Part 16

"The 'Dry-Goods party,' as by general consent the fusionists have come to be designated, held what they called a 'Union meeting' last night at the Cooper Institute. They did not meet at Tammany Hall, for obvious reasons, though it must have made some of the gentlemen who contributed towards the expense of the entertainment feel a little queer when they found themselves associating politically with a class of men who could not be persuaded to put a foot inside of the old Wigwam. It has been observed that political parties, as they decline in strength, lengthen the list of officers supposed to officiate at their public gatherings, just as the shadows of mountains lengthen as the sun goes down. The Dry-Goods party did not attempt to be an exception; on the contrary, they seem to have made all of their party vice-presidents that they did not make president and secretaries. In looking over the list of gentlemen who figure on this occasion, we could not but be struck with what Clay called the 'mutability of all human opinion.' It seemed as if the milky portion of the old barn-burning party of '48 which had soured from the effects of Republican thunder, had been specially served up for the public entertainment. There was Dix, who ran for Governor with Van Buren in 1848 against Cass, nominated for chairman by Wilson G. Hunt, largely in the dry-goods line, who supported Van Buren and free soil as zealously and liberally as he now supports Breckinridge, Douglas, Bell, Sam & Co.

"Our old friend Tilden, who stood at the wheel during all those troublous times; who was one of the counsel for the Barnburners in the Baltimore convention of 1848, and who helped to lead the _Evening Post_ into all its free-soil heresies without ever showing it any decent way out of them, offered the resolutions and made a short speech. It would have been longer, but the audience wished to hear Wood. Either Wood or a song they must have, and so Mr. Tilden retired with his speech just as good as new, and, as it appeared, too good for his audience, that they might hear a song from a Mr. Cosgrove, Wood being returned by the officer 'not found.' The preference for Wood is explained, perhaps, by the fact that the first vice-president, W. B. Astor, was one of the ten or dozen gentlemen who certified to Mayor Wood's character when a candidate a second time for the '_mayorality_'--as Mr. Wood is in the habit of spelling the dignity he at present enjoys--and who recommended him warmly to the suffrages of the people. All the rest of the gentlemen who signed that 'character,' Moses Taylor, M. Aspinwall, the Browns, etc., figure also among the vice-presidents, and it is not strange, therefore, that a meeting thus officered should prefer a speech from Fernando Wood to a speech from Samuel J. Tilden.

"Then there was Henry Grinnell, who paid liberally towards raising the standard of rebellion at the park meeting, held shortly after the nomination of Cass, in 1848, and whose name was freely used by the Barnburners until about the time that the Union-saving steamship companies began to be incorporated and subsidized by Congress. Since then he has had little or no interest in anything North, this side of the Arctic circle.

"John Cochrane, Dan Norris, Henry Eveson, William F. Havemeyer, Stephen Cambreleng, Charles A. Secor, Myndert Van Schaick, whom, to his great disappointment, the Barnburners failed to elect Mayor of the city before the days of fusion, T. B. Tappen, John Van Buren, A. B. Conger, Addison Gardiner, etc., etc., make up the list of distinguished Barnburners of the milky sort who have 'turned,' and now form the cheesy pillars and architrave of the Dry-Goods party.

"The speakers for the evening were James W. Gerard and Charles O'Conor, two of our ablest lawyers, skilled to make the worse appear the better reason, and, from long professional training, about as much at home on one side of a question as another. As neither of these gentlemen were in good standing with the old Democratic party, the first being an old Whig and the other a fractious and crockery-breaking independent, they were listened to with patience by an assembly conspicuously impatient of anything savoring of old-fashioned Democracy.

"What effect the bringing together such a crowd of officers for such a thin display of speakers will have upon the dry-goods market will doubtless appear in the column where such reports are usually chronicled; what effect it will have on the Pennsylvania election will appear by the returns in to-morrow's _Evening Post_; what effect it will have upon the vote of this State is of no sort of consequence, for we were sure of a large majority before it was held, and of course we may reasonably expect a larger majority now.

"We are sorry about Mr. Tilden's speech. We have no doubt it was a good one, and as we are the friends of free speech we will publish it cheerfully in the _Evening Post_ if he will give us the opportunity. It will reach a great many more of his friends through our columns than stood within the reach of his voice, and they will all be glad to know by what process so clever a man has reasoned himself into such bad company."

WM. CASSIDY TO TILDEN

"'ATLAS & ARGUS' OFFICE. "ALBANY, _Octr., 1860._

"DEAR TILDEN,--Newell tells me that you are preparing a reply to the _Post's_ appeal to be 'shown the way out.' Do so; and it will give me a chance to write an editorial, which I intended and postponed till the occasion passed by. I enclose a reply to an assault upon our consistency, the last half of which is _apropos_ to the _Post's_ inquiry. I am afraid your committee of fifteen will do more harm than good--as usual. You recollect how the Castle Garden movement defeated Seymour and elected Church, reversing its intended effect, and how the Fifth Avenue movement of last year paralyzed us? Let it go, however, with the other blunders.

"What I write to you about is to say that I intend to come down to New York on the 7th proxo. and consult you in regard to a project which O---- and I have long discussed--establishing a New York daily. We can readily get $60,000 (or more) for shares, and from a few men. I can name Plumb, DeWolf, Johnson (of Oswego), Ross--besides Richmond, Cagger, Corning, Kelly, etc. We could _add_ what an establishment here is worth, $40,000 or $50,000. The sum could be increased, and all subscribed outside of New York. It is not for help (to ask you 'to go round with a paper,' as your party friends generally do), but simply for advice. Wesley, the banker, once proposed to sell me some of his interest in the _Times_ if I would go in there. This is _entre nous_, and I allude to it only to explain why I am going to consult him, as well as you.

"If we could buy the _World_, the _Express_, or the _Post_, that would make the best beginning. If we established the New York _Argus_ or _The Age_ we could start with a larger subscription and in better organization than any two other persons. Of course we would have to go to great expense, employ many hands and heads, and meet a fearful competition. But neither of us are without experience, and we have regarded the question on all sides. There must be, and there will be, a Democratic organ in New York. Who is to control it? In the transitive state of politics, 'that is the question.' There's a vast volume of Democratic patronage going to waste in the city, and still more beyond it. We send out 40,000 weekly papers from Albany, and in less than a year could raise it to 200,000 if we were in New York. That is as much as Greeley has for his _Tribune_, and that is the source of its influence.

"There is plenty of ability in New York that could be called in. What is wanted is conduct--a policy, prudence, independence--for the political part. For the business part we want competent men--an association, if possible, with a great publishing house, in order to avail ourselves of literary talent, not allowing it, however, to be our publisher. Commercial and other reporters, and enough literary talent to supply a daily _feuilleton_; for we must call on the aid of fiction, as the Paris papers do, and so gratify a taste which is stronger here than anywhere else. I would commence by getting Hawthorne or some writer of equal talent to furnish a novel, which might be republished afterwards in a volume, and which would thus pay. To do this, we should want a paper like the _World_. We will reverse the wish of Archimedes: give us the _World_, and we will find the lever to move it.

"But I intend to ask your advice, not to forestall it. Until I see you, which will be after the November triumph, I remain

"Yr. frd. & fellow-sufferer, "WM. CASSIDY."

"When Wood was elected by Greeley's agency, I made up my mind that he would administer retributive justice upon G. & Co. by some stupendous organization of the canvassers. But you have an honest vote of 100,000. The Republicans are not entitled to more than 30,000 of this. Give us 40,000, and we will carry the State. Organize--make them do it. The registry will facilitate such work."

JOHN BIGELOW TO S. J. TILDEN

"OCTOBER _10, 1860_.

"DEAR TILDEN,--Send on your MS. to-night if you can; that is, what is ready, and the rest as early as possible to-morrow. I will then announce it to-morrow for Saturday. If we undertake to get it up to-morrow it will not be well printed, as all outside matter must be in hand before 10 o'clock. Of course, therefore, the men will have to work on it in the afternoon after the work of to-morrow's paper or to-day's to get it up and properly proved. Besides, I want time myself to read it, for I presume, if you sleep in my bed, I should have the privilege of making it up.[27]

"Yours truly, "JOHN BIGELOW."

JOHN BIGELOW TO S. J. TILDEN

"EVG. POST, _Oct. 11, 1860_.

"MY DEAR TILDEN,--By the _Post_ of to-day you will see that our printers are waiting for copy. I desired to put you in a position to be regarded by the public as a representative of your party, and by your party as their chief and most capable champion and defender. If you prefer to put what you have to say in the form of a letter you need not hesitate to do so in consequence of anything which has passed. Artistically, I can imagine that the letter shape will have some advantages over an undelivered speech, and I would recommend it, though it was my purpose only to say I hoped you would unburden yourself in just the way you find most agreeable.

"If you can let me know, a day or two in advance, when your copy will be ready I shall be more sure to secure a place for it without delay.

"Speaking in your interest, not in our own, I would advise you to be as brief as possible, for I want to have what you write read. If you can get within a couple of columns, so much the better for all concerned.

"Let me suggest that whatever you have to say you will lose nothing by conceding the errors which have brought the Dem. party to its present condition. It becomes you to write as a statesman, and not as a partisan, in this instance, at least, and perhaps we Republicans, as well as those you particularly address, may profit by your teachings.

"Yours truly, "JOHN BIGELOW."

S. J. TILDEN TO JOHN BIGELOW

"2 UNION PLACE, _Oct. 11, 1860_. "EV.

"MY DEAR BIGELOW,--I thank you for the very kind terms of your note. I entirely agree with you as to the letter form, and the space you suggest is what had occurred to me as proper. I shall keep as nearly as possible to it. I note what you say as to notice. My only real difficulty is the _rush_ of things in which I live.

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

S. J. TILDEN TO JOHN BIGELOW

"OCT. _27, 1860_.

"MY DEAR BIGELOW,--I extremely regret that my letter has reached such unexpected length; and I have condensed it as much as possible, and omitted much which I desired to say, but you did not propose, nor I undertake, to have the thing done too imperfectly. I must, therefore, throw myself upon your indulgence. I assume you will, and that the balance will appear on Monday.

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

"_Sat. Morn., Oct. 27, 1860._"

EDWARD EVERETT TO S. J. TILDEN

"_Nov. 6, 1860_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I cannot content myself with a mere formal acknowledgment of your admirable pamphlet, which I have read with extreme pleasure. Nothing which I have met with on the dreadful subject which now convulses the country has seemed to me more clearly or forcibly urged.

"I remain, dear sir, with high respect,

"Very truly yours, "EDWARD EVERETT."

SENATOR J. M. MASON[28] TO S. J. TILDEN

"SELMA, NEAR WINCHESTER, VA., _12th Novr., 1860_.

"DEAR SIR,--I have just read your pamphlet--'The Union, its dangers, and how they can be averted.' To say only that it is the best which the occasion has called forth, would be to do as little justice to my discrimination as to its merit.

"It is too late now to arrest the catastrophe which it shows impending; but it must, to minds capable of understanding fact and logic, force the people to pause and consider.

"I trust that measures will be taken to give it an extended circulation in the Northern States; in the South its effect only can be to make the people comprehend what they already feel.

"My note, however (which I am obliged to write through an amanuensis), is only to thank you for this great contribution to American thought, and, like the hungry schoolboy, to ask for more. Can you oblige me by sending me some twenty copies, or as many as you can conveniently spare?

"From your obliged "friend and servant, "J. M. MASON."

"_S. J. Tilden, Esq., New York._"

G. S. HILLARD TO S. J. TILDEN

"BOSTON, _Nov. 19, 1860_.

"DEAR SIR,--I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of, and to thank you for, your letter on the Union. I agree with you heartily in your views: they are sound, wise, and patriotic; but what avails it to proclaim them? Anybody who preaches moderation and forbearance--who endeavors to calm the tempest of excited feeling--is called 'a skulking neutral,' or, at best, an obsolete old fogy, whose proper place is in Noah's ark. We must learn wisdom by the smart of folly, and it looks very much as if the teaching was begun. I look upon Mr. Seward as the most mischievous man now in the public service; and for his incendiary course he has not the apology of a fervid temperament and rash blood. His words are the more dangerous, because so deliberately uttered. But I rejoice that you have written the letter, and that so many patriotic and judicious men have been willing to speak and write as you have done. Always anticipating the election of Lincoln, I have been in the habit of saying to our friends that the value and importance of the Union party would not be fully apparent until after that event. I think I was a true prophet. If the country is to be safely navigated through the shoals which are around and ahead, it will be by the agency and instrumentality of the Union party.

"Yrs. truly, "G. S. HILLARD."

"_Samuel J. Tilden, Esq._"

THE PROMISED REPLY OF THE "EVENING POST" TO THE LETTER OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN

(_Continued and Concluded._)

"The people of the United States voted yesterday upon the questions at issue between the Republicans and their adversaries, as represented by Lincoln and Hamlin, candidates of the former, and by Douglas and Johnson, Breckinridge and Lane, and Bell and Everett, representing the latter, with the following result:"

LINCOLN AND HAMLIN.

Connecticut 6 Illinois 11 Indiana 13 Iowa 4 Maine 8 Massachusetts 13 Michigan 6 Minnesota 4 New Hampshire 5 New York 35 Ohio 23 Pennsylvania 27 Rhode Island 4 Vermont 5 Wisconsin 5 --- Total 169

DOUGLAS AND JOHNSON.

Missouri 9 --- Total 9

DOUBTFUL.

Oregon 3 California 4 --- Total 7

BRECKINRIDGE AND LANE.

Alabama 9 Arkansas 4 Florida 3 Georgia 10 Louisiana 6 Mississippi 7 North Carolina 10 South Carolina 8 Texas 4 --- Total 61

BELL AND EVERETT AND FUSION.

Delaware 3 New Jersey 7 Kentucky 12 Maryland 8 Tennessee 12 Virginia 15 --- Total 57

RECAPITULATION.

_Electoral Votes._ For Lincoln and Hamlin 169 For Breckinridge and Lane 61 For Bell and Everett 57 For Douglas and Johnson 9 For Doubtful 7 ---- Whole electoral vote 303

Lincoln's majority over all, certain 35 If Oregon and California vote for Lincoln it will add to his majority 7 --- Total 42

TILDEN TO W. H. SWAYNE ON THE PROCURING A CHARTER FROM THE STATE OF OHIO FOR THE PITTSBURG, FORT WAYNE & CHICAGO RAILROAD

"_Dec. 6, 1860._

"MY DEAR SIR,--Two modes of investing the future owners of the P. F. W. H. R.[29] with a corporate character within the State of Ohio have been suggested.

"1. One is to make them a corporation of the State of Ohio--by creating them a new corporation, or by continuing to them the old corporate franchise.

"I understand Mr. Stanbery and Mr. Hunter to propose the latter method. By providing for the transfer of the existing franchise to be a corporation by a general law, they avoid the constitutional provision that 'the general assembly shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers.' They think, also, that by preserving the identity of the existing franchise they can avoid the operation of the constitutional provision 'that in all cases each stockholder shall be liable over and above the stock by him or her owned, and any amount unpaid thereon, to a further sum, at least equal in amount to such stock,' upon the ground that the provision is not retractive, and was established subsequently to existence of this corporation. They think, also, that although the identity of the corporation will be preserved, it can be discharged from liability for the debts and contracts which it has made. If it should be found to be liable for those debts and contracts, the main object of the reorganization would fail.

"2. The other mode is to make the future owners a corporation of Pennsylvania or Illinois, and to enable that corporation to hold, maintain, and operate the part of the road which is situate in Ohio, without being a corporation of the State of Ohio.

"To enable a Pennsylvania corporation, for instance, to hold, maintain, and operate the part of the road situate in Ohio two things are necessary:

"_First_, that it should be endowed by the law of its creation (which would be the act of Pennsylvania creating it), with capacity to hold, maintain, and operate the part of the said road which is situate within Ohio.

"_Secondly_, that it should have the consent, implied or expressed, of the State of Ohio to the exercise within that State of its powers to hold, maintain, and operate the part of the railroad situate within that State.

"Such consent in this case will be implied, unless the implication is negatived by express legislative declaration of the public policy of the State.

"As the laws of Ohio allow an individual purchaser to hold, maintain, and operate the railroad--which individual might be a non-resident--and as there is no policy established by legislation or by a judicial construction to disable a corporation of another State having the requisite capacity from doing so, the case comes clearly within the principle on which nearly all the acts of corporations in other States than those of their creation are sustained by the courts as lawful.

"The rights of the State of Ohio are not violated; for it is by her consent that these powers will be exercised within her dominion. That consent could have been withheld. I do not say that it might not be withdrawn by legislation, not so as to divest rights of property which accrued while it existed, but so as to produce inconvenient consequences to the tenure of the corporators: nor will I advert to the fact that a vast number of transactions are daily carried on in some of the States by corporations of other States, subject to the same possibility, or that in some States, as in New York, most corporations exist subject to full legislative power to repeal the act conferring the franchise.

"For I have not doubted--I have uniformly expressed the opinion that in a case of the peculiar nature and vast importance of the present it is wise to obtain an express consent.

"Shall that consent be given by special act or general law? Would it have any effect on the extent of the liability of the corporations?

"The essence of the corporate character is that several individuals are united in one body--enabled to exist and act as an artificial person created by law, the members of which can change without impairing the identity of that body of person.

"The code of regulations, according to which it exists and acts, which fix its _modus_ is incidental to that creation.

"Its other powers, which may be and often are possessed and exercised by natural persons, are not, strictly speaking, corporate powers, such, for instance, as making discounts, granting insurances, operating railroads; there is nothing in the nature of these powers which necessarily confines them to corporations. They are not of the essence or of the incidents of the corporate character. I think the prohibition of the Ohio Constitution that 'the general assembly shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers' is a mere paraphrase of the prohibition of the New York Constitution, contained in the following provision: Corporations may be formed under general laws, _but shall not be created by_ special act, etc. The next clause of the Ohio Constitution provides that 'corporations' may be formed under general laws.

"The provision was, in the main, copied from the Constitution of New York. The modification of details accounts for the change in the collocation.

"In a cursory review of the discussions in the Ohio convention I see no trace that anything further was intended by the prohibition than to interdict the creation of corporations by special acts.