed into the hands of railroad people, affect
the probability of increasing the business of the canal, in case it
should be deepened?

"_Q. 3._ Can the canal be maintained in the face of the increasing
railroad competition?

"_A._ Total tons of each class of articles which came to the Hudson
River from Erie and Champlain Canal:

     [From the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Works
     upon the trade and tonnage of the Canals for the year 1884, page
     100.]

                                             1874       1884

  Products of the forest                  1,192,681   1,097,450
  Agriculture                             1,470,872   1,054,041
  Manufactures                               49,426      56,899
  Merchandise                                12,905      45,538
  Other articles                            497,228     377,259
                                          ---------   ---------
         Total                            3,223,112   2,631,187


"Tonnage of the canal, and of the Central and Erie railroads:


     [From the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Works
     upon trade and tonnage of the Canals for the year 1884, pages
     94-95.]

                                            1874           1884

  New York Canals                        5,804,588       5,009,488
  New York Central R. R.                 6,114,678      10,212,418
  Erie Railway                           6,364,276  [35]16,219,598
                                         ----------- -------------
                                        18,283,542      31,441,504

  [35] Of this amount, 5,147,660 tons is the tonnage for twelve months
  of the N. Y. P. & O. R. R. Co., leased by the Erie.


"The railroads have competed successfully with the Erie Canal, and
have carried off all the increase in the tonnage. Notwithstanding
the State has ceased to charge tolls, and has imposed an annual tax
of $700,000 upon the taxpayers to maintain the canals. The Erie
Canal has failed to keep up its business. It holds on to a portion
of the lumber, and of the grain.

"There seems to be no probability that the Erie Canal will regain
any portion of the business it has lost.

"None of the grand schemes by which it is proposed to enlarge
or improve it can, to any appreciable extent, cheapen the
transportation. They will simply waste the money of the taxpayer,
and revive the system of contracting, jobbery, and fraud.

"The advantage of lengthening the locks so as to pass two boats
at once, when there is plenty of time to pass four times the
boats which the tonnage requires, is doubtful, and is at least
inconsiderable. It can only pretend to save five minutes in a
lockage, if, in fact, it will save any time.

"Unless some effectual expedient be adopted to prevent the waste of
water in locking through a single boat, it would consume three times
as much water in the long lock as in the short lock. I understand
that the superintendent thinks that ruinous mischief can be avoided,
but I have had no means of testing how the thing would work in
practice.

"In 1867, when I examined the subject, I found that on the Delaware
and Raritan they used boats of about the same dimensions as the
boats in use on the Erie, notwithstanding the locks were capable of
passing two boats at a time.

"I send my Message of 1875; my speech in the Constitutional
Convention in 1867, which contains a fuller discussion of the
subject. I send, also, the last report of the Superintendent of
Public Works on the canals.

"The statistical tables are so changed from the ancient forms that
it is difficult to get the materials for a satisfactory comparison
of the present with the former business.

"A certain portion of the business naturally belongs to the
railroads. The principles which govern this division are set forth
in the beginning of my speech in 1867. The business would naturally
be divided, and the share of the railroads would be increased as the
network of the railroads is perfected, and more and more points are
touched.

"Besides, the railroads will compete for additional business at
less than cost, charging the loss upon the paying portion of their
traffic.

"On the whole, it must be observed:

"Within the last ten years the cost of transportation by railroad
has been reduced one-half. All the improvements tending to cheapen
transportation are made by the railroads.

"As to the clamor about diverting traffic to the Canadian lines,
it is senseless. The great mass of grain brought from the West is
for local consumption. Two millions and a half of people residing
in the city of New York and its suburbs are not going to bring the
grain for their own consumption by way of Montreal. A large share
of the flour and grain carried by the New York Central is for local
consumption in New England. Formerly it came to New York city,
and was distributed from that point. It is now carried direct.
For instance, flour and grain, for consumption at Springfield and
Worcester, are carried from the point of shipment in the West direct
to those places without change of cars. They cannot be diverted.

"The Erie Canal still has a certain utility. It should be nursed
along, but without any expectation of regaining the place it once
occupied in the transportation of the country. The taxpayers of this
State will not always consent to pay a bonus of $700,000 per year in
order to get tonnage for the Erie Canal."


HORATIO SEYMOUR TO TILDEN

"UTICA, _Sept. 25, 1857_ (_1885_).

"DEAR SIR,--I have received your letter of the 22d inst. I
wrote the note to the Rochester paper, not because you would care
for it, but because I felt it was due to myself to correct any such
statement. I am aware that you are used to and indifferent to such
attacks.

"I am seventy-five years old, and suffer from nervous attacks. I
had _a sunstroke_ in 1876, from which I never recovered. It has
progressed until it has weakened my body and my memory in many
respects. I have not been away from Utica during the past two years,
except to visit my sister at Coquemen. I have a man in constant
attendance. I leave my farm to drive over to Utica about once in
a week. If I get into your section of the State I shall be happy
to call upon you. I do not keep track of current events. I went
to the convention about our canals. I was nominally its chairman;
but I presided only a few minutes, as I was too deaf to hear. My
attendance harmed me. I have not been as well since. As I can take
no exercise, I grow in weight, which makes me look better and feel
worse. I hope I may live to see you again, but it is doubtful.

  "Truly yours, &c.,
  "HORATIO SEYMOUR."


HORATIO SEYMOUR TO S. J. TILDEN

  "UTICA, _October 7, 1885_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--A few days since I received with my mail a
letter from you. I glanced at it, and laid it aside with a view of
reading it with attention. Since then I have been unable to find
it amongst my papers. I find my memory is so much impaired that I
am apt to forget what I do when I put aside with care. I cannot,
therefore, write you a responsive reply. I am mortified by such
mistakes, which multiply as memory fails.

"During the past eight years my memory and health have been impaired
by a sunstroke.

"I am obliged to live in a quiet way at my farm; all excitements
are hurtful. I have not been away from home, save to make a short
journey to see one of my sisters in Madison County. I know but
little about current events. I think over the past or speculate
about the future.

"Now and then a reporter calls. As my views upon public [sic] are
vague and vaguely expressed, they give such interpretation as they
wish, so that I am frequently surprised by my opinions as they are
given in the press.

"I wish I could visit New York again, but I fear I am too weak to do
so. With my wishes for your health and welfare,

  "I am, truly yours,
  "HORATIO SEYMOUR.

  "_Hon. S. J. Tilden._"


GEORGE BANCROFT TO TILDEN

  "NEWPORT, ON THE WING FOR WASHINGTON, D. C.,
  "_18 Oct., '85_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I thank you very much for the volumes
of your writings, which you have been thoughtful enough of me to
send me. I am one of those who have always held and constantly
avowed the opinion that you were duly elected President of the
United States; it would be instructive if some one well versed in
our public law would look through the laws enacted in the period
for which you were chosen, and mark such of them as would have
encountered your veto. That should be done while you live to confirm
the result of the inquiry.

"I remain, dear Mr. Tilden,

  "Yours very truly,
  "GEO. BANCROFT."


S. J. TILDEN TO BANCROFT

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _Oct. 21, '85_.

"DEAR MR. BANCROFT,--I have received, through Mr. Bigelow,
your note acknowledging a copy of my _Writings and Speeches_ edited
by him.

"I observe that in your note to him, you mention that the copy sent
you does not contain my autograph.

"If the idea that you would desire it had occurred to me, I should
have been particular to add every homage of esteem and regard for
you in my power.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO PRESIDENT CLEVELAND

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, NEW YORK, _Oct. 21, '85_.

  "To His Excellency, GROVER CLEVELAND.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Mr. D. A. McKnight, the law clerk in the
Patent Office, is the author of a book of great ability entitled
_The Electoral System of the United States_.

"Without adopting all of his views, his independence, integrity, and
conscientiousness are shown by the fact that his masterly analysis
of the doings of the electoral commission, in which he exposes the
inconsistencies of their decisions, and condemns them as illegal and
unconstitutional, was published in a volume printed in 1878, with a
preface dated March 10, 1877. At that time Mr. McKnight was holding
his present office under the administration of Mr. Hayes.

"I understand that his resignation has recently been requested, in
order to give the appointment to some other person.

"Mr. McKnight is confessedly an excellent officer, serving the
government with fidelity and skill; and is personally free from
every objection.

"Under these circumstances, I take the liberty of appealing to you
for an intimation in favor of the retention of Mr. McKnight, or his
promotion to a higher grade in the service.

"The Democratic party of the United States have beheld, with
indignation, the chief agents in the frauds, perjuries, and
forgeries by which a pretext of documentary evidence was furnished
on which to base a false count, rewarded by their appointment in
numerous cases to most important civil trusts.

"It would scarcely be anticipated that a Democratic administration
should have so little sympathy with, or respect for the popular
feeling on this subject as to discard a meritorious officer having
the peculiar claim to its recognition which the facts I have
narrated show Mr. McKnight to possess.

"I have no personal interest in the matter, but consider it my duty
to represent the cause of public justice, to the end that the crime
against the people consummated in 1876, and again meditated in 1884,
shall never be repeated.

"I trust that you will excuse me for calling your attention to what
might otherwise escape your observation.

  "Very truly yours."


D. A. McKNIGHT TO S. J. TILDEN

  "UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,
  "WASHINGTON, _October 24, 1885_.

  "HON. SAML. J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--A few moments ago I received the two letters
which you were good enough to write at my request. I am, as you may
surmise, very highly gratified with them. They contain all (and more
than all) that I had hoped for, and must certainly accomplish their
purpose. And I assure you that I am full of gratitude to you for an
interest in my affairs which gives me fresh courage, and which shows
me again the great heart that inspired these letters. I only wish
that I could thank you in adequate terms, or that I could again _do
something_ to exhibit the warm personal regard for you into which my
original esteem has developed. If the day ever comes that I can be
of service to you, command me.

"With my kindest regards and warmest wishes for your health and
happiness, I am,

  "Very respectfully and truly,
  "Your obedient servant,
  "D. A. MCKNIGHT."


MARSHALL PARKS TO S. J. TILDEN

  "NORFOLK, VA., _14 Dec., '85_.

  "HON. S. J. TILDEN, GREYSTONE, N. Y.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Your letter to Hon. Mr. Carlisle on the
subject of our coast defences has been published in our papers, and
I can assure you were read with great interest.

"The change in the mode of warfare has rendered a number of our
forts almost useless. I would call your attention to those near this
city--Fortress Monroe and Fort Wool (formerly Fort Calhoun). The
former is said to be the largest for defence in the world, and the
latter on an artificial island, one mile distant, not yet completed;
both designed to protect Hampton Roads, James River, Norfolk, and
the U. S. Navy-Yard here. As they are only one mile apart, I presume
it was about the range of guns at the time they were designed.
Modern ordnance renders this structure of _no value_, and it is
likely it never will be completed, and I write to suggest the
importance of its removal to another location, which will, I think,
make it a defence for the capital as well as Baltimore, Norfolk,
Richmond, and other cities. By reference to the map of Chesapeake
Bay, you will observe there is a shoal between Cape Henry and Cape
Charles called the _Middle Ground_ on which a modern fort could be
erected from the material now useless at Fort Wool. This fort is
built on an artificial island having a base of fourteen acres, in
water from twelve to fifty feet deep, entirely of rough granite.
This could be removed at little cost, and a modern structure of iron
or steel erected on it, with necessary fixtures for torpedo service.

"Just inside Cape Henry is Lynn Haven Bay and river. The river would
make an admirable station for torpedo-boats, as it is a safe harbor,
completely landlocked, and may be connected by a few short and
inexpensive canals with Back Bay, Currituck, Albemarle, and Pamlico
sounds which may extend the inland route to Florida at little cost.

"Several years ago I made the voyage from New Berne, North
Carolina, to Oswego, New York, _in the same steamer, going inland
the entire way_! I have spent many years on this inland project. By
the construction of two short canals (only fourteen miles) we have
opened up to commerce 1800 miles of navigable waters. I am now about
to open a canal from Neuse River to Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina,
which will be a continuation of the inland navigation. It would
cost but little to make an inland water route to Florida, as a few
short canals would unite the natural waterways existing, and the
inland route would then be complete from the Great Lakes to Florida,
passing by all our great seaboard cities.

"As we have now no defence to our national capital, I have thought
a line from you at this time would bring it to the favorable
consideration of Congress.

"If you have not the charts convenient, I would be pleased to
furnish them and any further information desired.

  "Very resp'y, y'r obt. st.,
  "MARSHALL PARKS."


DANIEL MANNING TO S. J. TILDEN

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Dec. 16, 1885_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I write a line to acknowledge receipt
of your letter to the Saratoga convention in which, for the second
time, you decline to be nominated for the Presidency by the
Democratic party. The manuscript of that letter will, of course,
always have very high value to me. It will be the most prized of the
few heirlooms that I possess.

"Mrs. Manning and I are very glad that you consented to a visit
to us, during the New Year week, from Miss Ruby and Miss Susie.
Everything and everybody promises to be gay here, and I think they
will find pleasure in the visit.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING.

  "_Hon. Sam. J. Tilden, Greystone._"


S. J. TILDEN TO DANIEL MANNING

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _Dec. 19, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MANNING,--I read over your report when I first
received it, and laid it aside intending to give it a second and
more thorough perusal, and waited about acknowledging it until I
should do so; but I have been less well than common, and have found
so many things pressing upon me that I have not had a chance to
execute my good intentions.

"The impression your report made on me was very favorable. I think
it does you great credit, and congratulate you on the manner in
which it has been received by the public.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO HON. GEORGE BANCROFT

  "GREYSTONE, _Feb. 12, 1886_.

"DEAR MR. BANCROFT,--I have received a copy of your _Plea
for the Constitution of the United States_, which the publishers
sent to me at your request.

"I note your strong impression of your sense of the importance of
the theme, when you say you 'have thought it right to bestow upon it
many of the few hours that may remain to you for labor.'

"To the eyes of your countrymen, those hours grow more valuable as
they become fewer.

"As an argument your _Plea_ is overwhelming.

"Indeed, until new lights recently dawned upon the court, and upon
some others, in all our national history it had been universally
considered as axiomatic that Congress had no constitutional power to
make anything but gold and silver a legal-tender. That conclusion
was always assumed when the subject was incidentally alluded to.
Forty years ago, in a speech in the constitutional convention of the
State of New York on the subject of Currency and Banking (Tilden's
_Public Writings and Speeches_, Vol. I., p. 222), I recognized the
disability of any government in this country, State or Federal, to
make a legal-tender of anything but gold and silver.

"In all the literature of political economy, of currency and
banking, this postulate was taken for granted.

"It is a long time since I have had the pleasure of seeing you
or Mrs. Bancroft. I was gratified at the account of you, which I
received from my nieces who recently visited Washington. I hear that
you have lit up your household by the sunshine of a young lady of
your kindred.

"I am passing the winter at a country home perched upon a cliff
overhanging the Hudson four hundred feet above the tide. I send you
a picture of the place.

"With best regards for yourself and Mrs. Bancroft,

  "I remain, very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN.

"P. S.--Since writing you, I have received the _Evening Post_ of
this afternoon. It is a 'Mugwump' journal. I send a cutting from its
editorial columns upon your _Plea_."


HIRAM SIBLEY TO TILDEN

  "ROCHESTER, N. Y., _Feb. 6", 1886_.

  "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,--This is _my_ birthday, and, as I
remember, _yours_. I see in the papers they say you were born on
the 9th of Feb. But I dare not place much reliance on what some
newspapers say of you.

"Seventy-nine is not eighty. Eighty is considered _old_. While it
is unsafe for us at this age to make plans for the future, we may
contemplate the past, and that is what I am doing to-day.

"Among those who took active part in the _Free-soil_ movement of
1848, you were an able leader. Your associates, _Wright_, _Gardner_,
_Van Buren_, and many others from whom I took counsel, are gone. You
among the larger, myself among the less important of that band of
noble patriots, are left to enjoy the consolation of doing what we
could at that early day to check the growth and extension of slavery.

"The _present_ I regard with fear and apprehension, and I have
recently written to, and received an answer from, our _inaugurated_
President, whose administration I heartily approve, and I now
address the _uninaugurated_ President to say one word of approval to
him also.

"You should encourage, by word and deed, our President to hold
fast to the pledges in the Democratic platform, to _Civil Service_
especially.

"The times are trying the metal of our President. The army on whom
the people rely for defence are greatly demoralized.

"The _veterans_ are nearly all _dead_, the _regulars_ are
_skirmishing_ for votes, and recruits are _few_.

"Pardon me for this rambling letter. Don't trouble yourself to
answer me.

"The times, the time (Feb. 6"), all conspired to move me to write
you.

"May you live to see many a birthday, as I hope to.

"With great respect, I am,

  "Your friend and obt. svt.,
  "HIRAM SIBLEY."


TILDEN TO JOHN F. SEYMOUR

  "_Telegram._

  "GREYSTONE, _Feb. 13, 1886_.

"HON. JOHN F. SEYMOUR,--I learn this morning the sorrowful
intelligence that the mortal career of your illustrious brother
is closed. Convey to his relatives, and when a suitable occasion
arises, to Mrs. Seymour, my warm sympathies at their loss. We have
the consolation of knowing that he passed away without suffering, in
the fulness of years, and amid the largest homage of public esteem.

  "S. J. TILDEN."


GEORGE BANCROFT TO TILDEN

  "1623 H STREET,
  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _February 15th, 1886_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--I thank you very much for your
note of the 12th. We old men must keep up the good tradition
which we received from the fathers, and which you defended in the
constitutional convention of New York.

"I am also alive, as you undoubtedly are, to the dangers that
overhang the country by a legislative measure, designed to throw
gold out of circulation, and to depreciate the currency fully twenty
per cent. By this measure, among infinite evils, all contracts now
in force between the employer and the laborer will be depreciated
twenty per cent., to the injury of the poor; and every one of our
newspapers will be compelled to stop its publication or to raise its
price.

"Wishing you perfect health and long life,

  "I am, very sincerely yours,
  "GEO. BANCROFT.

"Pray recall me to the kind recollection of your nieces, whom I had
great pleasure in meeting a few weeks ago."


TILDEN TO HIRAM SIBLEY

  "GREYSTONE, _Feb. 27, 1886_.

"DEAR MR. SIBLEY,--I have received your interesting letter.
The newspapers are correct in saying that the 9th of February is
my birthday, but some of them are quite astray in saying that I am
seventy-nine years old. I was born the 9th of February, 1814, and
was seventy-two years old on my last birthday. Although seven years
younger than you are, I can readily believe that you are practically
younger than I. You have not done so much as I to exhaust the vital
powers, and have not so large a debt to pay for strength borrowed
and consumed in advance. My eyes are extremely good, and enable me
to pass most of my time in reading; my ears are both of them much
more acute than those of most people. The doctors tell me that every
vital organ is in strong and sound condition. But I have been for
some years greatly annoyed by a mysterious malady of some of the
nerves of motion, which imparts a tremor to my hands, and impairs my
voice so that I lose most of the pleasures of conversation.

"I have also read the brief biography of your life and doings which
you were kind enough to send me. It illustrates an example of an
active, useful, and successful career.

"Wishing you every blessing of continued health, and prolonged years
of happiness and prosperity,

  "I am, very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


"ACCOUNTABILITY OF CORPORATIONS[36]

  [36] Originally printed in the New York _Sun_ of March 4, 1886.

"The governmental policy of the State of New York has been a
long while established, that charters of corporations within its
jurisdiction, carrying on business for profit, should be subject to
alteration or repeal in the discretion of the Legislature.

"The Revised Statutes of 1830 applied that rule to corporations
thereafter to be created. A reservation of that power had been
previously inserted in the special charters which had latterly been
granted. The origin of this reservation was ascribed in an article
asserting the repealability of corporate charters, written by
Mr. Tilden for the _Democratic Review_ of August, 1841 (Tilden's
_Writings and Speeches_, Vol. I., p. 171), to Silas Wright, who
procured the insertion of such a reservation in a charter granted in
1822.

"In the convention of 1846, which formed the present Constitution of
the State of New York, Mr. Tilden, from the select committee to whom
was referred the report of the standing committee on the subject of
corporations, made the following report:

     "'Section 1. Corporations may be formed under general
     laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for
     municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the
     Legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained
     under general laws. All general laws and special acts passed
     pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time or
     repealed.

       *       *       *       *       *

     "'Section 3. The term corporations as used in this article
     shall be construed to include all associations and joint stock
     companies having any of the powers of corporations not possessed
     by individuals or partnerships.'

"At the afternoon session on the same day the first section was
adopted unanimously, and the above clause of the third section was
adopted without considerable opposition.

"The discussion in the convention shows that those clauses were
understood to apply to all corporations then existing or thereafter
to be created.

"Those provisions stand in the Constitution of the State of New
York. They are referred to in a speech on canals and railroads made
by Mr. Tilden in the constitutional convention of 1867. The passage
is as follows:

     "'The convention of 1846, by provisions which it fell to
     my lot to report, provided, first, in favor of a system
     of incorporation under general laws, and, secondly, for a
     supervisory legislative control over the chartered power and
     privileges of all corporate bodies.

     "'In my judgment, those two provisions were, and are, perfectly
     adequate to secure every public object, however freely we may
     grant to private enterprise all the powers necessary to enable
     it to create these great machines of travel and transportation,
     and to the management of them by corporate bodies, which can
     serve the public with more skill and economy than the State can.
     The authority thus reserved to the State is doubtless capable of
     being perverted by it to private injury and oppression; but it
     seemed to be necessary to the public safety, and is a trust to
     be exercised with wisdom and justice.'

"The general Railroad act, chapter 140 of the Statute Laws of 1850,
passed April 2 of that year, faithfully executed the mandate of the
Constitution. The forty-eighth section of that act is as follows:

     "'The Legislature may at any time annul or dissolve any
     incorporation formed under this act; but such dissolution shall
     not take away or impair any remedy given against any such
     corporation, its stockholders, or officers, for any liability
     which shall have been previously incurred."

"The Broadway Railroad charter was formed under chapter 252 of the
laws of 1884, entitled 'An act to provide for the construction,
extension, maintenance, and operation of street surface railroads
and branches thereof in cities, towns, and villages.'

"The first section of that act expressly provides that every
corporation formed under it 'shall also have all the powers and
privileges granted, and be subject to all the liabilities imposed by
this act, or by the act entitled "An act to authorize the formation
of railroad corporations, and to regulate the same," passed April 2,
1850, and the several acts amendatory thereof, except as the said
acts are herein modified.'

"In the case of 'The People of the State of New York against
Dispensary and Hospital Society of the Women's Institute of the city
of New York' (7 Lansing, page 304), a corporation formed 'under an
act of the Legislature of the State of New York, entitled "An act
for the incorporation of benevolent, charitable, scientific, and
missionary societies, passed April 12, 1848, and the acts amendatory
thereof,"' was judicially determined to have forfeited its charter
by reason of the payment of money as a reward for the use of
influence in obtaining an appropriation from the State, and the
corporation was dissolved by judgment of the court.

"The authority of the Legislature to repeal a charter is much
broader than the judicial authority. It is expressly declared by
the Constitution and by the law to be in the discretion of the
Legislature. It may be done on moral evidence of wrong-doing on the
part of the corporation, while a court could only act on judicial
proof. It may be done on grounds of public policy or expediency.

"The bill pending in the Senate for repealing the charter of the
Broadway Company and annulling its franchise may do well enough if a
Broadway railroad is to exist.

"Whether any holders of Broadway Railroad stock or bonds can be
shown to be innocent and entitled to special indulgence, can be
better judged of when the investigations are concluded.

"One thing is quite clear. The corruption of public officers in
order to obtain possession of valuable franchises at much less
than their real worth, can only be stopped by making such schemes
impossible to result in any profit.

"A general law should be passed requiring every such franchise to be
disposed of at public auction.

"If proofs cannot be found to bring the wrong-doers to criminal
punishment, the confiscation of their investment will be a salutary
warning to them and to the public generally."


D. MANNING TO TILDEN

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Mch. 5, 1886_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--One of the first copies from the press,
of the reply to the House resolution, was duly mailed to you, from
here, addressed, 'George W. Smith, Esq., Greystone, Yonkers, N. Y.'
I sent you another copy to-day, addressed to you personally, which I
hope won't miss fire.

"There is 'a squall on,' hereabouts, concerning financial matters,
and it may grow to the size of a heavy storm, but I doubt. At any
rate, I think we are in waters deep enough for safety, and the
record isn't a half bad one.

"I have plenty of work and worry, and no day passes that I do not
wish I were near enough to you to get the benefit of your safe
judgment and advice. There is none here to whom I can go with such
confidence and sure dependence.

  "Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING."


TILDEN TO PRESIDENT CLEVELAND

  "_Confidential._

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _March 12, 1886_.

"DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I read in the public journals
that the name of Brigadier-General Newton, Chief of Engineers
in the United States army, is before you for promotion to a
Major-Generalship.

"I have had occasion, in the course of his duties near the city of
New York, although having no personal acquaintance with him, to form
an opinion as to his character and capacities; and have otherwise
acquired information concerning him.

"I believe him to be a very able and accomplished officer. I
understand that his commission as lieutenant antedates that of all
other officers now in active service; that he entered West Point at
the same time with General Pope, and graduated higher in his class;
that he graduated twelve years prior to General Howard.

"Although a Virginian by birth, he greatly distinguished himself on
the Union side--commanding the First Army Corps at Gettysburg, and
taking an important part in other battles.

"At his age, and to be retired more than six years sooner than
General Howard, unless he is now restored to the priority to which
he is entitled, he probably will be denied altogether the promotion
which his services, his character, and capacity merit.

"Another consideration seems worthy of attention. The highest honors
of the army ought not to be confined exclusively to Republicans, so
long as Democrats not inferior, not to say superior in services and
professional capacity, older soldiers if not better, remain to be
chosen. General Hancock's death made a vacancy which, though well
filled, was not filled by a successor of General Hancock's political
faith. General Newton's selection now would for the time redress the
balance.

"With assurances of cordial regard, I remain,

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


S. J. TILDEN TO DANIEL MANNING

  "_Confidential._

  "GREYSTONE, _March 14, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MANNING,--1. I hear a rumor that there is a
movement to turn out Mr. Nimmo, who is the head of the Bureau of
Statistics. I have examined his reports. They make the impression on
me that he is a valuable officer and should be retained.

"2. I have received a letter from Mr. R. H. Henry, of the _State
Ledger_, Jackson, Mississippi, saying that, at the suggestion of Mr.
Lamar, he has become a candidate for appointment as Register of the
Treasury. I infer from his letter that some other appointment would
satisfy him.

"I know nothing about his qualifications, or to what appointment
he would be adapted. He was chairman of the committee deputed by
the Chicago convention to wait upon me with its complimentary
resolutions. He is a man whose appearance makes a favorable
impression. He has co-operated with us for twelve years, and went
early and strongly for Mr. Cleveland. I bespeak your good-will and
kindness towards him, without assuming to judge what you wish to do
with the Registry of the Treasury, or what you are able to do for
Mr. Henry.

  Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


MRS. MANNING TO S. J. TILDEN

  "1501 18TH ST., WASHINGTON, _March 25th (1886)_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--There has not been an unfavorable
symptom so far in Mr. Manning's case since he was taken ill.[37]
He is a sick man, but we believe that good nursing will bring him
out all right. He takes very light nourishment, is kept very quiet,
and the physicians prescribe very little medicine. I could not deny
myself the comfort of writing to you myself. I thank you for your
helpful letter; such words and sympathy help me to behave.

  [37] On withdrawing from a cabinet meeting a day or two before
  the date of this letter, Mr. Manning experienced a burst of a
  blood-vessel at the base of his brain, from which he never entirely
  recovered.

"I will keep you informed of his condition.

"With high regards,

  Sincerely yours,
  "MARGARETTA F. MANNING.

  "_Hon. Saml. J. Tilden._"


W. E. SMITH TO TILDEN

(THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY'S FATAL ILLNESS)

  "TREASURY DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON.

  "HON. S. J. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Mr. Manning was, as you know, struck down a
few days ago. A small blood-vessel burst at the base of the brain.
It was impossible to tell at the time how serious the attack would
prove, but this morning his physicians say that the chances are
that he cannot recover, although the case is not entirely hopeless.
At best, they say it will be months before he can attend to any
business. The worst may be expected at any moment.

  Y'rs truly,
  "W. E. SMITH.

  "_Mch. 26/86, 11 A.M._"


C. JORDAN TO TILDEN

  "TREASURY DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, _March 27, '86_.

  "HON. SAML. J. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--You, as a matter of course, have heard of our
loss, and will regret it as much, or more, than I do, if such a
thing be possible. I am about to take a liberty that, I think, the
situation will justify--that is, suggest that you tender to the
Secretary the use of your yacht. He is fond of the water, and if he
recovers will need rest and recreation. He can obtain it nowhere so
well as on the water. I feel that I have taken a great liberty, but
my desire to serve Mr. Manning is very great. He deserves all the
affection and esteem of his friends, and now their air and sympathy.

  "Yours very respectfully,
  "C. N. JORDAN."


S. J. TILDEN TO GOVERNOR HILL

  "15 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _March 28, 1886_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR HILL,--I feel that Mr. Husted[38] is
permitting the resolution on coast defences to slumber too long,
and that New York is failing to take the position which is necessary
to the safety of the whole country, and especially to her own safety.

  [38] Mr. Husted, then Republican leader in the Assembly at Albany,
  had charge of some resolutions urging the New York members in
  Congress to push Mr. Tilden's policy of strengthening our coast
  defences. The paper that immediately follows this letter, entitled
  "Sea-coast Defences," is a contribution which Mr. Tilden made to Mr.
  Manning, with a view of its being made a part of the annual report.

"I think it is highly desirable that you should call his attention
to the subject.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN.

  "I am here until Monday afternoon."


"SEA-COAST DEFENCES

"In considering the state of the public revenues, the subject
involves the question whether we shall extinguish the surplus by
reducing the revenue; or, whether we shall apply the surplus to
payments on the public debt; or, whether we shall seize the occasion
to provide for our sea-coast defences, which have been too long
neglected. The Secretary is of the opinion that the latter is a
paramount necessity, which ought to precede the reduction of the
revenue; and ought, also, to precede an excessive rapidity in the
payment of the public debt.

"The property exposed to destruction in the nine seaports--Portland,
Portsmouth, Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
New Orleans, and San Francisco--cannot be less in value than five
thousand millions of dollars. To this must be added a vast amount
of property dependent for its use on three seaports. Nor does this
statement afford a true measure of the damage which might be carried
to the property and business of the country by a failure to protect
these seaports from hostile naval attacks.

"They are the centres, not only of foreign commerce, but of most of
the internal trade and exchanges of domestic productions. To this
state of things the machinery of transportation of the whole country
has become adapted.

"The interruptions of the currents of traffic by the occupation of
one of our principal seaports by a foreign enemy, or the destruction
of them by bombardment, or by the holding over them the menace of
destruction for the purpose of exacting contribution or ransom,
would inflict upon the property and business of the country an
injury which can neither be foreseen nor measured.

"The elaborate and costly fortifications, which were constructed
with the greatest engineering skill, are now practically useless.
They are not capable of resisting the attacks of modern artillery.

"A still greater defect exists in our coast defences. The range of
the best modern artillery has become so extended that our present
fortifications, designed to protect the harbor of New York, where
two-thirds of the import trade and more than one-half of the export
trade of the whole United States is carried on, are too near to the
great populations of New York city, Jersey City, and Brooklyn to be
of any value as a protection.

"To provide effectual defences would be the work of years. It
would take much time to construct permanent fortifications. A
small provision of the best modern guns would take several years.
Neither of these works can be extemporized in presence of emergent
danger. A million of soldiers with the best equipments on the
heights surrounding the harbor of New York, in our present state of
preparation, or, rather, in our total want of preparation, would be
powerless to resist a small squadron of war-steamers.

"This state of things is discreditable to our foresight and to our
prudence.

"The best guarantee against aggression--the best assurance that our
diplomacy will be successful and pacific, and that our rights and
honor will be respected by other nations, is in their knowledge that
we are in a situation to vindicate our reputation and interests.
While we may afford to be deficient in the means of defence, we
cannot afford to be defenceless. The notoriety of the fact that we
have neglected the ordinary precautions of defence invites want of
consideration in our diplomacy, injustice, arrogance, and insult at
the hands of foreign nations.

"It is now more than sixty years since we announced to the world
that we should resist any attempts, from whatever quarter they might
come, to make any new colonizations on any part of the American
continent--that while we should respect the _status quo_, we
should protect the people of the different nations inhabiting this
continent from every attempt to subject them to the dominion of any
European power, or to interfere with their undisturbed exercise of
the rights of self-government.

"This announcement was formally made by President Monroe, after
consultation with Mr. Madison and Mr. Jefferson. It was formulated
by John Quincy Adams. Our government has firmly adhered to the
Monroe Doctrine, and even so late as 1865 it warned Napoleon III.
out of Mexico.

"It is impossible to foresee, in the recent scramble of the European
powers for the acquisition of colonies, how soon an occasion may
arise for our putting in practice the Monroe Doctrine. It is clear
that there ought to be some relation between our assertion of this
doctrine, and our preparation to maintain it.

"It is not intended to recommend any attempt to rival the great
European powers in the creation of a powerful navy. The changes
which have rapidly occurred by the diminution of the relative
resisting power of the defensive armor of ironclads, and by the
increased efficiency of modern artillery--which, on the whole, has
gained in the competition--suggest that we should not, at present,
enter largely into the creation of armored vessels.

"In the questions that beset this subject until they shall have
reached a solution, we can content ourselves with adding but
sparingly to our navy. But what we can add should be the very
best that experience and science can indicate. This prudential
view is reinforced by the consideration that the annual charge
of maintaining a war-vessel bears an important proportion to the
original cost of construction.

"In constructing permanent fortifications, and in providing an ample
supply of the best modern artillery, the annual cost of maintenance
is inconsiderable. Nearly the whole expenditure is in the original
outlay for construction.

"If we do not make this expenditure necessary to provide for our
sea-coast defences when we have a surplus, and have no need to levy
taxes, we certainly will not make those expenditures when we have no
longer a surplus in the Treasury.

"To leave our vast interests defenceless, in order to reduce the
cost of whiskey to its consumers, would be a solecism.

"The present time is peculiarly favorable for providing for this
great national necessity too long neglected. Not only does the
surplus in the Treasury supply ample means to enable us to meet this
great public want, without laying new burdens upon the people, but
the work can now be done at a much lower cost than has ever before
been possible. The defensive works would consist almost entirely of
steel and iron. Those materials can now be had at an unprecedentedly
low price. A vast supply of machinery, and of labor, called into
existence by a great vicissitude in the steel and iron industries,
offers itself to our service. We should have the satisfaction of
knowing that while we were availing ourselves of these supplies,
which would ordinarily be unattainable, we were setting in motion
important industries, and giving employment to labor in a period
of depression. With encouragement by the guarantee of work, or,
perhaps, by the government itself furnishing the plant, the
inventive genius of our people would be applied to the creation of
new means and improved machinery, and establishments would spring
into existence capable of supplying all of the national wants,
and rendering us completely independent of all other countries in
respect to the means of national defence."


TILDEN TO C. JORDAN

  "15 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _March 30, 1886_.

"DEAR MR. JORDAN,--You need have no hesitation in
suggesting to me anything in my power which you think would be
beneficial to Mr. Manning.

"The _Viking_ is laid up for the winter, and has to undergo some
refitting before she can be brought into service.

"But I do not think Mr. Manning could, by any possibility, use her
with advantage, unless his present situation should be greatly
changed.

"It is too late in the season to go South. I do not believe that Mr.
Manning could bear the motion of the largest ocean steamer, still
less the greater motion of a small steamer, or the gas and noise of
the machinery. A great deal of strength and health is required by
the roughing incident to a sea voyage of any considerable duration.
I have myself to limit my excursions in the _Viking_ to a few hours
at a time. Nor would it be easy to take on board a man weighing 280
pounds who cannot walk, and more difficult still to convey him down
the narrow gangway.

"The medical treatment, as I understand, prescribes absolute quiet;
this is incompatible with yachting. I am here for a few days, and
shall then return to Greystone. I receive frequent information in
regard to Mr. Manning, but should be glad of anything which you may
be able to communicate.

"I should be delighted if Mr. Manning should become able to use the
_Viking_ with benefit.

  "Very truly yours,
  S. J. TILDEN."


WILLIAM E. SMITH TO TILDEN

  "_Personal._

  "TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _March 31, 1886_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Mr. Manning's condition is apparently about
the same, but he is now believed to be out of danger, although it
will probably be many months before he can attend to any business
whatever. His case is complicated by disease of the kidneys, but the
physicians say they do not fear any serious trouble from this cause.
It is very difficult to obtain any reliable information as to his
actual condition.

  "Yours truly,
  "W. E. SMITH."


C. N. JORDAN TO TILDEN

  "TREASURY OF THE UNITED STATES,
  "WASHINGTON, _April 1st, 1886_.

"HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN,--Many thanks for your kind answer.
My own opinion is that Mr. Manning is sorely hurt, if he ever wholly
recovers. He is a shy man, who does not like to be made a spectacle
of, and is fond of the water, so that my idea was and is that a boat
would suit him best, as the place where he would be most secluded.
How he is to be replaced I can't see; there isn't a member of the
cabinet who has made the impression he has, either on Congress or
the people with whom he has been brought in contact. 'The only
Democrat' in the cabinet is the name he goes by, and it called
forth, when his sickness became known, both from Democrats and
Republicans, a general expression of regret. He is said to be better
to-day. I hope so, but am afraid.

  "Yours very respectfully,
  "C. N. JORDAN."


GEORGE W. SMITH TO GENERAL BARLOW

  "GREYSTONE, _April 2nd, 1886_.

"DEAR GENERAL BARLOW,--The petition sent by you has at last
arrived. Mr. Tilden requests me to say that it is a very long paper,
and would require much investigation before he could adopt it. The
delicate state of his health forbids his undertaking to examine the
questions which it raises.

"Even if he should come to the same conclusion which the authors of
the paper have reached, Mr. Tilden is in no condition to carry on
the controversy which it would involve, and he would be unwilling to
initiate, or to become responsible for, a movement to which he could
not give the personal attention and effort which could alone conduct
it to a useful result.

"Mr. Tilden knows better than anybody else the burden which the
proceedings of 1871-2 entailed, and the prolonged efforts and
sacrifices through which success was achieved.

"Without them the mere use of a name, or, indeed, of any number of
names, would be utterly futile. Mr. Tilden, therefore, does not
think it necessary or useful to examine the preliminary questions.

  "Very truly yours,
  "GEO. W. SMITH."


F. B. GOWEN TO TILDEN

  "CREISHEIM, MOUNT AIRY, PHILADELPHIA, _April 22, 1886_.

"DEAR MR. TILDEN,--It is so long since I have had the
pleasure of seeing you that I fear you may have forgotten me, unless
the newspapers have kept you advised of the struggle I am now making
to rescue my old company, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad
Company, from the receivership and syndicate that now environ it.

"In this attempt I should, above all things, be delighted to have
your aid and counsel, and if you would give me a half-hour of your
time whenever and wherever most convenient to yourself, it would
give me very great pleasure to bring to your attention, and ask your
aid in favor of, the scheme I have now prepared for the relief of
the company.

"Believe me, my dear sir,

  "Very sincerely yours,
  "FRANKLIN B. GOWEN.

  "_Hon. Samuel J. Tilden._"


TILDEN TO GOVERNOR HILL

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _April 23, 1886_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR HILL,--In submitting suggestions to you,
I should have great delicacy if I did not offer them as mere
suggestions which you, who have the public responsibility, must pass
upon according to your own judgment, and not according to mine.

"In addition to the objections to the Consent bill, which I
mentioned in my letter of night before last, there is another
difficulty. That act does not provide any mode by which railroads
not now connecting with the Broadway Railroad at Fourteenth Street
can make such connections. This would give great advantage to the
Seventh Avenue Railroad in competing at auction for the Broadway
franchise. If in consequence that company should succeed in getting
the franchise at a low price, such a result would be likely to
create a reaction against the reform movement.

"I adhere to the opinion that the Repeal bill and the Winding-up
bill should be acted upon promptly; that the Consent bill should be
retained for fuller consideration and, eventually, be rejected.

"About the remaining bill of the four reported by the Senate
Investigating Committee, I cannot find, by the newspapers, that it
has passed.

"It seems to me better than the original Cantor bill, which is now a
law, but it still has serious defects.

"1. It leaves the present law standing whereby the general term,
appointing commissioners, and rectifying their action, will dispense
with the consent of the abutting property-holders.

"2. It allows the Aldermen to pass over the veto of the Mayor a
resolution granting a railroad franchise, provided the consent of
one-half of the abutting property-owners be obtained.

"The first defect is the most serious. Perhaps the second may be
risked, though I do not think it quite safe to dispense with any
restrictions upon these grants.

"I do not know whether it is intended to pass this bill, or whether
it can be amended.

"In discussing these bills, I am not advised how far, if at all, any
of them have been changed by amendment.

  "Very truly yours,
  S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO F. B. GOWEN

  "GREYSTONE, _April 29, 1886_.

"DEAR MR. GOWEN,--I have received your letter of April 22d.
I have not found an earlier opportunity of answering it.

"I have a pleasing memory of you when you were in the profession.
Since that time, I have known you only through the public journals.

"My esteem for you would make it a pleasure to shake you by the hand.

"But I cannot see how I can be of any use to you in the matter of
which you speak. The delicacy of my health, and the necessity of
my avoiding fatigue as far as possible, render it inexpedient for
me to undertake anything more than the unavoidable attention to my
personal affairs compels me to do.

"I therefore cannot engage in the work of considering any scheme for
the reorganization of the great interests involved in the Reading
Railroad, or make the investigations which would be necessary to
give any real value to my opinion on the subject.

"Assuring you of my high regard,

  "I am, very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN.

  "_Franklin B. Gowen, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa._"


E. B. YOUMANS TO TILDEN

  "TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CLERK,
  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _May 4th, 1886_.

  "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN, Greystone, Yonkers, N. Y.

"DEAR GOVERNOR,--Agreeable to my promise, I write you
regarding the present condition of the Secretary. He is recovering
quite rapidly. He takes an interest in the affairs of the
department; makes inquiries regarding the same; has interviews
with various departmental officers. He seems to have retained his
full mental vigor. He is not able as yet to walk freely, but it
is expected that within a short time he will regain sufficient
strength to enable him to go out upon the street without the aid
of an attendant. It is proposed that as soon as he is able to walk
that he visit some of the springs--White Sulphur Springs, if you
please--and take a course of treatment, bathing, &c., after which,
it is thought, that he will be able to take his vacation.

"In an interview I had with him, I stated what you had said
regarding the yachting cruise, and what you would be pleased to
do, &c., &c. He seemed very much delighted with the idea; said he
was very fond of yachting, and thought he would enjoy it very much
indeed. He said he had thought of taking a little cruise inspecting
the light-houses along the Potomac, &c. I did not state to him what
you said to me regarding the unhealthy condition of the Potomac,
regarding which I agree with you. I think it would be much better
for him if he could take the Hudson River and Sound, going as far
east as New Bedford and Martha's Vineyard.

"With great respect, I remain,

  "Very respectfully yours,
  "E. B. YOUMANS."


TILDEN TO MAYOR GRACE

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _May 7th, 1886_.

"DEAR MAYOR GRACE,--I have from the beginning taken great
interest in the welfare of the Central Park. I had much to do
in enlarging it from the northern limit, which originally was a
straight line across the hill and the ravine.

"This is my excuse for writing to you now. It is my judgment, and
the judgment of many of the original friends of the Park, that
the filling in of a portion of the ravine is a great wrong. It
is probably the beginning of a series of measures which will be
the desecration and ruin of the natural beauties of the great
pleasure-ground of the people. It matters not whether these
results come from incompetency or from jobbery. A change in the
administration of the Park seems to be absolutely necessary.

"Gentlemen well acquainted with the subject, and with the
individual, recommend the appointment of Mr. C. H. Woodman in the
vacancy which you are about to fill.

"I am satisfied of his competency and integrity; and join my
entreaty with those of the public, that you will rescue that
imperilled work by his selection. After the mischief is done to
the Park, and the people realize it, there will be a storm of
indignation. All this can be averted by you now.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


D. MANNING TO TILDEN

  "WASHINGTON, D. C., _June 4, 1886_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR,--I send you herewith a printed slip
of correspondence that has recently occurred between two of
your acquaintances. You will learn from it that I want to leave
Washington and go home, and that the President is loath to have me
go. He prefers to give me leave of absence, and at the outset named
the 1st of August as the limit. To this I demurred, because the 1st
of August marks the middle of every sensible person's vacation, and
brings to us extreme hot weather. I could not bring myself to think
it would be right for me to return here at that early day, and in
the mean time my mind would be worried by thoughts of returning to
the old tread-mill, in the hottest part of Washington's hot season.
So the President changed it to the 1st of Oct., which certainly is a
more proper date.

"I trust that what I have done, or rather what I have let be done,
will have your approval.

"We are making arrangements for me to go to the Hot Springs of
West Virginia within the next two or three days. I think we shall
remain there about a month. After that, I hope I may be permitted
by my physician to go North, in which event I want to visit you at
Greystone, if only for an hour. That, I know, will do me great good.

  "Your sincere friend,
  "D. MANNING."


TILDEN TO GOVERNOR HILL

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _June 5, 1886_.

"DEAR GOV. HILL,--There are two bills before you which
ought to be rejected.

"1. The bill pretending to abolish imprisonment for debt. Your
inquiry as to its effect upon Tweed's case, if this bill had been a
law in Tweed's time, shows that you see one of the important points.

"If there are cases where the present law ought to be ameliorated,
they should be specified. The present bill is not fit to be passed.

"If you will compare the bill with the existing law, you will see
that the bill is deceptive and fraudulent.

"2. The bill appropriating $200,000 towards doubling the line of
the locks on the Erie Canal will not be of the least utility to the
navigation. Some time ago, I sent you some papers on this subject.

"If you have lost or mislaid them, I will send you duplicates.

"I have but a few minutes at my command this morning.

  "Very truly yours,
  S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO JOSEPH R. HAWLEY

  "GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _June 9th, 1886_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I am obliged by your courtesy in allowing
Lieutenant Jaques to read to me a copy of your report on Coast
Defences.

"I approve it highly, and think it does you great credit.

"I will thank you to send me a printed copy of this document.

"The apathy of Congress on this subject would be incredible, if it
did not confront us.

"It contrasts with the rivalry which is so conspicuous to insist on
our taking a high tone towards foreign nations on every occasion of
difference between them and us.

"It contrasts, also, with the favor which is shown to schemes of
prodigality, and schemes to waste the public resources on things
known to be absolutely useless.

"Among the people, the desire for liberal appropriations towards the
means of public defence, is well-nigh unanimous.

"I am well informed as to the popular feeling from the circumstance
that more than seven hundred newspapers from all parts of the
country, and representing all political parties, containing
expressions upon the subject, have been sent to me.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


TILDEN TO MANNING

  "GREYSTONE, _June 10, 1886_.

"DEAR MR. MANNING,--I received your letter enclosing
the correspondence between the Secretary of the Treasury and the
President.

"Your resignation will be a misfortune for the country, and a
calamity to the Democratic party. To yourself it presents nothing
but advantages.

"It is probably absolutely necessary to the restoration of your
health, which ought to be a first consideration with you. You could
not increase your reputation if you were to be Secretary a thousand
years, and there are many chances that it might be diminished.

"Your letter is excellent; the only doubt I have is whether
the remarks on the tariff are sufficiently guarded to prevent
misrepresentation.

"I shall be glad to see you and Mrs. Manning at Greystone whenever
you come North, but do not assent to so brief a call as you speak of.

"I hope the Hot Springs may be beneficial to you.

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."


JAMES C. CARTER TO TILDEN

  "66 WALL ST., NEW YORK, _June 10th, 1886_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Mr. D. D. Field has succeeded in getting
through the Legislature a bill purporting to be a codification of
the Law of Evidence.

"It is as bad as, or worse than, any of his schemes for bedevilling
the law under the pretence of simplifying it.

"No one man in twenty of the members even read it, as I am assured.
It is replete with gross errors, and in many ways changes the
existing law not only in respect to evidence, but other topics.

"The chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly, who was
mainly instrumental in working it through both houses, confessed
before the Governor last Thursday in my presence that in its present
shape it is unfit to go into operation.

"He urges the executive approval on the ground that it contains a
clause authorizing the Governor to appoint a commission for the
purpose of amending it, and postponing the time of its taking effect
until after the next session.

"This very provision seems to me to be abundantly sufficient to call
for a veto. There can be no more shocking fallacy than that it is
safe to pass bad laws merely because they may be amended.

"I write this to the end that, should the Governor consult you
about this measure, you may have such assurance as my opinion,
whatever that may amount to, may afford that it is an unwise one.

"Mr. Field's abominable tinkering of our law has already brought
about measureless mischief, and I am doing all I can to prevent the
further progress of it.

  "Very truly yours,
  "JAMES C. CARTER.

  "_Hon. S. J. Tilden._"


D. MANNING TO TILDEN

  "HOT SPRINGS, BATH CO., VA., _June 24, '86_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Your very kind letter of the 10th inst.
came duly to hand. I have been here taking the hot-spout baths daily
for two weeks, and I feel pretty certain that I have been benefited
by them.

"From the beginning much rain has fallen, and the mountain air,
instead of being dry, crisp, and invigorating, has been moist, cool,
and depressing; nevertheless, the stimulating effect of the baths
are health-restoring, and I am satisfied it was wise to come here,
because of the helps to my strength that I have gathered.

"I suffer somewhat from an old complaint characteristic of most
invalids--viz., homesickness, and I am promising myself to start for
New York early in July. There are several subjects about which I am
anxious to consult you, and I propose to accept for Mrs. Manning,
myself, and daughter your invitation to visit you at Greystone soon
after we reach New York.

"I have heard from our friends in England, and they sent me
information and matter that I want to bring to your attention.

"If you have occasion to write me before July 1st, address me
here; anything sent to Washington should be sent to the care of my
stenographer, Thos. J. Brennen, or to the care of Mr. Jordan.

  "Very respectfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING,
  "M. F. M."


D. MANNING TO S. J. TILDEN

  "HOT SPRINGS, BATH CO., VA., _June 25, 1886_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I have been offered, and I have
accepted, the use of a special car from here over to New York for
Saturday, July 3d. This, I understand, will get me to the city on
the 4th--always a wearisome day to those who have to pass it there.
May I venture, with Mrs. Manning and our daughter, to call on you at
Greystone, say Monday, the 5th prox.? I do not expect to leave here
before the morning of the 3d.

"My health is mending and improving, and I begin to feel somewhat
like my old self again.

"Do not be much surprised if you see in the papers something like an
interview with me on the Irish Home Rule question.

  Faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING."


TILDEN TO DANIEL MANNING

  "_Telegram._

  "_June 29, 1886._

"Letter received. Shall expect you and wife and daughter early on
the morning of the 5th, unless you prefer to come on the 4th. Advise
me as to train.

  "S. J. TILDEN."


DANIEL MANNING TO TILDEN

  "153 WASHINGTON ST., ALBANY, _July 11th_ (_1886_).

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--We arrived home safely and
comparatively well. The railroad ride did not tire me much; indeed,
I stand railroading quite as well as I did two or three years ago.

"I have consulted with Dr. Hun, and because of a certain shortness
of breath that troubles me now and again, his conclusions is that
high, rarefied mountain air would not be beneficial, but that
the sea air along the coast is desirable and would be helpful;
therefore, under the advice of Dr. Hun, it is better that I keep
away from the Catskill Mountains. What do you think and say?

"We are still feeling the good effects of our visit to Greystone.
I am feeling better and more hopeful, and I realize that good has
come to be because of my visit to you, and the healthful air that
surrounds your very pleasant home.

  "Your faithful friend,
  "DANIEL MANNING,
  "M. F. M."


D. MANNING TO TILDEN

  "ALBANY, _July 21, 1886_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Your note of the 16th inst. came to me
in due course of mail, and was comforting.

"Like Dr. Simmons, Dr. Hun does not think there is any serious
difficulty of the heart, but because of shortness of breath advises
caution. I feel that I would like to go to the Catskill Mountains,
but because Dr. Hun shows preference for the sea air, I have
communicated with the Watch Hill House landlord, and hear that he
will give me desirable quarters on the 29th of this month. I think
we shall go there. No doubt I can get there all the exercise that I
may need.

"Mrs. Manning had the pleasure of meeting, at the railroad station
yesterday, Miss Ruby _en route_ to Lebanon, and says she was looking
well and happy.

"A letter from Fairchild tells me that the N. Y. collector had
communicated with him concerning the proposition that I be given the
use of the revenue-cutter _Grant_. You will conclude, of course,
that this means much. I replied that if I concluded I should like to
use that boat, I would communicate thereon with the President and
himself. It is better so, but I have determined to give up the idea.
I cannot place myself under such obligations. Nothing of the kind
has been suggested or offered to me.

"I am almost constantly thinking of the 1st October letter. I
suppose it must be written. I shrink from it, but I need your help
and advice. What should I say?

"I am resting nicely here in Albany. There is excitement over
bicentennial celebration, and I always find something of interest in
what is daily occurring.

"The President and two or three of his secretaries are to be here
to-morrow. Can I serve you in any way?

"I have a fierce and somewhat threatening [letter] from Thompson
about the Custom-house. He says the President authorized Stetson to
ask Hedden for his resignation, and he (T) consequently intimates
his intention of opening a warfare on Cleveland, who, he writes,
'Tilden, you, and I nominated.' Evidently he is feeling very
ugly, for he characterizes this step as 'base ingratitude,' and a
'dastardly outrage.' There is very noisy music near at hand.

  "Respectfully and faithfully yours,
  "DANIEL MANNING,
  "M. F. M."


TILDEN TO DANIEL MANNING

  "GREYSTONE, _July 27--86_.

"DEAR MR. MANNING,--Your letter of the 26th is received.

"I have thought much of the nature of the communication which you
wish to make, but have written nothing. Do you wish to say anything
further than to announce your final purpose, and your reasons for
it? The letter, it seems to me, will be short.

"I will try my hand on a draft and send it to you.

"No further intelligence has been received from our friend in Europe.

"I have been busy all the morning answering a letter from Mr.
Fairchild.

"By what route do you intend to go to Watch Hill--across the country
or by way of New York?

  "Very truly yours,
  "S. J. TILDEN."

       *       *       *       *       *

On the 4th day of August, and only eight days after the date of the
preceding letter, I received the following telegram from George
W. Smith, then Mr. Tilden's private secretary, and by his will to
become one of his executors and Trustees:

  "GREYSTONE, _Aug. 4, 1886_.

"Mr. Tilden died this morning at 8."


                 S. J. T.

       (GREYSTONE, August 4, 1886.)

    Once more, O all-adjusting Death!
      The nation's Pantheon opens wide;
    Once more a common sorrow saith
      A strong, wise man has died.

    Faults doubtless had he. Had we not
      Our own, to question and asperse
    The worth we doubted or forgot,
      Until we stood beside his hearse?

    Ambitious, cautious, yet the man
      To strike down fraud with resolute hand;
    A patriot, if a partisan,
      He loved his native land.

    So let the mourning bells be rung,
      The banner droop its folds half-way,
    And let the public pen and tongue
      Their fitting tribute pay.

    Then let us vow above his bier
      To set our feet on party lies,
    And wound no more a living ear
      With words that Death denies.

                     JOHN G. WHITTIER.


BIGELOW TO WHITTIER

  "21 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _Aug. 14, 1886_.

"VENERABLE AND DEAR SIR,--I am impatient to thank you for
your admirably just and graceful tribute to the memory of my friend,
the late Mr. Tilden.

"Though a prince of peace by training and self-discipline, Mr.
Tilden, like all men of large moral proportions, came not to bring
peace into the world, but the sword, and like all such men was much
misunderstood and misrepresented; in many cases by those who at
heart were entirely in sympathy with his aims. Of these latter, I
venture to think you have made yourself the faithful and acceptable
interpreter. You are right in thinking Mr. Tilden was ambitious, but
his was not the kind of ambition by which angels fell. He sought
power as a means, not as an end. To the mere pomp and circumstance
of official eminence, no man could be more indifferent. His ideal
of a State was a very exalted one, and he thought, in 1876, that he
needed the _pou sto_ of the Presidency to realize it. A majority
of his countrymen were apparently of the same opinion. It was
ordained, however, that he should never attain that eminence, as it
was ordained that Moses should never enter into the Promised Land.
If he ever murmured at his fate, it was as a citizen, and not as a
candidate; as a victim of a wrong to the Republic, not to himself.
He accumulated a large fortune in the prosecution of an honorable
profession; but in his professional, as in his political, career,
he was always accomplishing more for others than for himself. The
acquisition of his own fortune was but incidental to the enrichment
of a multitude.

"Had he been 'perfect,' he would, of course, have 'sold what he had,
and given it to the poor.' He was not perfect. But few, however,
have come much nearer to this divine standard than Mr. Tilden has
done, in consecrating the greater part of the fruits of a laborious
life to the welfare of his fellow creatures.

"Your verses encourage me to hope that death has lifted the veil
which concealed from the world many of my friend's virtues, and much
of his greatness.

  "Respectfully and gratefully yours,
  "JOHN BIGELOW."




INDEX


  ABBOTT, JUDGE JOSIAH, prepares address of the minority of the
      Electoral Commission, 537-38.

  "Accountability of Corporations," extract from New York _Sun_,
      708-11.

  Ackert, Alfred T., 369.

  Adams, Charles Francis, nominated for Vice-Presidency, 57_n_;
    Minister to England during Civil War, 451_n_;
    candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, 1876, 452-53;
    letter to Tilden on loss of Presidency, 548-49.

  Adams, Charles F., Jr., on Hayes-Tilden contest, 526-27.

  Adams, Henry, seeks an account of the Tammany frauds for _North
      American Review_, 288;
    his _Life of Gallatin_, 629.

  Agnew, John T., on Tilden's speech to Thirty-seventh Regiment of
      New York, 460.

  Albany _Evening Journal Almanac_, table of Presidential vote in
      1876 in, 474.

  Albertson, Joseph C., elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Alexander, Dr. Archibald, 607.

  Allen, Judge, releases Tweed from Blackwell's Island, 429.

  Allen, S. P., Revenue Collector, 205.

  Allen, Stephen, delegate to convention to revise Constitution of the
      State of New York, 45-46.

  Allen, W. F., favors nomination of Seymour, 231;
    judge of the Court of Appeals, 231_n_.;
    candidate for Governor, 333.

  Alvord, Thomas G., 117-18.

  Andrews, J. D., on Lincoln's cabinet, 162-64.

  Anti-renters and their leases, John A. Dixon on, 209.

  _Argus_, the Albany, 41, 42-44, 213, 225, 228, 334, 335.

  Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, reorganization of, 258, 259, 261,
      269, 297, 298, 300.

  _Atlas_, the Albany, 41, 42-43, 44.


  Babcock, General O. C., indicted, 499;
    acquitted, 501.

  Baldwin, C. S., elected director of Iron Cliff Mines, 193.

  Bancroft, George, 700, 705, 707.

  Barber, A. D., & Co., under suspicion, 293.

  Barkley, Alexander, indicted, 417.

  Barlow, Francis C., on Tweed Ring prosecutions, 342, 357;
    choice of, for Corporation Counsel, 353;
    recommended for appointment as sheriff, 468;
    doubts Hayes's election, 486;
    disturbed over _Sun_ article, 492.

  Barlow, S. L. M., advice to Tilden, 149;
    urges support of Lincoln, 197;
    objects to Hendricks as Presidential candidate, 216;
    favors Chase, 231-32.

  Barnard, Judge, defence of, 297;
    impeachment of, 307.

  "Barnburners," Democratic party led by Silas Wright, xxx., 24, 54,
      79, 88, 90, 97, 202.

  Barnum, W. H., chairman National Democratic Committee, 512, 635.

  Barrett, William C., influence of, 353.

  Barto, Henry D., encouragement to Seymour, 244.

  Bayard, Thomas F., on Custom House abuses, 290-91;
    Presidential candidate, 433-34;
    offered cabinet position, 662, 663, 666, 678.

  Behn, J. Frederick, indicted, 417.

  Belknap, Secretary, impeached, 501.

  Belmont, August, suggests convention of centre States, 169;
    subscription to election expenses of Seymour and Blair, 245;
    on contemplated change of Democratic ticket, 250-51;
    on Conover's telegram, 487;
    disturbed over _Sun_ article, 492.

  Bennett, James Gordon, Sr., founder of New York _Herald_, 217, 240,
      241, 246.

  Benson, Egbert, chairman Board of County Canvassers, 45.

  Benton, Colonel, as Presidential candidate, 79, 112, 113.

  Benton, Senator Thomas, of Missouri, 515.

  Bigelow, John, executor and trustee of Tilden's estate, iii.;
    to Tilden on letter in _Evening Post_, 137, 138;
    on his struggle with the Tweed Ring, 349-50;
    on his message, 361;
    member of Tilden Canal Commission, 422, 426;
    on Tilden's war record, 453-62;
    analytical introduction in _Presidential Counts_, 528, 556;
    on the proposed address of the minority of the Electoral
        Commission of 1877, 537;
    conversation with _World_ correspondent (1877), 556-60;
    Secretary of State, 560;
    on the possibility of Tilden's renomination in 1880, 579-82;
    on Tilden's right to seize the Presidency, 591-94;
    extract from diary of, 597-98;
    biography of Tilden, 631_n_;
    mentioned for Secretary of the Treasury, 670, 671, 676, 677;
    to Whittier on Tilden's death, 731-32.

  Bigler, Governor William, on Pierce's cabinet appointments, 95;
    on possible candidate for Presidency, 216-17, 221, 223-24;
    on Hayes-Tilden contest, 540-41.

  Birdsall, Hon. A., 337.

  Bissell, T. P., 257, 258.

  Black, Chauncey F., 611-12.

  Black, J. S., to Tilden on income-tax case, 617.

  Blaine, James G., Presidential candidate, 431;
    on action of Electoral Tribunal, 575.

  Blair, Frank P. (Sr.), retirement of, from the _Washington Globe_,
      101;
    opposes Seward and Chase, 198;
    to Tilden on son's nomination for Vice-President, 240-42, 243-44.

  Blair, General Frank P., Jr., nominated to Vice-Presidency, 198,
      233_n_;
    advocated for Presidency, 232-33;
    support of Bennett sought for, 240, 246;
    change of ticket suggested, 250.

  Blair, Montgomery, J. D. Andrews' opinion of, 163;
    advocated brother for Presidency, 232-33;
    to Tilden on Milwaukee speech, 244;
    sought support of Bennett for Seymour and Blair, 246;
    death of, 632.

  Boise, Thomas, 353.

  Boller, Conrad, under suspicion, 293.

  Bowdish, John, 109.

  Boyce, Gerardus, elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Bradley, Judge Joseph P., explains action on the Electoral
      Commission, 568-69;
    the _Sun_ calls for impeachment of, 569.

  Breckinridge, General W. C. C., delegate to Democratic National
      Convention, 600.

  Brinkerhoff, Jacob, 306.

  Bronson, Judge, Collector of the Port of New York, 106-08.

  Brown, Hon. Charles P., Tilden to, declining nomination to the
      Assembly, 37.

  Bryant, W. C., to Tilden, 105, 306;
    contract with Henderson, 378;
    declines being named as Tilden elector, 445, 451;
    part owner _Evening Post_, _ibid_.

  Burwell, Dudley, to Tilden on Erie Canal bill, 76-77;
    fear of war, 151-55;
    favors a national constitutional convention, 153.

  Butler, Benjamin F., Attorney-General under Van Buren, 124.

  Butler, William Allen, congratulates Tilden on Presidential
      nomination, 437.

  Butterfield, General Daniel, and the Grant testimonial, 199.

  Butts, Isaac, on Tilden's nomination for Presidency, 332.


  Cagger, Peter, Tilden's tribute to, 252-53.

  Campbell, Malcolm, editor of _Frank Leslie's_, 359.

  Campbell, Mr., candidate for cabinet position, 95.

  Campbell, William, to Tilden on canal message, 363-64.

  "Canal Ring" the, xiii., 333, 334, 361, 362, 364, 367, 405, 429,
      502.

  Cardozo, Albert, Tilden to, on discrimination against Russell
      Sage, 255-56.

  Carter, James Coolidge, an "Appreciation"
    of Mr. Tilden by, ix., xi.-xxxii.;
    on Field's tinkering with the law, 726-27.

  Cass, George W., Tilden to, on Erie Railroad retainer, 267-69,
      297-301;
    to Tilden on retainer, 301-03;
    President Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, 301.

  Cass, General Lewis, vi., 59, 61, 62, 63, 88.

  Casserly, Eugene, 310.

  Cassidy, Mrs., financial advice from Tilden to, 316-17.

  Cassidy, William, notified Tilden of his nomination for
      Attorney-General, 117-18;
    Tilden to, 125, 272-73;
    seeks advice on establishment of New York daily, 135-37;
    Dudley Burwell to, 154;
    on Drew-Vanderbilt controversy, 225
    on notice of Tilden's wedding, 289-90.

  Caton, Hon. J. D., chief-justice, 460.

  Chandler, William E., plan to defeat popular choice for President,
      474-81.

  Chandler, Zachariah, chairman National Republican Committee, 477,
      480, 481.

  Chase, Franklin, United States Consul at Tampico, 68_n_.

  Chase, Mrs. Franklin, 68-76.

  Chase, Salmon P., to John Van Buren, 50-53;
    Andrews' opinion of, 163-64;
    Presidential candidate, 227, 228, 229, 232;
    Lincoln's feeling towards, 233.

  Church, Sandford E., plan of campaign, 204, 205, 208;
    urges appointment of William C. Rowley for Collector, 205;
    opposes Chase, 229;
    favors Hendricks, _ibid._;
    suggests being appointed receiver for Erie Railroad, 252;
    "would like to make some money," 256, 257;
    Tilden opposes as candidate for Chief Judge, 263-64;
    candidate for Governor, 334, 336;
    with Canal Ring, 367;
    member Albany Conference, 428-29.

  Clancy, John, 131.

  Clark, Lewis Gaylord, editor _Spirit of the Times_, 12_n_.

  Clarke's, Mrs. Charlotte M., _The Theft of an Empire_, 624.

  Clay, Cassius M., at Cincinnati convention, 600-01.

  Cleveland, Grover, nominated for President, 652;
    selection of cabinet, 661-62;
    invited to Greystone, 665;
    on the coinage of silver dollars, 671.

  Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad Company, 267, 268, 269, 298, 299,
      301, 302.

  Clinton, G. W., on canal message, 364.

  Coles, Governor Edward, restores to his slaves their liberty, 55.

  Colfax, Schuyler, nominated for Vice-President, 233_n_.

  Comstock, Judge, 309, 361.

  Comstock, Lucius S., 293.

  Conely, William S., delegate to convention to revise Constitution of
      the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Conkling, Frederick A., speech of, O'Conor on, 286-87.

  Conkling, Senator, 491-92; 511-13.

  Conner, James, 46.

  Connolly, Richard B., arrest of, 270;
    Havemeyer's advice to, 278-80;
    appoints A. H. Green deputy comptroller, 280;
    under suspicion, 293;
    gratitude to Tilden, 305;
    desires to settle civil claims, 330.

  Connolly, Mrs. R. B., under suspicion, 293.

  Connor, William C., sheriff of New York City, 464;
    allows Tweed to escape, 467;
    removal of, suggested, 467-68.

  Conover, S. B., Chandler's telegram to, 478.

  Conscription act, the, 176, 177, 179, 183, 184.

  Cook, Theodore, on Seymour as Presidential candidate in 1880,
      594-95.

  Cooley, J. E., congratulates Tilden on his administration, 388;
    on Greeley's nomination, 389;
    on financial affairs, 389-91.

  Cooper, Peter W., appeals to Tilden, 197;
    on Tilden's canal message, 365.

  Copeland, C. C., 639.

  Corbin, Mr., interview with John Bigelow, 515-17.

  Cornell, Benjamin F., delegate to convention to revise Constitution
      of the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Corson, Cornelius, 293.

  Cottman, Thomas, on dissensions of the New York Democracy, 398-99;
    on the Louisiana vote, 543.

  Courtney, Samuel G., on Connolly's arrest, 270-71.

  Cowen, P. H., advice to Tilden, 338-39.

  Cox, Jacob D., 306.

  Cox, S. S., 328.

  Craighill, Colonel William P., desires a tribunal to decide
      Presidency, 495-96.

  Crapo, Samuel A., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation,
      13.

  Croswell, Edwin, conducts Albany _Argus_, 41, 102.

  Curtis, George T., opinion on city ordinance, 175;
    opinion on Conscription act, 176;
    opinion on Fourteenth Amendment, 253;
    defence of Judge Blanchard, 297;
    on resumption of specie payments, 439-40.


  _Daily Advertiser_, the Newark, Judge Bradley's letter in, 568-69;
    explanation of Judge Bradley's conduct as member of Electoral
        Commission, 570.

  _Daily News_, New York, establishment of, 17, 19, 20, 46.

  Daly, Charles P., judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 195;
    President New York Geographical Society, _ibid._;
    Tilden to, 196.

  Dana, Charles A., thanks Tilden for box of Steinberger Cabinet, 623;
    projects a political history, 656-57;
    questions Tilden on canal enlargements, 694.

  Davidson, J. McB., under suspicion, 293.

  Davis, J. C. Bancroft, 300.

  Davis, Thaddeus C., member Board of Canal Appraisers, indicted, 416.

  Denison, Belden & Co., proceedings against, 416.

  Develin, John E., elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Deveraux, John C., 344.

  Devlin, Charles, Tweed's bail, 402.

  Dexter, Franklin B., 384.

  Dickinson, Mahlon, candidate for President Pierce's cabinet, 83, 84,
      90.

  Diven, Judge, of Elmira, 297.

  Dix, John A., to Tilden, 36, 37, 39, 49;
    chief magistrate, 80;
    candidate for President Pierce's cabinet, 83, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90,
        91, 98, 100;
    proclamation to the people of Accomac, 164-65;
    would not relinquish position in the field, 167-68;
    appointed Minister to France, 207, 227;
    on anti-renters, 209;
    on the Presidential platform, 225-27;
    urges investigation of city affairs, 275-76;
    charges Tilden with disloyalty during Civil War, 453-54.

  Dodge, Hon. William E., 370.

  Donohue, Charles, fidelity to Tweed principles, 402.

  Dows, David, on canal message, 362, 618.

  Dry-Goods party, the, meeting of, 133.

  Durant, Thomas C., subscription to election expenses of Seymour and
      Blair, 245.


  Eames, C., 191, 192.

  Eddy, Lathrop, recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation, 13.

  Edmonds, John W., appointed justice of the Supreme Court, 14;
    fee for work on new charter, 290.

  Eldridge, Mr., President Erie Railroad, 300.

  Electoral Commission, the, of 1876, 511, 514, 515, 516, 528, 537,
      544, 554, 567, 568, 575.

  Electoral vote, in 1860, 141;
    in 1876, 474;
    certificate of, 496-97.

  Electors of President and Vice-President in 1876, 497.

  Ely, Hon. Smith, 514.

  Erie Canal bill, the, 76, 77.

  Erie Canal commission, appointed, 405;
    report of, 407-26;
    members of, 426, 442.

  Erie Canal frauds, 357, 361-65, 370-72, 404, 407-26.

  Erie Railroad, the, famous litigation of, 252, 288, 300.

  Evarts, William M., letters of introduction, 319.

  _Evening Post_, the, offer to publish Tilden's unfinished speech,
      132;
    extracts from, 132-35;
    reply to the Tilden letter, 140-41.

  Everett, Edward, on Tilden's letter to the _Evening Post_, 139.

  Ewing, Mr., Secretary of the Treasury under President Tyler, 7.


  Fay, Joseph S., 185, 188, 189, 190.

  Field, David Dudley, recommends Tilden as Attorney to the
      Corporation, 13;
    Tweed's counsel, 355, 402;
    tinkering with the Law of Evidence, 726-27.

  Field, Stephen, J., on the proposed address of the minority of the
      Electoral Commission, 538-39;
    on Judge Bradley's letter explaining his action on Electoral
        Commission, 567-68.

  Fillmore, Millard, becomes acting-President, 77.

  Fiscal Bank, bill for the incorporation of, 7.

  Fish, Hamilton, congratulations to Tilden on his election, 287;
    Tilden's reply to, 291;
    application to, for the arrest of Tweed, 464-65;
    on Tweed's arrest, 468-70.

  Fish, Henry L., on Canal Ring, 367.

  Fish, James, Jr., 300.

  Fithian, Joel A., under suspicion, 293.

  Flagg, Azariah C., Tilden's defence of, xv., xviii.;
    comptroller, 259-60;
    death, 325;
    Mayor Havemeyer's message on, 325-26.

  Fleet, Joshua, elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Floyd, John G., 50.

  Foote, C. K., approves Tilden's rebel claims letter, 472.

  Ford, Patrick, to Tilden on Charles O'Conor's death, 643.

  _Forney-caterer_, the, prospectus of, 102-104.

  Foster, Charles, Secretary of the Treasury, 535-36.

  Fowler, Isaac, postmaster of New York City, 99.

  Fowler, William Chauncey, biography, 170;
    on the Kent letter, 171.

  Freeman's Bureau, 219.

  Free-soil party, development of, vi.

  Fuller, Chief-Justice M. W., on Tilden as Presidential candidate
      in 1884, 635-38.

  Fuller, Melville, 639.


  Ganson, Hon. John, urged to be candidate for Chief Judge, 266-67;
    counsel for Erie Railroad, 297;
    candidate for Governor, 333-34.

  Garfield, President, resolutions drawn by Tilden on death of, 619.

  Gaston, William A., candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, 452.

  Gerard, James W., 134.

  Gibson, A. M., a political crime, the history of a great fraud,
      681-82;
    _Political History of the United States_, 683.

  Giles, John S., claim to office of Comptroller, xv.-xviii.

  Gillett, R. H., on the Kent letter, 169;
    biographer of Silas Wright, 170_n_.

  Godfrey, William F., 31, 32.

  Godwin, Parke, on Statue of Liberty Committee, 625, 626, 629.

  Gorham, George C., Chandler's telegram to, 478.

  Goudy, W. C., member National Democratic Committee, 638.

  Gould, Jacob S., on Tilden's nomination for Governor, 332.

  Gould, Jay, quoted, xxvi.;
    letter to Tilden on retainer for Erie Railroad, 258, 261, 297.

  Gowan, Franklin B., 720, 722.

  Grant, U. S., testimonial to, 199;
    list of subscribers to, 200, 201;
    nominated for Presidency, 233_n_;
    third-term talk, 431;
    not pleased with Hayes as successor, 517;
    and the finding of the Electoral Commission, 553.

  Greeley, Horace, Tilden's article on, in _Evening Post_, 58-63;
    nomination of, 306-07, 311.

  Green, Andrew H., suggested as deputy comptroller, 279;
    appointed, 280;
    nomination of, for Comptroller impossible, 350;
    removal of, desired, 351, 358-60.

  Greystone, estimated cost of, 578-79.

  Grove, D. C., editor of the _Observer_, 222.

  Grover, Mr., suggested as successor to Judge Bronson as Collector of
      the Port, 106, 122.

  Guion, Clement, manager of the _Morning News_, 46.


  Haight, Governor, of California, 244.

  Hall, A. Oakey, Mayor, 279;
    under suspicion, 293;
    appeal to Tilden, 295-96.

  Hamilton, Alexander, Jr., leased office to Tilden, 63, 64.

  Hammond, John D., quoted, 363.

  Hampton, General Wade, 600.

  Hancock, General Winfield S., mentioned as Presidential candidate,
      221, 227, 228, 234-36;
    declines invitation to speak for Seymour, 247-50;
    solution of Presidential contest, 507-08;
    nominated for Presidency, 600, 603;
    sends copy of acceptance letter to Tilden, 603.

  Hand, John, relief of, 415, 416, 417.

  Hand, Samuel, declines appointment as judge of the Supreme Court,
      354;
    declines nomination for Governor, 463.

  "Hardshells," Democratic party led by William L. Marcy, 24.

  Harper, Mr., election of, for Mayor, 15.

  Harrison, Hon. Benjamin, 535, 536.

  Harrisse, Henry, 377.

  Havemeyer, William F., Mayor of New York City, 26;
    mentioned for Collectorship, 28;
    vote for, in 1859, 127;
    blamed for arrest of R. B. Connolly, 270;
    advice to Connolly, 278-80;
    suggests A. H. Green as deputy comptroller, 279-80;
    message announcing death of Azariah Flagg, 325-26;
    asks Tilden to prepare address to accompany testimonial to
        Greeley, 328-29.

  Havens, Charles G., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the
      Corporation, 13.

  Hawks, S. Scoville, recommends Tilden as Attorney to the
      Corporation, 13.

  Hawley, Joseph R., report on coast defences, 725.

  Hawley, William S., advocates the nomination of Chase, 227-28.

  Hayes, Rutherford B., Presidential candidate, 431;
    contest for Presidency, 484, 521, 526;
    and the overthrow of Packard, 535;
    awarded the Presidency, 545;
    campaign of defamation against Tilden 582-83;
    the New York _Herald_ on administration of, 614-15.

  Hayes-Tilden contest, 484, 521, 526.

  Hazen, N. W., on Electoral Commission, 543-44.

  Hendricks, Thomas A., Presidential candidate, 216, 221, 229;
    declared Vice-President-elect by House of Representatives, 517.

  Henry, Thomas, pardon of, 30.

  _Herald_, New York, on Hayes's administration, 614-15.

  Hewitt, Abram S., urges Green's retirement, 351;
    on Davis canal bill, 351-52;
    intercourse with War Department, 461;
    on Civil Service, 442-43;
    and specie payments, 443-44;
    speech at Chickering Hall in 1891, 481;
    controversy with Watterson, 482;
    motives in supporting Electoral Tribunal, 549-53.

  Hill, D. B., seeks nomination for Lieutenant-Governor, 625;
    Tilden to, on Broadway Railroad bill, 684-85.

  Hill, Frederick Trevor, article on Hayes-Tilden contest, 484.

  Hillard, G. S., on Tilden's letter on "The Union," 140;
    opinion of Seward, _ibid._

  Hoadley, Hon. George, on Mrs. Sprague and the Electoral Commission,
      511-13;
    desires to be Attorney-General, 660.

  Hoar, Senator George F., arraignment of Grant's administration,
      501-03.

  Hodge, Dr. Charles, 606.

  Hogebrom, Henry, proposes business connection with Tilden, 172-73;
    Tilden's reply to, 180-83.

  Hoguet, Henry, 345.

  Hooker, Major-General, congratulates Tilden on Presidential
      nomination, 436.

  Hughes, F. W., on the Conscription act, 176.

  Hughes, Hon. Charles, falsely announced as Tilden's principal
      groomsman, 290.

  Hunt, John H., delegate to convention to revise Constitution of the
      State of New York, 45, 46.

  Hunt, Louise Livingston, to Tilden on Presidential contest, 527-28.

  "Hunkers," name of Democratic party led by William L. Marcy, 24, 49,
      78, 79, 81, 88, 97.

  Hunter, Mr., 142, 146.

  Hunter, W., Acting-Secretary of State, concerning Tweed's arrest,
      466.

  Husted, Mr., leader in Assembly, 714.

  Hutchins, Stilson, on Hayes's usurpation of office, 616.


  Ingersoll, J. H., under suspicion, 293;
    pardoned, 375;
    gives information, 376-77.

  Iron Cliff Mines, 193-95.


  Jackson, President Andrew, 96.

  Jerome, Laurence, 241.

  Johnson, Reverdy, seeks aid for _National Intelligencer_, 185;
    opinion on Fourteenth Amendment, 253.

  Jones, David R. Floyd, delegate to convention to revise Constitution
      of the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Jordan, C. N., mission to Washington, 665, 680, 714, 718, 719.


  Kane, C. V. S., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation,
      13.

  Kansas Organic act, the, 120.

  Kelly, James, 197.

  Kelly, John, leader of Tammany Society, xiii.;
    Tilden to, on resignation as chairman of the Democratic State
        Committee, 324;
    Tilden to, on appointments and removals, 343-46;
    on McLaughlin's appointment, 346-47, 368-69;
    his associates, 399;
    downfall, 607.

  Kelly, John, sectional superintendent Erie Canal, indicted, 417.

  Kemble, Mr., 125.

  Kennedy, J. C. G., appeal for help for the _National Intelligencer_,
      177-79.

  Kennedy, John A., delegate to convention to revise Constitution of
      the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Kennedy, Patrick, testimony of, 542_n_.

  Kent, Judge William, Tilden's letter to, in 1860, xxxi., 148, 149,
      169, 171, 172.

  Kent, Mr., 190, 191.

  Kernan, Francis, suggestions for State convention, 222, 223;
    Tilden to, on Seymour's nomination, 239-40;
    why nominated for Governor, 311-15;
    on Tilden as candidate for Governor, 336;
    steps to reconcile Democratic party, 398;
    congratulates Tilden on supposed election to the Presidency, 486;
    disappointment at decision of Electoral Commission, 553-54.

  Ketchum, Hiram, appeal for help for _National Intelligencer_, 185.

  Kirkland, Charles P., 197.

  Knox & Morgan, Tilden to, 122-23.


  Lamar, Judge Lucius Q. C., 536-37.

  Lamont, Daniel S., private secretary to Cleveland, 669, 689.

  Lanier, Mr. J. F. D., 606.

  Langley, H. G., joint proprietor in _Morning News_, 46.

  Latham, R. W., suggests having reporters controlled for Seymour and
      Blair, 240.

  Law, George, 102.

  Lee, Thomas R., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation,
      13.

  Letters:
    Adams, Charles Francis, to John Bigelow, 452;
      to Tilden, 526, 548.
    Adams, Henry, to Tilden, 288, 629.
    Allen, W. F., to Tilden, 231.
    Alvord, Thomas G., to Tilden, 116.
    Andrews, J. D., to Tilden, 162.
    Anonymous, to Tilden, 366.
    Bancroft, George, to Tilden, 700, 707.
    Barlow, Francis C., to Tilden, 353;
      to John Bigelow, 485.
    Barlow, Samuel L. M., to Tilden, 149, 197, 216, 231.
    Bayard, T. F., to Tilden, 290.
    Belmont, August, to Tilden, 169, 487, 492.
    Bigelow, John, to Tilden, 137, 349, 361, 630;
      to an inquirer, 453;
      to Hon. Smith Ely, 514;
      to Stephen J. Field, 537;
      to Hon. William H. Peck, 579;
      to G. Pitman Smith, 591;
      to John G. Whittier, 731.
    Bigler, Governor William, to Tilden, 216, 221, 223, 540.
    Black, J. S., to Tilden, 617.
    Blair, Frank P., to Tilden, 198, 240, 243.
    Blair, Mary E., to Tilden, 632.
    Blair, Montgomery, to Tilden, 232, 245.
    Bradley, Justice, to Newark _Daily News_, 568.
    Breckenridge, W. C. P., to G. W. Morgan, 524.
    Brinkerhoff, Jacob, to Tilden, 305.
    Bryant, Julia, to Tilden, 446.
    Bryant, Mrs. William Cullen, to Tilden, 605.
    Bryant, William Cullen, to Tilden, 105, 305, 378;
      to John Bigelow, 466.
    Burwell, Dudley, to Tilden, 76;
      to William Cassidy, 152, 154.
    Butler, William Allen, to Tilden, 437, 577, 633.
    Butterfield, General Daniel, to Tilden, 199.
    Cass, George W., to Tilden, 301.
    Cassidy, William, to Tilden, 116, 135, 213, 225, 289.
    Campbell, Malcom, to Tilden, 359.
    Campbell, William, to Tilden, 363.
    Carter, James C., to Tilden, 726.
    Chase, S. P., to John Van Buren, 50.
    Church, Sandford E., to Tilden, 205, 207, 228, 240, 251, 256, 257,
        264, 274.
    Clay, Cassius M., to Tilden, 600.
    Cleveland, Grover, to S. J. Randall, 671.
    Clinton, G. W., to Tilden, 364.
    Coles, Governor Edward, to M. Van Buren, 55.
    Connolly, Richard B., to A. H. Green, 280;
      to Tilden, 305.
    Connor, William C., to Tilden, 464.
    Cook, Theodore, to Tilden, 594.
    Cooley, J. E., to Tilden, 388.
    Cooper, Peter W., to Tilden, 197, 365.
    Cottman, Thomas, to Tilden, 398, 542.
    Courtney, Samuel G., to Tilden, 270.
    Cowen, P. H., to Tilden, 338.
    Cox, Jacob D., to Tilden, 305.
    Cox, S. S., to Tilden, 574.
    Craighill, William P., to General George W. Morgan, 495.
    Crocker, Frank, to Tilden, 498.
    Crosswell, E., to Tilden, 41.
    Curtis, George Ticknor, to Tilden, 175, 176, 439.
    Dana, Charles A., to Tilden, 505, 623, 656, 694.
    Dexter, Franklin B., to Tilden, 384.
    Dix, John A., to Tilden, 36, 39, 49, 164, 167, 225, 275.
    Dows, David, to Charles Stebbins, 362;
      to Tilden, 618.
    Eames, C., to Tilden, 191.
    Edmonds, J. W., to Tilden, 290.
    Eggleston, George Cary, to Tilden, 623.
    Evarts, W. M., to Tilden, 319.
    _Evening Post_, the, to Tilden, 140.
    Everett, Edward, to Tilden, 139.
    Field, Stephen J., to Bigelow, 538, 567.
    Fish, Hamilton, to Tilden, 287, 468.
    Fish, Henry L., to Tilden, 367.
    Foot, C. K., to Tilden, 472.
    Ford, Patrick, to Tilden, 643.
    Fowler, William C., to Tilden, 171.
    Fuller, M. W., to W. H. Barnum, 635.
    Gibson, A. M., to Charles A. Dana, 505;
      to Tilden, 681.
    Gillett, R. H., to Tilden, 169.
    Godwin, Parke, to John Bigelow, 451;
      to Tilden, 625, 626.
    Gould, Jacob S., to H. A. Tilden, 332.
    Gould, Jay, to Tilden, 258, 261.
    Gowan, Franklin B., to Tilden, 720.
    Grant, U. S., to General Daniel Butterfield, 201.
    Guion, Clement, to Tilden, 46.
    Hall, A. Oakley, to Tilden, 295.
    Hancock, Winfield S., to Tilden, 249, 603;
      to General Sherman, 506.
    Hand, Samuel, to Tilden, 354, 463.
    Havemeyer, W. F., to R. B. Connolly, 278;
      to A. H. Green, 280;
      to Tilden, 328.
    Hawley, William S., to Tilden, 227.
    Hill, Benjamin, to Tilden, 595.
    Hill, David B., to Tilden, 625.
    Hazen, N. W., to Tilden, 543.
    Hewitt, Abram S., to Tilden, 350, 442, 443;
      to National Democratic Committee, 549.
    Hillard, G. S., to Tilden, 140.
    Hoadley, Hon. George, to _Evening Post_, 511;
      to Tilden, 659, 661.
    Hogeboom, H., to Tilden, 172.
    Hooker, Major-General J., to Tilden, 436.
    Hughes, F. W., to Tilden, 176.
    Hunt, Louise Livingston, to Tilden, 447, 527, 554.
    Hunter, W., to Tilden, 466.
    Hutchins, Stilson, to Tilden, 616.
    Johnson, Andrew, to Tilden, 211.
    Jordan, C. N., to Tilden, 714, 719.
    Kelly, James, to Tilden, 197.
    Kelly, John, to Tilden, 346, 368, 374.
    Kennedy, J. C. G., to Mr. Pond, 177.
    Kernan, Francis, to Tilden, 222, 336, 486, 553.
    Ketchum, Hiram, to Tilden, 185.
    Kirkland, Charles P., to Tilden, 197.
    Lamont, Daniel S., to Tilden, 657, 669;
      to Daniel Manning, 689.
    Latham, R. W., to Tilden, 240.
    Lawrence, W. B., to Tilden, 555.
    Loomis, Arphaxed, to Tilden, 229, 355, 575.
    McClellan, George B., to Tilden, 547.
    McClernand, John A., to Tilden, 545, 590, 644, 645.
    McCoppin, Frank, to Tilden, 687.
    McCormick, Cyrus H., to Tilden, 440, 638.
    McCulloch, Hugh, to Tilden, 205, 206.
    McGill, Alexander T., to Tilden, 606.
    McKnight, D. A., to Tilden, 702.
    McLane, Robert M., to Tilden, 663.
    McLean, Washington, to Tilden, 669.
    Magone, D., to Tilden, 333;
      to Daniel Manning, 641.
    Manning, Daniel, to Tilden, 382, 666, 678, 690, 692, 693, 704,
        711, 724, 727, 728, 729;
      to George W. Smith, 688, 689, 694.
    Manning, Margaretta F., to Tilden, 713.
    Marcy, W. L., to Tilden, 80, 101, 110, 121.
    Martin, W. R., to Tilden, 615.
    Mason, Charles, to Tilden, 503.
    Mason, Senator J. M., to Tilden, 139.
    Merrick, R. J., to Tilden, 596, 667.
    Miller, George L., to Tilden, 589.
    Miller, John B., to Tilden, 116.
    Minturn, Robert B., to Tilden, 437.
    Morgan, George W., to Tilden, 490, 496, 524;
      to Hon. W. C. P. Breckenridge, 525.
    Morgan, John T., to Montgomery Blair, 432.
    Newell, G. W., to Tilden, 155.
    Niles, John M., to Elam Tilden, 6.
    Niles, W. W., to Tilden, 364.
    O'Conor, Charles, to Tilden, 217, 253, 281, 282, 286, 291, 294,
        341, 347, 352, 355, 358, 366, 373, 376, 378, 381, 384, 387,
        395, 402, 403, 466, 584, 585.
    Orr, A. E., to Tilden, 546.
    O'Sullivan, J. L., to Tilden, 157, 160.
    Ottendorfer, Oswald, to Tilden, 305.
    Parks, Marshall, to Tilden, 703.
    Peckham, Wheeler H., to Tilden, 329, 356, 373, 377, 379, 402.
    Pelton, W. T., to John Bigelow, 445.
    Phelps, Royal, to Tilden, 287.
    Pierrepont, Edward, to Tilden, 487.
    Pillow, Gid. J., to Tilden, 489.
    Pope, H. A., to Tilden, 521.
    Potter, Clarkson N., to Tilden, 216, 436.
    Potter, Howard, to Tilden, 547.
    Preston, General William, to Tilden, 572.
    Price, Bonamy, to Tilden, 398.
    Prince, F. O., to Tilden, 451.
    Purcell, William, to Tilden, 285, 342.
    Quackenbos, George W., to Tilden, 487.
    Randall, Samuel J., to Tilden, 658, 662, 671, 680.
    Reed, William B., to Tilden, 179.
    Reid, Whitelaw, to John Bigelow, 439;
      to Tilden, 572.
    Rice, R. D., to Tilden, 471.
    Root, R. C., to Tilden, 218.
    Rush, Benjamin, to Tilden, 488.
    Schurz, Carl, to Tilden, 305.
    Scott, General Winfield, to Wm. H. Seward, 156.
    Scott, W. P., to Tilden, 633.
    Scribner, G. Hilton, to Tilden, 372.
    Sempler, Henry C., to Tilden, 640.
    Seymour, Horatio, to Tilden, 110, 168, 183, 214, 224, 242, 244,
        247, 248, 274, 283, 311, 335, 337, 341, 357, 387, 470, 699,
        700.
    Sherman, John, to Tilden, 254.
    Shuey, Theodore F., to Tilden, 669.
    Sibley, Hiram, to Tilden, 706.
    Silliman, A. E., to Tilden, 399.
    Smith, C. B., to Tilden, 470.
    Smith, George W., to W. A. Wilkins, 614;
      to Daniel Manning, 689, 695;
      to General Barlow, 719.
    Smith, W. E., to Tilden, 714, 719.
    Spriggs, J. Thomas, to Tilden, 491.
    Starbuck, James F., to Tilden, 609.
    Stetson, Francis Lynde, to Tilden, 288.
    Sullivan, Algernon S., to Tilden, 362.
    Taintor, H. F., to Tilden, 292.
    Taylor, John J., to Tilden, 306.
    Thompson, John C., to Tilden, 608.
    Thurman, A. G., to Tilden, 311.
    Thurston, George A., to Tilden, 171.
    Tilden, Elam, to Hon. Robert R. Livingston, 1.
    Tilden, Henry A., to Tilden, 601.
    Tilden, Mary, to Tilden, 626.
    Tilden, S. J., Jr., to Tilden, 695.
    Tilden, S. J., to Elam Tilden, 2;
      to his sister Henrietta, 5;
      to Nelson J. Waterbury, 8;
      to his brother, 14, 327;
      to R. L. Shieffelen, 16;
      to William H. Havemeyer, 26;
      to J. L. O'Sullivan, 33;
      to Charles P. Brown, 37;
      to Hon. A. P. Tallmage, 39;
      to E. Croswell, 42;
      to S. P. Chase, 54;
      to Mrs. Franklin Chase, 68, 72;
      to Franklin Pierce, 95;
      to W. L. Marcy, 106;
      to Dean Richmond, 117;
      to Notification Committee, 117;
      to Messrs. Knox & Morgan, 122;
      to George Weir, 123;
      to W. Cassidy, 125, 272;
      to Martin Van Buren, 126, 130;
      to W. H. Swayne, 129, 141;
      to John Clancy, 131;
      to editors of the _Evening Post_, 132;
      to John Bigelow, 138, 612, 631, 686;
      to W. B. Ogden, 147;
      to Townsend Ward, 149;
      to Wyndham Robertson, 150;
      to J. J. Taylor, 172;
      to Henry Hogeboom, 180;
      to Joseph S. Fay, 185, 189;
      to Mr. Kent, 190;
      to S. C. Baldwin, 193;
      to Charles P. Daly, 196;
      to Hugh McCulloch, 203, 665, 672;
      to R. C. Root, 219;
      to Tammany Society, 236;
      to Francis Kernan, 239;
      to Committee of Albany Bar, 252;
      to Richard Vaux, 254;
      to Albert Cardozo, 255;
      to T. P. Bissell, 257;
      to Jay Gould, 258;
      to State Committee, 262;
      to S. E. Church, 263;
      to John R. Reid, 265;
      to John Ganson, 265;
      to George W. Cass, 267, 296;
      to William Purcell, 275, 342, 620;
      circular letter as chairman of the Democratic State Committee,
          276;
      to Hamilton Fish, 291, 464;
      to Charles O'Conor, 294, 585;
      to Logan Railey, 303;
      to Mahlon Sands, 304;
      address to Bar Association, 307;
      to Eugene Casserly, 310;
      to Mrs. Cassidy, 316;
      to N. W. Parker, 318;
      to John Kelly, 324, 343;
      to Miss Morse and Miss Daly, 329;
      to Hon. A. Birdsall, 337;
      to Francis S. Thayer, 383;
      to William H. Wickham, 386;
      to S. S. Cox, 441;
      to Miss Hunt, 446;
      to Wade Hampton, 541;
      to Hon. Charles Carey, 573;
      to the Directors of the Louisville Industrial Exposition, 575;
      to George W. Clinton, 586;
      to John Gill, Jr., 587;
      to John A. McClernand, 594;
      to Mrs. William Cullen Bryant, 604;
      to Young Men's Democratic Club, 606;
      to Montgomery Blair, 608;
      to Chauncey F. Blair, 611;
      to Stilson Hutchins, 616;
      to David Dows, 618;
      to George Bancroft, 618, 701, 705;
      to George W. Smith, 621;
      to Mrs. Lowell, 627, 628;
      to Charles A. Dana, 628, 656;
      to Parke Godwin, 629;
      to Mrs. Mary Tilden, 631;
      to Mrs. Mary E. Blair, 632;
      to William Allen Butler, 635;
      to Daniel Manning, 648, 680, 686, 704, 713, 725, 728, 730;
      to Special Committee of the Democratic National Convention, 652;
      to J. P. Townsend and others, 658;
      to George Hoadley, 660;
      to Mr. Gross, 664;
      to Grover Cleveland, 665, 701, 712;
      to Smith M. Weed, 675;
      to David B. Hill, 684, 714, 721, 724;
      to John F. Seymour, 707;
      to Hiram Sibley, 708;
      to C. N. Jordan, 718;
      to F. B. Gowen, 722;
      to Mayor Grace, 723;
      to Joseph R. Hawley, 725.
    Tremain, Alva H., to Tilden, 334.
    Trumbull, Lyman, to Tilden, 642.
    Tylden, Harriet F., to Tilden, 370, 621.
    Van Buren, John D., to Edwin Croswell, 44;
      to Isaac Fowler, 99;
      to Tilden, 184, 192, 202, 203, 212.
    Van Buren, Martin, to Tilden, 12, 57, 76, 81, 114, 124, 125;
      to Moses Tilden, 19, 159.
    Van Rensselaer, Thomas, to M. Van Buren, 57.
    Waddell, William Coventry, to Tilden, 4.
    Walker, L. P., to Tilden, 465.
    Walker, L. W., to Tilden, 472.
    Walker, R. J., to Tilden, 233.
    Wallace, William A., to Tilden, 215, 488.
    Ward, Samuel, to Tilden, 495.
    Ward, Townsend, to Tilden, 148.
    Waterbury, Nelson J., to Tilden, 28, 46, 462.
    Webster, Sidney, to Tilden, 449.
    Weed, Smith M., to Tilden, 599, 657, 666, 678.
    Welles, Gideon, to Tilden, 78.
    Wells, D. A., to Tilden, 305.
    Wells, David D., to Tilden, 391, 395, 403.
    Whitney, General J. S., to Tilden, 192.
    Wilcox, A. M., to G. W. Smith, 539.
    Wright, Silas, to the United States Marshal, 4;
      to Elam Tilden, 9, 10, 12;
      to S. J. Tilden, 15, 20, 22, 30.
    Youmans, E. B., to Tilden, 722.

  Lincoln, Abraham, elected to Presidency, v.;
    war feared as result of election of, 150-55;
    declaration of war, 158;
    J. D. Andrews' opinion of cabinet of, 162-64.

  Livingston, John R., Jr., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the
      Corporation, 13.

  Livingston, Robert R., appointed Minister to France, 1.

  Loomis, Arphaxed, advocates the nomination of Seymour, 229-30;
    associated with David D. Field, 230_n_;
    on decision of electoral tribunal, 575.

  Lord, George D., under indictment, 415-16.

  Louisiana lottery, the, 535-36.

  Louisiana, vote of, sold for money, 482;
    investigation of, by Potter Committee, 483.

  Ludlow, Robert H., elected to the Assembly, 38.


  McClellan, George B., disappointment at finding of Electoral
      Commission, 547-48.

  McClernand, John A., on award of Electoral Commission, 545;
    urges Tilden for renomination in 1880, 590;
    in 1884, 644.

  McCloskey, Archbishop, 344.

  McCoppin, Frank, 687-88.

  McCormick, Cyrus H., subscription to election expenses of Seymour
      and Blair, 245;
    urges Tilden as Presidential candidate in 1884, 638-39.

  McCulloch, Hugh, Secretary of the Treasury, 203, 205, 206, 665, 672;
    on removals, 206, 207.

  McCullough, J. N., president of Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad,
      298, 302.

  McDonald, Senator, of Indiana, 638.

  McEwen, John, opposed to Tilden's nomination for Governor, 334-35.

  McGill, Professor Alexander T., 606-07.

  McHenry, James, promoter of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad,
      259, 262, 300.

  McKeon, John, 342.

  McKnight, D. A., resignation requested, 701;
    gratitude to Tilden, 702.

  McLane, Robert M., on the findings of the Electoral Commission,
      545-46.

  McLaughlin, J. Fairfax, Kelly on appointment of, 346-47, 368-69.

  McLean, C., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation, 13.

  McLean, Judge, mentioned as candidate for Vice-Presidency, 50, 51;
    for Presidency, 51, 52.

  McLean, Washington, endorses Governor Robert McLane for cabinet
      position, 670-71.

  McMullen, Mrs. L. G., city property given to, by Tweed, 366.

  McMurray, William, recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation,
      13.

  Magee, George I., subscription to election expenses of Seymour and
      Blair, 245.

  Magone, D., on Tilden's nomination for Governor, 333-34;
    member Erie Canal Commission, 422, 426;
    on Tilden as Presidential candidate in 1884, 641.

  Mann, George S., delegate to convention to revise Constitution of
      the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Manning, Daniel, approves arguments on canal appropriation bills,
      382;
    Secretary of the Treasury, 668, 675-78;
    on Mr. Noyes's appointment, 689-90;
    apoplectic attack, 692;
    bursts a blood-vessel, 713-14;
    state of health, 719, 722, 728;
    Tilden on resignation of, 725-26.

  Manning Club, the, 690-92.

  Marble, Mr., _exposé_ in Albany _Argus_, 575.

  Marcy, William L., leader of Democratic party in New York State, 24;
    desire to be candidate for Presidency, 80, 86;
    Secretary of State, 80;
    candidate for Pierce's cabinet, 83, 84, 87;
    on appointments, 101;
    on the removal of Judge Bronson, 110, 121, 122.

  Martin, W. R., on Tilden's biography, 615-16.

  Mason, Charles, offers suggestions on Presidential contest, 503-05.

  Mason, Senator J. M., on Tilden's "The Union" letter, 139.

  Mather, John C., 103.

  Mattocks, Mr., 638.

  Merrick, R. T., on Cleveland's cabinet appointments, 667-68.

  Meserole, B. J., chairman of the Board of County Canvassers, 38.

  Miller, A. G., under suspicion, 293.

  Miller, George S., under suspicion, 293.

  Miller, Henry G., 638.

  Miller, John B., on Notification Committee, 117, 118.

  Minturn, Robert B., congratulates Tilden on Presidential nomination,
      437-38.

  Missouri Compromise, 112, 120, 454.

  Mitchee, General W. G., 603-04.

  Mitchell, John H., Chandler's telegram to, 478.

  Mitchell, Thomas B., 109.

  Moore, Charles B., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation,
      13.

  Morgan, George W., fear of war, 490;
    on inside history of Ohio convention, 524-25.

  Morgan, John T., urges the nomination of Tilden for the Presidency,
      432-34.

  Morris, Robert H., delegate to convention to revise Constitution
      of the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Morse, S. F. B., established first telegraphic line, 618n.


  _National Intelligencer_, the, discontinued, 177.

  Native American party, appearance of, 14;
    triumph of, 15, 21.

  Newell, G. W., 155-56.

  Newton, Brigadier-General, spoken of for promotion, 712.

  New York Geographical Society, 195.

  New York Printing Co. under suspicion, 293.

  New York State Soldiers' Depot, the, 174-75.

  New York _Times_, extract from, "Just what Chandler Did, and How the
      Plan was Laid to Defeat the Popular Choice for President," 474-81.

  Nichols, Governor, war on Louisiana lottery, 481.

  Nicoll, Henry, delegate to convention to revise Constitution of the
      State of New York, 45, 46.

  Niles, John M., proprietor of the Hartford _Times_, 6, 7.

  Niles, W. W., warns Tilden against Canal Ring, 364.

  _North American Review_, the, 288.

  Noyes, Mr., appointment as government director of the Union Pacific
      Railway Company, 688, 689.

  Nullification party, the, 96.


  O'Conor, Charles, associated with Tilden, xvii.;
    delegate to convention to revise Constitution of the State of New
        York, 45, 46;
    candidate for President Pierce's cabinet, 83;
    speaker at Dry-Goods party meeting, 134;
    interview with James Gordon Bennett, 217;
    subscription to election expenses of Seymour and Blair, 245;
    opinion on Fourteenth Amendment, 253;
    urges Connolly's resignation, 281;
    leads delegation to State convention, 282;
    tendered an Assembly nomination, 282, 285;
    declines nomination, 282, 286;
    on Conkling's speech, 286-87;
    on new charter, 292;
    engrossed with Jumel lawsuits, 294;
    on Greeley's nomination, 305;
    for Grant, 311;
    prosecuting lawyer of "Tweed Ring" trials, 342, 376;
    on Tilden's substitute canal bill, 347-49;
    on the Governor's power of removal, 352-53;
    fears conspiracy, 355;
    on removal of Green, 358-59;
    suggested as Corporation Counsel, 360;
    on public employments, 366;
    his _proved_ narrative, 373;
    seeks statement on canal frauds, 384-85;
    on Delafield Smith's removal, 387;
    desired repeal of certain laws of 1864 and 1872, 396-98, 402, 403;
    requests appropriation for Tweed trials, 403;
    suggested the removal of Sheriff Connor, 467-68;
    assisted in defence of Tilden's income-tax case, 583-86;
    never accepted retainers, 584;
    death, 643;
    Tilden's remarks on death of, 643-44.

  Ogden, W. B., Tilden to, on the dangers of disunion, 147-48.

  Opdyke, Hon. George, resolution offered by, 370-71.

  _Oregonian_, sale of steamer, to Pacific Mail Steamship Co., 249.

  Orr, A. E., member of Erie Canal Commission, 422, 426, 427;
    on finding of Electoral Commission, 546-47.

  Osgood, Samuel, elected Register, 38.

  O'Sullivan, John L., plan and estimate for _Morning News_, 17, 18;
    Tilden to, on interview with President Polk, 33-36;
    interested in first balance dock, 67-68;
    Minister to Portugal, 157_n_;
    grief at Lincoln's declaration of war, 158;
    reunion doubtful, 159;
    indignation at conduct of Democratic party, 160;
    feelings with the South, 161.

  Ottendorfer, Oswald, heads delegation to State convention, 282;
    opposed to continuance of Grant's administration, 305-06.


  Packard, S. B., Chandler's telegram to, 478.

  Palmer, Mr., organizer, 242.

  Parker, N. W., advice to, from Tilden, on investments, 318-19;
    urges Tilden not to withdraw as candidate for Governor, 336-37.

  Parks, Marshall, inland project, 703-04.

  Parnell, Charles S., 622.

  Peckham, Wheeler H., on Tweed civil cases, 330, 357, 373;
    suggested as Corporation Counsel, 360;
    bill for appropriation for Tweed Ring suits, 402-03.

  Pelton, William R., 346, 362, 512, 513, 526.

  Pendleton, George H., candidate for Presidency, 216, 221, 223, 231,
      232.

  Peninsular Railroad, the, 186-90.

  Phelps, Royal, check to Tilden to defray election expenses, 287.

  Pierce, Franklin, election to Presidency, 80;
    candidates for positions in cabinet of, 83-91, 95.

  Pierrepont, Edward, suggests Tilden as United States Senator, 487.

  Pierrepont, Judge, 164, 167.

  Pillow, Gid. J., fears for the government, 489-90.

  Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, 129, 130, 298, 299,
      301-03.

  Polk, James K., nomination for the Presidency, 14;
    Tilden's zeal in canvass of, 17;
    Tilden's interview with, 33-36.

  Pond, Mr., appealed to for help for the _National Intelligencer_,
      177-79.

  Pope, H. A., on Hayes-Tilden contest, 521-24.

  Potter, Clarkson N., as candidate for Governor, 332;
    congratulates Tilden on Presidential nomination, 436.

  Potter, Eliphalet Nott, 1.

  Potter, George, pardon of, 31, 32.

  Potter, Howard, resignation, 345.

  Potter Committee, the investigation of, 483.

  Preston, General William, 600-01.

  Purcell, William, promoter of _Rochester Union and Advertiser_, 275;
    on O'Conor's nomination to the Assembly, 285;
    offered appointment on Governor's staff, 342;
    declined appointment, 342-43;
    mentioned for Secretary of State, 620, 621_n_.

  Putnam, G. P., tax collector, 169.


  Railey, Logan, sale of "Topic," 270;
    dealer in horses, 303.

  Randall, Samuel J., agent of protectionists, 663_n_;
    apprehension of the compulsory coinage of silver dollars, 671,
        680.

  Randolph, L. V. F., executor and trustee of Tilden's estate, iii.

  Reed, William B., on the Conscription act, 179-80;
    capable writer, 366.

  Reid, John R., Tilden to, on candidate for Chief Judge, 265.

  Reid, Whitelaw, to Bigelow on Presidential nomination, 439;
    dinner to Bayard Taylor, 572-73.

  Reynolds, P., recommended Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation, 13.

  Rice, R. D., approving Tilden's rebel claims letter, 471.

  Richmond, Dean, chairman Democratic State Committee, 117, 166.

  Ritchie, Mr., editor of the _Union_, 102.

  Roberts, Marshall O., 102.

  Robertson, Alex. H., Deputy County Clerk, 38.

  Robertson, Wyndham, Tilden to, on Lincoln's election, 150-51.

  Robinson, E. R., choice for Corporation Counsel, 353.

  Robinson, Governor Lucius, 573, 587.

  Robinson, L., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation, 13.

  _Rochester Union and Advertiser_, 275, 286.

  Roosevelt, James J., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the
      Corporation, 13.

  Root, R. C., suggests Tilden as candidate for Presidency, 218-19.

  Rowley, William C., for Revenue Collector, 205.

  Rush, Benjamin, congratulates Tilden on supposed election to
      Presidency, 488-89.


  Sage, Russell, contemplated discrimination against, 255-56.

  Sandford, Lewis H., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the
      Corporation, 13.

  Sands, Mahlon, 304.

  Schell, Augustus, subscription to election expenses of Seymour
     and Blair, 245;
    on contemplated change of Democratic ticket, 250-51.

  Schell, Richard, subscription to election expenses of Seymour and
      Blair, 245.

  Schurz, Hon. Carl, opposes continuance of Grant's administration
      at Fifth Avenue Hotel conference, 430-32.

  Scott, General Winfield, on secession, 156-57;
    his "Wayward sisters, depart in peace" letter, 156-57, 166.

  Scott, W. P., on Tilden's refusal to be candidate for Presidency,
      633-35.

  Scribner, G. Hilton, on canal abuses, 372.

  Sears, William S., recommends Tilden as Attorney to the Corporation,
      13.

  Secor, C. A., interested in first balance dock, 67-68.

  Sedgwick, Theodore, recommends Tilden as Attorney to the
      Corporation, 13.

  Semple, Henry C., urges Tilden as Presidential candidate in
      1884, 640.

  Seward, Governor William H., 92;
    General Scott to, on secession, 156-57;
    Andrews' opinion of, 163.

  Seymour, Horatio, Democratic candidate for Governor, 85, 86, 166;
    seeks Tilden's aid, 110, 111;
    asks help of friends, 168;
    in danger of arrest, 179;
    on the Conscription act, 183-84;
    urges printing of Adams's speech, 211;
    political forecast, 214-15;
    mentioned as Presidential candidate, 216, 217, 222-24, 229-31;
    favors Hendricks for Presidency, 221;
    on Tilden's Democratic convention speech, 224-25;
    nominated for Presidency, 233_n_;
    on organization, 242-43;
    subscriptions to election expenses of, 245;
    support of New York _Herald_ sought for, 246;
    "privy council," 247;
    suggested reception to Generals, 248-49;
    on corruption in party, 274, 283-85;
    hard to support Greeley, 311;
    on Tilden as candidate for Governor, 335-36;
    advice to Tilden on message, 337-38, 341;
    poor health, 470, 699-700;
    as a possible candidate for Presidency in 1880, 589, 594-95;
    death, 707.

  Seymour, John F., 707.

  Shepard, Judge, 639.

  Shepard, Lorenzo B., delegate to convention to revise Constitution
      of the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Shepherd, Honoria, pardon of, 30.

  Sherman, General, looks for Presidential nomination, 515-16.

  Sherman, John, on Tilden's circular to bondholders of the Pittsburg,
      Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, 254.

  Shieffelen, R. L., President of the Common Council, 16.

  Shuey, Theodore F., possessor of a Jefferson "Financial Diary," 669.

  Sibley, Hiram, 706-08.

  Sickles, D. E., 103.

  Silliman, A. E., on financial affairs, 399-402.

  Slave-Extension party, 17.

  Small, Wilson, elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Smith, A. J., under suspicion, 293.

  Smith, C. B., approving Tilden's rebel claims letter, 470-71.

  Smith, E. Delafield, to quash Tweed Ring prosecutions, 342;
    choice of successor of, 353;
    arranges to dismiss Peckham and Barlow, 355, 357-58;
    removed, 385-86.

  Smith, Emily Josephine, delusive notice of wedding to S. J. Tilden,
      290.

  Smith, George W., executor and trustee of Tilden's estate, iii.,
      539;
    Tilden's private secretary, 276, 320, 528, 608, 614, 621, 623,
        666, 688, 689, 711, 719, 720, 730.

  Smith, Gerrit, 58.

  Smith, Hugh, under suspicion, 293.

  Smith, J. A., under suspicion, 293.

  Smith, J. W., under suspicion, 293.

  Smith, Perry H., 638.

  Society for the Diffusion of Political Information, the, 172.

  "Softshells," name for Democratic party led by Silas Wright, 24.

  Spafford, Thomas, elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Spencer, James, organizer, 242.

  Sperry, Mr., managing editor _Evening Post_, 446, 466.

  Sprague, Mrs. Katherine Chase, and the Electoral Commission of 1876,
      511-13.

  Sprigg, J. Thomas, conversation with Senator Conkling, 491-92.

  Standard Oil Company, 602, 603.

  Stansbery, Mr., 142, 146.

  Stanton, Edwin McMasters, Secretary of War, frequent conferences
      with Tilden, 458.

  Stanton, Governor F. P., 240.

  Starbuck, James F., "Political cowards," 608-11;
    death, 611.

  Stebbins, Charles, private secretary to Governor Tilden, 362.

  Stemmler, Judge, reported death of, 346-47;
    death, 369.

  Stephens, John L., delegate to convention to revise Constitution
      of the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Stetson, Francis Lynde, 288-89.

  Stevenson, Jonathan D., elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Stevenson, Senator John W., 512.

  Stewart, Alexander, election to the Assembly, 38.

  Storrs, Richard A., removal of, as deputy comptroller, 280.

  Sullivan, Algernon S., to Tilden, on canal message, 362.

  _Sun_, the, extracts from, 430-32, 482-83, 492-94, 499-501, 535-36,
      553, 565-67, 708-11;
    calls for Judge Bradley's impeachment, 569.

  Swayne, W. H., Tilden to, on the reorganization of the Pittsburg,
      Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, 129-30;
    on procuring charter for, 141-47.

  Sweeney, James B., under suspicion, 293.

  Sweeney, Peter B., under suspicion, 293.

  Sweet, Elkanah, investigation of canal work, 406.


  Tammany Hall, reorganized, xiii.;
    dispenses with primary elections, 126;
    as organized in 1876, 398-99.

  Taylor, George, 332.

  Taylor, J. J., Harbor Master of New York in 1873, 172.

  Taylor, John J., on Greeley's nomination, 306-07.

  Taylor, President, death of, 77.

  Telegrams:
    Babcock, O. C., to Z. Chandler, 498.
    Barnum, W. H., to Tilden, 655.
    Belmont, August, to W. F. Story, 250.
    Cooper, Edward, to A. S. Hewitt, 533.
    Cox, S. S., to Tilden, 328.
    Hendricks, T. A., to Tilden, 442.
    Hewitt, A. S., to Edward Cooper, 533.
    Manning, Daniel, to Tilden, 655.
    Marble, Manton, to Perry H. Smith, 435.
    Parker, N. W., to Tilden, 336.
    Schell, Augustus, to W. F. Story, 250.
    Smith, George W., to John Bigelow, 730.
    Smith, P. H., to Tilden, 435.
    Tilden, S. J., to W. F. Story, 250;
      to Francis P. Blair, Sr., 251;
      to Augustus Schell, 251;
      to Francis Kernan, 282;
      to S. S. Cox, 328;
      to W. H. Barnum, 655.

  Testimonial to General Grant, 199;
    list of subscribers to, 200-01.

  Thayer, Francis S., auditor of Canal Board, 383;
    suspended, 417, 426, 427.

  Thompson, John C., 608.

  Thurman, A. G., hard to support Greeley, 311.

  Thurston, George A., on the Kent letter, 171.

  Tilden, Elam, to Robert R. Livingston, 1-2.

  Tilden, Henry A., further aid refused to, 327-28;
    Gould to, on brother's nomination for Governor, 332-33;
    at Cincinnati convention, 598, 601-03;
    death, 643.

  Tilden, Isaac, search for family records of, 257-58.

  Tilden, Mary, on Tilden's ancestry, 626-27.

  Tilden, Moses, 119.

  Tilden, Samuel J., vast correspondence carefully preserved, v.;
    entry into politics, vi.;
    independence, vi., xxii., xxiii.;
    overthrow of Tweed Ring, vii., xii.;
    elected Governor, vii., xii.;
    canal investigations, vii., xii., xiii., xxvii., xxviii., 370-72,
        382;
    nomination for Presidency, vii., xxiv., 434;
    maker of American history, viii.;
    an "Appreciation" of, by James C. Carter, ix., xi.-xxxii.;
    chairman Democratic State Committee, xii.;
    opposition to Tammany Hall, xiii., xxii.;
    powerful messages, xiv.;
    and paper-money delusion, xiv., xx.;
    intellectual endowments, xiv., xv., xx.;
    defence of Azariah C. Flagg, xv.-xviii.;
    methods employed in the Six Million Audit Frauds, xviii.;
    stigmatized a railroad-wrecker, xxiii.;
    personal vanity, xxiii., xxvii.;
    reasons for adhering to the Democratic party, xxv., xxvi.;
    letter to William Kent in 1860, xxxi., 148, 149, 169, 171, 172,
        455;
    on the great fire of 1835, 2, 3;
    to his sister Henrietta, 5, 6;
    criticism of President Tyler, 8;
    recommended for appointment as attorney for the City and County
        of New York, 13;
    influence in the dispensation of patronage, 14;
    on the probability of Van Buren's renomination, 14, 15;
    resignation as Attorney to the Corporation, 16;
    removed, _ibid._;
    zeal in canvass for President Polk, 17;
    outline of plan for paper between J. L. O'Sullivan and, 17, 18;
    establishes the _Daily News_, 19, 20;
    offered naval office, 23;
    offer declined, 24;
    on the appointment of Van Ness, 24-26, 34, 35;
    on President Polk's cabinet appointments, 26-27;
    name discussed in reference to Collectorship, 29, 30, 34;
    interview with President Polk, 33-36;
    declines nomination to the Assembly, 37;
    certificate of election to the Assembly, 38;
    desire to unite the _Argus_ and the _Atlas_, 42, 43;
    delegate to convention to revise Constitution of the State of New
        York, 45, 46;
    retires from the _Morning News_, 47;
    supports M. Van Buren, 54, 55;
    article in _Evening Post_ on "Greeley, the Legislator, and the
        Slavery Question," 58-63;
    leased first office, 63;
    bills, 65-67;
    bill for personal taxes, 67;
    interest in first balance dock, 67, 68;
    opposes Erie Canal enlargement bill, 76, 77;
    suggestions for President Pierce in the organization and conduct
        of his administration, 81-95, 97-99;
    favors appointment of General Dix for cabinet position, 88;
    on the removal of Judge Bronson, 106-109;
    not in favor of fusion party, 112, 113;
    on Colonel Benton as Presidential candidate, _ibid._;
    rumored engagement, 114;
    interest in friends, 115;
    mentioned as nominee for comptroller and Secretary of State, 116;
    notified of nomination as Attorney-General, 117;
    letter of acceptance, 117-18;
    interest in bill for floating docks, 123-24;
    on the mayoralty election of 1859, 126-28;
    preparations for the reorganization of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne
        & Chicago Railroad, 128;
    proposed partnership with J. Van Buren, 130-31;
    declines invitation to act as Vice-President at Cooper Institute
        meeting, 131;
    the _Evening Post's_ offer to publish unfinished speech of, 132;
    advice sought on establishment of New York daily, 135-37;
    letter to the _Evening Post_, 137-40;
    to Swayne on the procuring of a charter for the Pittsburg, Fort
        Wayne & Chicago Railroad, 141-47;
    on the dangers of disunion, 147-48, 167;
    on Lincoln's election, 150-51;
    favors a national constitutional convention, 151;
    fear of war as result of Lincoln's election, 151-52;
    his patriotic address to a regiment in 1861, 160, 460;
    internal revenue tax, 168-69;
    Hogeboom proposes business connection with, 172-73;
    invited to serve on advisory committee of State Soldiers' Depot,
        174-75;
    financial contributions to the _National Intelligencer_, 177;
    reply to Hogeboom's proposal, 180-83;
    William C. Whitney seeks advice of, 192;
    interest in Iron Cliff Mines, 193-95;
    homage to victorious soldiers and sailors, 196;
    subscription to Grant's testimonial, 199, 200;
    suggested as candidate for Governor, 202, 227;
    on federal appointments, 203, 204;
    invitation to John A. Dix, 207;
    degree of LL.D. conferred on, 208, 209, 384;
    member of Constitutional Convention, 209;
    invitation from Andrew Johnson, 211;
    check for the _Argus_, 213;
    suggested as candidate for Presidency, 218-19;
    on paramount issues in election of 1868, 219-21;
    delivered speech at Democratic State Convention in 1868, 224_n_;
    letter to the Tammany Society, 236-39;
    on Seymour's nomination to Presidency, 239;
    subscription to election expenses of Seymour and Blair, 245;
    receipt to Allan McLane, 249;
    telegram to W. F. Story on contemplated change of Democratic
        ticket, 250-51;
    distrust of S. E. Church, 252;
    tribute to Peter Cagger, 252-53;
    Sherman to, on circular to bondholders of P., F. W. & C. R. R.
        Co., 254;
    on contemplated discrimination against Russell Sage, 255-56;
    search for family records, 257-58;
    Jay Gould to, on retainer for Erie R. R., 258;
    on Erie R. R. retainer, 258-61, 267-69, 297-301;
    circular to State Committee, 262;
    on candidate for Chief Judge, 263-66;
    purchase of "Topic," 270;
    blamed for arrest of R. B. Connolly, 270;
    circular "Evils of Our Times," 271-72;
    on the exposures of the _Times_, 272-73;
    circular letter as chairman Democratic State Committee, 276-78;
    urged for Assembly, 285-87;
    check from Royal Phelps for election expenses, 287;
    congratulations from Hamilton Fish, 287;
    asked to write an account of the Tammany frauds for the _North
        American Review_, 288;
    deceptive wedding notice, 290;
    A. Oakey Hall's appeal to, 295-96;
    remarks before the Bar Association in 1870, 300, 301;
    buys "Morris Miller," 303;
    address to the Bar Association in 1872, 307-10;
    on Kernan's nomination for Governor, 311-16;
    financial advice to Mrs. Cassidy, 316-17;
    advice to N. W. Parker on investments, 318-19;
    visits Old World, 319;
    view of federal politics in 1873, 320;
    resigns chairmanship of the Democratic State Committee, 320-24;
    wrote the Mayor's message announcing death of A. C. Flagg, 326_n_;
    refuses further aid to Henry Tilden, 327-28;
    on Presidential candidates in 1876, 330-32;
    spoken of as candidate for Governor, 332-36, 339-41;
    asked to retire in favor of Judge Church, 336-37;
    advice to, from Seymour and Cowen, 337-39;
    extract from New York _Tribune_ on nomination of, for Governor,
        339-41;
    offers William Purcell staff appointment, 342;
    to Kelly on appointments and removals, 343-46;
    Kelly to, on McLaughlin's appointment, 346-47, 368-69;
    letters to, on Green's removal, 350-52, 358-61, 374;
    offers judgeship to Samuel Hand, 354;
    letters to, on "Tweed Ring" trials, 355, 358-59, 373, 377-81;
    pardons J. H. Ingersoll, 375;
    removes E. Delafield Smith, 386-87;
    appoints Erie Canal Commission, 405;
    report of commission to, 407-426;
    suspends auditor Thayer, 426-27;
    nominated for President, 434;
    congratulations on nomination, 436-37;
    statement on federal taxation, 441-42;
    early recollections of Ed. Livingston, 447;
    congratulations on acceptance letter, 449, 451;
    John Bigelow on war record of, 453-62;
    on secession, 455;
    opinions on slavery, _ibid._;
    labors to avert war, 457, 460;
    conferences with Secretary Stanton, 458;
    views on financial situation, 459;
    delegate to Democratic National Convention in 1864, 461;
    application for arrest of Tweed, 464-65;
    approval of letter on rebel claims, 470-473, 488;
    Presidential vote, 474;
    counted out 481;
    congratulations to, on supposed election to Presidency, 486, 487,
        489, 495;
    suggested for United States Senator, 487;
    letters to, on Presidential contest, 488-496, 503-506;
    declared President-elect by House of Representatives, 517-521;
    and the Electoral Commission, 528-32;
    faith in Governor Hampton, 541-42;
    letters of sympathy to, on action of Electoral Commission, 545-49,
        553-54, 575;
    interview with _World_ correspondent, 560-62;
    visits Europe, 562;
    speech to Young Men's Democratic Club, 562-65;
    appreciation of Mr. Henderson, 573;
    to the Directors of the Louisville Industrial Exposition, 575-76;
    why he did not take the oath as President, 576-77;
    buys Yonkers property, 578;
    estimated cost of Greystone, 578-79;
    Bigelow on the possibility of the renomination of, in 1880,
        579-82;
    campaign of defamation against, 582-83;
    income-tax case against, 582-86;
    suggested as candidate for Governor in 1879, 587;
    denies statement of negotiations to obtain electoral vote of
        South Carolina, 588-89;
    no right to seize the Presidency, 591-94;
    sends letter to Cincinnati convention declining a renomination
        to the Presidency, 598;
    suggested addition to General Hancock's letter of acceptance, 604;
    first honorary member of the Jefferson Democratic Association,
        611;
    health five years before death, 612;
    acquisition of works of art, 613;
    disposed of N. Y. Elevated R. R. bonds, 618;
    resolutions drawn by, on the death of President Garfield, 619;
    not a candidate for Governor in 1882, 620;
    letters to, asking financial contributions, 621, 625, 626, 627,
        628;
    ancestry, 622, 626, 632;
    opposed to enlargement of canals, 628;
    spoken of as candidate for President in 1884, 633, 635, 638,
        640-42, 644-48;
    remarks on death of Charles O'Conor, 643-44;
    declines a renomination for the Presidency, 648-52;
    reply to resolutions, 652-54;
    declines a unanimous nomination, 655;
    invites Cleveland to Greystone, 665;
    troubled with a disorder of the nerves of motion, 665, 708;
    on the coinage of silver, 672-75;
    on Manning's hesitancy of accepting the Treasury portfolio,
        675-78;
    suggests Bigelow as best substitute, 677;
    advice to Manning on removals, 681;
    to Governor Hill on Broadway Railroad bill, 684-85;
    on the importance of the little postmasters, 686-87;
    invites Manning to join him in the Catskills, 692;
    answers to Dana's questions on the canal, 695-699;
    to Cleveland on the removal of Mr. McKnight, 701-02;
    his age, 708;
    his "Accountability of Corporations," 708-11;
    on behalf of General Newton, 712;
    sea-coast defences, 714_n_, 715-18;
    asked to consider scheme to reorganize Philadelphia & Reading
        Railroad Company, 720;
    suggestions to Governor Hill, 721, 724;
    interest in welfare of Central Park, 723;
    on Manning's resignation, 725-26;
    death, 730.

  _Times_, the, exposure of the electoral fraud, 272.

  Titus, James H., elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Townsend, John, elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Townsend, Solomon, delegate to convention to revise Constitution
      of the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Trainor, H. F., expert accountant, 292.

  Tylden, Harriet F., on Tilden's ancestry, 621-22.

  Tyler, President, desire for a national bank, 7;
    Tilden's criticism of, 8, 9.

  Tremain, Alva H., on Tilden's nomination for Governor, 334-35.

  _Tribune_, the New York circulation of, 136;
    extracts from, 339-42, 428-30;
    supports General Dix, 341.

  Trumbull, Lyman, urges Tilden as Presidential candidate in 1884,
      642.

  Tweed Ring, the, vii., 320, 322, 341, 349, 353, 359, 375, 378,
      402, 403, 429, 502;
    parties under suspicion, 293.

  Tweed, William M., under suspicion, 293;
    criminal case of, 355;
    gives away city property, 366;
    application for arrest of, 464-65;
    escape, 467;
    arrest at Vigo, 469.


  Vaché, Alexander F., delegate to convention to revise Constitution
      of the State of New York, 45, 46.

  Vallandigham, Mr., 179.

  Van Buren, John D., to Edwin Croswell, 44, 45;
    mentioned as candidate for Vice-Presidency, 51;
    names Dix for Collectorship, 100;
    proposed partnership with Tilden, 130-31;
    suggests Tilden for Governor, 202;
    member of Erie Canal Commission, 422, 426.

  Van Buren, Martin, to Tilden, 12, 13, 76;
    defeated for renomination to the Presidency, 14;
    nominated for the Presidency, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57;
    not an admirer of Buchanan, 120;
    favorable opinion of Fremont, _ibid._;
    investment in Erie bonds, 125;
    speech on General Scott's letter, 166-67;
    death, 185_n_.

  Van Dyke, Mr., conducted the Albany _Atlas_, 41.

  Van Ness, Mr., appointment as Collector of the Port of New York, 23;
    Tilden on the appointment of, 24-26;
    talk of his removal, 34, 35, 36.

  Van Rensselaer, Thomas, to M. Van Buren, 57;
    conductor of the _Ram's Horn_, _ibid._

  Vaux, Richard, 254.


  Waddell, William Coventry H., United States marshal, 4.

  Walker, L. W., approving Tilden's rebel claims letter, 472.

  Walker, R. J., advocates General Hancock as Presidential candidate,
      233-36;
    Secretary of the Treasury under Polk, 233_n_.

  Ward, Samuel, suggests that Tilden assist at unveiling of statue of
      Daniel Webster, 495.

  Ward, Townsend, on the Judge Kent letter, 148.

  Waring, J. F., sells Yonkers property to Tilden, 578.

  Waterbury, Nelson J., 8, 9, 28, 29, 46, 47, 68, 462.

  Watterson, Hon. Henry, controversy with Hewitt, 482.

  Watson, Hon. Peter H., Assistant Secretary of War under Lincoln,
      459.

  Watson, James, under suspicion, 293.

  Webster, Sidney, congratulates Tilden on acceptance letter, 449,
      451.

  Weed, Smith M., on impossibility of nominating Tilden at
      Cincinnati convention, 599-600;
    on Cleveland, 666-67;
    on cabinet appointments, 678-80.

  Weir, Hon. George, 123.

  Welch, D. Clinton, indicted for canal frauds, 417.

  Welles, Gideon, editor of _Hartford Times_, 77;
    Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln, _ibid._;
    to Tilden, 78-80.

  Wells, Alexander, elected to the Assembly, 38.

  Wells, David A., 306, 391-94, 403-04.

  Wetmore, Prosper M., 102.

  Wharton, Mr., 179.

  White, Campbell P., delegate to convention to revise Constitution
      of the State of New York, 45, 46.

  White, John R., 148.

  Whitley, Colonel H. C., testimony of, at trial of O. C. Babcock,
      499-501.

  Whitney, General J. S., seeks Tilden's advice for son, 192.

  Whitney, William C., seeks Tilden's advice, 192;
    choice for Corporation Counsel, 353, 360, 375;
    appointment, 386;
    for cabinet position, 666.

  Whittier, John G., poem on Tilden's death, 730-31.

  Wickham, William H., his choice for Corporation Counsel, 353;
    desires removal of Green, 358-59.

  Wilbour, C. E., under suspicion, 293.

  Winston, F. H., 638.

  Wood, Bradford R., mentioned as candidate for Vice-Presidency, 51.

  Wood, Fernando, election of, for Mayor, 127, 128, 134, 328.

  Woodman, C. H., recommended for appointment, 723.

  Wright, Silas, Jr., United States Senator, 3;
    first appearance in the Supreme Court, 4, 5;
    letters to Elam Tilden, 9, 10-11, 12;
    nominated for Governor, 14, 16;
    letters to Tilden, 15, 20, 22, 30-33;
    inauguration as Governor, 14, 17;
    advice on proposed establishment of _Daily News_, 20-22;
    leader of Democratic party in New York State, 24;
    on pardon cases, 30-33;
    renominated for Governor, 47;
    defeated, 48;
    death, _ibid._


  Youmans, E. B., 722-723.

  Young, Colonel Samuel, mentioned as candidate for Vice-Presidency,
      51.

  Young, John, defeats Wright for Governorship, 48.


THE END


       *       *       *       *       *

Transcriber's note:

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Rochester in 187_, and a third on the W. C." An underscore was added
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