Part 20

"The paper, it is generally known, became embarrassed by the entire loss of its large Southern circulation, consequent on the rebellion, which loss has been followed now by the withdrawal of the official advertisements of the govt. departments, which they have hitherto enjoyed under almost every administration, thus cutting off resources by which they have managed to meet their expenditures, and rendering imminent an event which of all others will gratify the ultra party of the country and bring mortification on the conservatives which they will deplore when too late to be remedied. Its fall will exhilarate the abolitionists by the assurance it will appear to justify, of the opposition to extreme measures, and the inability of the conservatives of the country to sustain a journal at the seat of government opposed to radicalism, and practically confirm the standing and increase the influence of the radical press here, while it will deprive the country of a tried and faithful watchman on the walls of the citadel whose very presence intimidates from a surrender of the bulwarks of the Constitution and the constitutional union. Shall this be? Will the wealthy, patriotic, conservative men of New York quietly permit such an advantage to be gained by their destructive adversaries, and suffer to be lost what holds out such a prospect and guarantee of usefulness and necessity to them when a comparatively small effort may avert such a catastrophe? In view of the depressing effect which the stoppage of such a paper at this juncture will produce on National men North and South and their cause, and the advantages which will inure therefrom to the sectionalists, cannot some good men of New York make up a loan to the establishment of a few thousand dollars, which will give it stability and independence thro' the rest of this year, when it is to be hoped a new era will open, thereby maintaining an important element of power for good, in bringing about a reasonable and happy settlement of our difficulties when the force of arms shall have accomplished its work. Will these good people of New York allow this old and influential journal of more than half a century's standing to go down for defending their cause against the destructive policy of the radicals, and when, if it go down, the conservatives will have to make greater sacrifices in establishing another in its stead which must be long in acquiring the same confidence and power of usefulness? These are questions which must be determined in a few days, or the capital be left without a paper representing and upholding national views and the country be deprived of a faithful journal, which can be relied on, regardless of government favor, and continue to do its duty to the people unawed by power though it perish in the struggle.

"The amount, if supplied, may be deemed _and made_ a lien on the establishment and apply as a credit on its purchase hereafter, or may be _a loan_ to be secured by deed of trust thereon.

"I have stated facts, with no personal interest to advance other than as my welfare is identified with the honor and prosperity of the country and the integrity of the Union and the preservation of law and order. I have made suggestions, and can conceive of no act more patriotic or more demanded by the highest interest of the country than the object of my note.

"I have advised that a confidential agent go to your city, and I am writing to ask you to aid him by your counsel in putting him in the way to avert an impending calamity. What I write you are at liberty to use according to your discretion, but please keep my letter in your sole possession. My engagements preclude my leaving home at present, and I write as I would speak and would wish to say to men who will readily be suggested to your mind. Can _you_ say it for the country's sake, and at once?

"Yours faithfully, "JOS. C. G. KENNEDY."

WILLIAM B. REED TO TILDEN

"PHILAD., _July 28, 1863_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Our proposed litigation here, as to the conscription law, has thus far failed--from want of courage on the part of the litigant, whose chance of success, within the law, was not very encouraging, and whose doom, in the event of failure, was very certain. The form which was adopted by Mr. Ingersoll and Mr. Wharton was that of an injunction bill against the enrolling and drafting officers, and the hearing hoped for was before the court _in banc_. I now very much doubt if it will be resorted to. A _habeas corpus_ before a single judge on the receipt of notice, which constitutes a technical custody, seems to me preferable.

"The draft, in the mean time, is going on and, I confess, I am puzzled by the apathy with which it is received, especially in connection with the admitted fact that New York and probably New Jersey are to be exempt. Still, I think there will be an outbreak whenever the actual kidnapping begins.

"Of course you see or think you see the dangers which threaten you more clearly than we at a distance do. But the apprehension is very prevalent here that Gov. Seymour is in danger at any moment of secret arrest. Things of that kind have been hinted at, and certainly I saw nothing in New York to make such an outrage practically difficult. There is inducement enough, for his removal puts the whole Democratic North under the heel of the radicals. My theory about arrests is that they are always fatal. No public man ever recovered from the stain they seem to inflict. I doubt very much if Mr. Vallandigham will ever recuperate. Gov. Seymour is the only public man who at this moment stands in the way of a centralized despotism, and him a small guard of Federal soldiers could easily and secretly remove.

"I am, no doubt, very nervous and very suspicious, but, I assure you, these facts are not confined to my own bosom.

"Very Truly Y'rs, "WILLIAM B. REED."

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

TILDEN TO HENRY HOGEBOOM

"NEW LEBANON, _July 28th, 1863_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have been peculiarly unlucky in the attempt to answer your letter of June 18th. It came on my return from an absence from the city, followed immediately by another; and then by an illness which wholly disabled me for a week, and from which I emerged only after the commencement of the riot, and that brought upon me many demands for attention and counsel amid ten days of excitement and bustle. I turn to it as actually the first real business of my own to which I have had a chance to attend for some weeks, indeed, since the 4th of July, when I had begun an answer, until now. I came here Saturday evening, and expect to return to-morrow morning.

"How swiftly events move, and how greatly they change! I am reminded, as I see by what I began to write, how deeply a few weeks ago I was involved in solicitude for the results of the military operations then reaching their crisis. At no time since this war commenced have I been so disturbed as before the battle of Gettysburg; a different issue of which might, in my judgment, have put us on our defence even as far as Phila. and New York, and brought a revolution in our thoughts and occupations, and since that New York has been upon the verge of a social peril, at that time wholly unexpected.

"I appreciate the frank and cordial spirit of your letter, and shall state my own impressions in the same confidence which you express that our long knowledge of each other will, at least, secure us a perfect mutual understanding. I say impressions, for I am conscious that all my views of the future, for myself, and for all others in whom I take interest, may be colored by the peculiar uncertainties which now enshroud our horizon.

"1. While I think it proper for you to keep your eye upon the opportunity of forming a future business in New York, I doubt if you can prudently abandon your present sure and honorable position, or can count with sufficient certainty upon events to enter at present into definite engagements of so much importance to your interests and happiness. I think you will remember in all our conversations a disposition on my part (arising, perhaps, from the habitual caution which my views of public events inspire) to contemplate such a change in your affairs as taking effect after the close of your present term of official service.

"I think, if the battle of Gettysburg had happened to be such a disaster to us as is always possible in the vicissitudes of war, business in New York would have been for the time, and how long a time I know not, suspended. Who can compute the consequences of the loss of Washington, Baltimore, and, perhaps, Philadelphia? Nor can I be insensible to the social disorders to which great cities are exposed during such civil convulsions as our country is now undergoing.

"You are at present sure of a livelihood by a tenure and in a geographical position which are not affected by the military, political, or financial vicissitudes to which all business in the city of New York is exposed, and which might fall with peculiar severity upon a newly formed enterprise--undertaken in reliance upon profits which any of these causes might render illusory, and amid expenses which city life and city business inevitably involve. Under these circumstances I hope you will not consider it officious if I express the opinion that it would be wiser for you, holding to your present certainty, to await events which can scarcely fail to shift greatly, if not frequently, before a decision can be practically forced upon you.

"2. I agree with you that after the war shall have closed the city of New York will afford scope for business corresponding to the revivified interests of the country; but I agree with this qualification--that it can hardly be that the transition can be made, changing, as it will, the application of labor and enterprise from one set of objects to another, without a shock of more or less duration, and that the retirement by any process of the paper issues may be expected to produce a period of constantly increasing depression. It will be after this that, with its metropolitan character more than ever assured, New York will return to a state of healthy prosperity, if its position as the trade centre of all the States be preserved.

"3. In respect to myself. I am not sure that the advantages of a professional connection with me would be as great as might naturally be expected. It has been the general opinion of the profession that a mere counsel business, of large extent and income, could not be permanently kept up. So far as I have succeeded in doing this, my experience may have been exceptional. I have years ago abandoned all ideas of regular clientage, and could scarcely see any reason why my business should not much diminish, perhaps almost dry up, with the completion of that pending at the time. The substitution of mere business--easy to be deputed, regular in its flow, and almost formal in its nature, which is the basis of large profits in the general experience of the bar--I have not had, possibly because I had not the organization in my office to do it, and could not do it myself without abandoning the part to which I have devoted myself. If ten years ago I had provided for it what it might have grown to is a matter of conjecture. It is now too late for me to undertake the labor, care or responsibility, or even to acquire the disposition to construct such a business. How far, in lessening my active connection with affairs of the peculiar nature mine has become, I could transfer would be doubtful. Indeed, it would seem to me that some species which have occupied half of my attention for five years past are likely to disappear.

"4. Some years ago I had two suggestions of what seemed to be very flattering connections. One of them was of several intimate friends, who thought we could combine and build up a larger concern than ever existed in this city. I assented to that opinion, but shrank from assuming obligations and necessities which could not be practically terminable at my own choice. Uncertain how long health would permit or necessity require the efforts I was then making, or how long a disposition to continue them would survive the immediate occasion for them, I felt that I should unavoidably part with the perfect freedom of my choice if I allowed friends to build their calculations upon me--that no reservation I could make would exempt me from a sense that what I might prefer to do would disappoint or damage those with whom I had entered into the joint undertaking.

"In the interval these motives for keeping free from all connections have strengthened, while all motives to form them have nearly ceased. The necessities of that day have been fulfilled. My health requires an exemption for a time of more or less duration, from the cares which would attend any new engagements, or, indeed, the thought whether or not business is to continue. Everything that I could endeavor to foresee, whether personal, as health, taste, my remaining here or travelling to Europe or to the far West, or whether public, as financial or political events amid the civil commotions of our country--everything, in a word, which could ordinarily form the subject of calculation, seems to be more uncertain than ever before. My habit, therefore, in all things--I scarcely know whether it comes of disposition or of judgment--is to make no plans at present, except such as are inevitable; to await events, and to keep myself as prepared as possible to act, free from engagements and even from predeterminations of my own mind, according to the changing phases of affairs.

"I have thus, my dear sir, unveiled to you more of my private affairs and thoughts than, perhaps, are known to any other person; for I have written them as if we were talking together, writing my ideas as they arose, without much method or care.

"Please consider them as confidential, and excuse the haste with which they are expressed and the length to which my letter has grown. Accept the frankness of my revelations and suggestions as an evidence of my cordial interest in your views, and be assured that whatever I can do by way of information, advice, or suggestion towards your purpose, if you continue to entertain it, will be at all times at your service.

"Very truly, "Your friend, "S. J. TILDEN."

"_Hon. Henry Hogeboom._"

HORATIO SEYMOUR TO TILDEN

"ALBANY, _Aug. 6, 1863_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have been doing all that one overburdened man can do to adjust matters with the general government. I am satisfied it means to go on in a spirit of hostility to this State; that it is governed by a spirit of malice in all things small and great. I do not believe they will accept volunteers on account of the draft. Let it be so. I am willing to accept results. This conscription will make the administration odious and contemptible. It will fail as a measure to raise men. I do not take into account forcible resistance which will aid rather than embarrass government. It will break down because it is impossible to coerce a people. Some will commute, some will run away; many will prove disabilities, and a few will go, enough, perhaps, to demoralize the army. I have sent a communication to the President, written in calm and respectful terms, objecting:

"1. To the fairness of the movement.

"2. To the policy of conscription.

"3. Asking for a test of the constitutionality of the measure.

"It will do no good, except making up a record. I look for nothing but hostility, but I shall do my duty, and demand my rights, and let consequences take care of themselves. I feel no uneasiness.

"Truly y'rs, &c., "HORATIO SEYMOUR."

"_Hon. S. J. Tilden._"

J. VAN BUREN TO TILDEN

"_Private._

"LINDENWALD, _Sept. 4th, 1863_.

"MY DEAR TILDEN,--My father left to the col's son Martin a bust of himself by Powers; Smith and I have ordered two copies, or as they are to be executed by Powers, they will in effect be originals. The cost will be about $500; something under. They should arrive in October or November. The value of a bust by Powers as a work of art exceeds the sum named. It would be more convenient for me, I am sorry to say, not to take this bust, and I know nobody to whom I would offer it except yourself, or who would prize it so highly. Please drop me a line to let me know if it would be agreeable to you to take it. I need hardly add that this is a confidential matter between us.

"What have you been doing this summer, and why have you not looked in upon me? Thanks to a good farmer, I am promised fair crops and, thanks to the war, they should command fair prices; but I find I have upon my hands an establishment very much beyond the strength of Anna and myself, and so distant from my office as to cut me off from my profession. I shall be obliged, therefore, to change my arrangements.

"I was glad to see you helped the Tammany Democrats to keep the 4th of July, and trust you united in the sound war spirit that seemed to animate their proceedings. We hope to be back in 4th Ave. by or before the 1st. Novr., and shall be glad to see you there if you do not look in on us here before.

"Truly y'rs, "J. VAN BUREN."[39]

"LINDENWALD, _Sept. 4th, 1863_."

HIRAM KETCHUM TO TILDEN

"29 WILLIAM ST., _Sept. 9, 1863_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I spent some time last evg. with Mr. Reverdy Johnson at the 5th Avenue Hotel, where he will remain two or three days. He would be gratified to see you. The object which he seeks to accomplish--the continuance of the _Nat. Intelligencer_ until after the close of the next Presidential election--is one, in my judgment, of great importance. Should that paper be permitted to go down there will be a very large number of respectable and influential persons in this country left as sheep without a shepherd. They will have lost the leader which they have been accustomed to follow, and whose voice they know, for many years.

"I pray you put forth vigorous and prompt efforts to prevent such a result. I like the views you are reported to have expressed the other day, of uniting _all the opposition to the present administration_ in selecting our candidates for the next Presidency.

"Yours very truly, "HIRAM KETCHUM."

TILDEN TO JOSEPH S. FAY

"NEW YORK, _March 24, 1864_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--An absence from the city and the occupations preparatory to it have deferred my acknowledgment of your letter longer than I intended.

"In respect to the first topic of your letter, although we both agree in considering it practically past, the desire I have that the real state of facts should be completely understood by you induces me to add a word to our former discussions.

"As nearly as I can now recollect, the misunderstanding occurred about the time, I think even before, my action in respect to the Peninsula was decided. The false relation between Mr. Ogden and you with the impressions which such of our friends as occasionally met Mr. Parsons derived from him repelled overtures to you. Mr. O. always said that he thought he could satisfy you, but doubted and deferred.

"There never was a moment when I did not desire to communicate with you; but my acquaintance was so slight that I thought it necessary to wait for others, until at last I forced a breaking of the ice, and our interview took place.

"But enough of this. I should not recur to the topic if I had not a great respect for you. The past is gone. We can deal only with the present. That is within our powers. I do not think that, on the whole, we cannot now do nearly as well as if we had done what was best at first. For myself, I have so often felt your reproach for having omitted to promote our understanding, so capable of benefits to both sides, that I am determined as to the present and the future, which alone are in our power--that the boot shall be on the other leg.

"Coming now to what is the really important part of your letter--put after the fashion of the ladies in the P. S.--it must be admitted that if you should meditate anything more than a mere _sale_ on the best security--anything approaching in part to a sharing of the common joys and sorrows of the adventure--the future policy of Peninsular company, in the particulars mentioned by you, would be an important matter.

"I think that policy will be, whether in your society or out of it, _conservative_ to your heart's content.

"It would, no doubt, be very desirable to have the terminus of the Peninsular at Escanaba or Sand Point connected with Green Bay by rail. What we can do on that point, and what we cannot, has been definitely announced to Mr. Ogden and others by me assuming to speak for the very solid gentlemen who are the principal owners of the Peninsular.

"If the Northwestern will build that road we shall be glad. We do not believe the difficulty of operating it in the winter is any more real than it was supposed to be from Boston to Albany or from Piermont to Dunkirk twenty years ago; or as much so as on the Chicago and St. Louis in 1856. There will be a telegraph to Marquette in a few months. An all-rail line to that point would revolutionize the region.

"If the N. W. needs the privileges of our charter or the land grant which attaches to the portion of the line from Escanaba to the Menominee, we ought to accord them so that we incur no pecuniary liability for the construction or operation of the line.

"If the N. W. needs that we consent to a modification of the drawback which it is to allow us on its whole 242 miles for joint business that comes to or from the Peninsula--we may do that.

"But we cannot dilute our present investment by what will be inferior, though incidentally very desirable to us; or enlarge our undertaking from what we know to be completely within our means, of which we have measured the cost, and except to a very subordinate extent fixed it by purchases and contracts. If any of us aid the line south by taking an interest in it, it will be as a separate adventure.

"Not only has this been our uniform answer to such suggestions, but our present mortgage expressly excludes any extensions south from its provisions in favor of extensions north.

"Now as to extensions north, our policy would be not less provident. We must feel our way, accepting only what will surely be remunerative and not diluting our investment.

"So much in answer to your letter.

"Now a few words in addition on the general subject.

"1. Separately, our charges can scarcely fail to be affected 25 cents by the mutual fear of competition, alleviated as much as possible. That all comes from the profits on 300,000 tons; it is the interest on a million.

"2. In a state of paper-money prices, advancing constantly because of increasing issues, we can protect ourselves only by making rates correspond with daily increasing expenses.

"This is not apt to be done with sufficient promptitude and boldness.

"You will be and we shall be timid and laggard in meeting the exigencies which are before us--from fear of competition and from the delay which always attends arrangements between independent parties.

"3. We should better our condition as to our land grants if our efforts were joined. We could do so at the present session of Congress.

"There are other considerations which I have not time to discuss.

"It is necessary to arrive at results as soon as possible.

"1. Some important construction we have deferred to await the negotiations.

"2. We shall soon have to decide important questions which would be affected very materially by the junction of our interests. Of course, we are not so improvident as to act now on the hypothesis of successful negotiations between us.