Part 23

"In regard to leases for years or for lives, the convention should not interfere. It may, if it choose, declare that hereafter no leases for lives shall be given. The Constitution has already declared that there shall be no leases of agricultural lands for more than twelve years; and this is a bad restriction for tenants. But leases for lives are in the process of rapid extinction, and they are not renewed now. My father-in-law, Mr. Morgan, gave a large number of such leases sixty years ago. Some of them are still in existence, although they were only for three lives, which in England are considered equivalent to 21 years. We are selling on liberal terms to the lessees or their representatives. There should be no interference with such tenures, unless it be to prohibit them in future. Every man on Mr. Morgan's land who has used it in a farmer-like manner has grown rich. Only the idle or improvident, and now and then an unlucky fellow, have failed to make money. The lands were leased for the interest of less than $3 per acre. They have for thirty or forty years been worth treble and quadruple that price, and the tenants have reaped all the benefit of the advance. Now to interfere in any way with the reversionary interest of the lessor would be the grossest injustice to him. Of course it would be a violation of the contract, which we should resist; and it would do an incalculable injury to a commercial State like New York, whose vitality depends so much on the inviolability of its faith and the security of property of all kinds.

"Should there be any movement of the kind I have adverted to, I wish you would talk with Evarts, Pierrepont, and others of the right-thinking men of the convention; and if you please, show them this letter.

"I am very hard pressed between the exposition, the foreign sovereigns, and our own home sovereigns, of whom we have a tremendous influx, and write you '_currente calamo_,' as you see.

"We are all well, and cast longing eyes every day across the Atlantic.

"Ever Sincerely Yours, "JOHN A. DIX."

"_Hon. Saml. J. Tilden._"

WILLIAM CASSIDY TO TILDEN

"_14 Augt., '67._

"HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

"DEAR TILDEN,--Your long absence gives anxiety to your friends here. We miss you in council and on the floor. You must come up soon; for we will have to meet the financial question, and want you. I would have written you before, but have been laid up by the heels myself for a fortnight. Indeed, I would have gone down to New York to see you if I had been able. I would have asked leave of absence, but each day you were expected to be on hand, and I am opposed to placing on record the fact that you were ever ill. A majority of the convention has been on the sick list. Take 160 middle-aged men, and you will have a pretty large show of invalids in midsummer, when all classes are accustomed to vacation.

"You have lost nothing thus far. We have lost your speech on naturalization, etc. It must come in elsewhere. Write me, and tell me what I can do to aid you, and when you expect to be on board.

"Yours truly, "WILLIAM CASSIDY."

ANDREW JOHNSON TO TILDEN

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., _Novr. 12, 1867_.

"SIR,--It having been suggested to me by political friends in New York that you have some suggestions which you desire to make to me, in relation to the public welfare, which would be of service to the country, I would be pleased to have your views at such time as may suit your own convenience.

"Very truly, "ANDREW JOHNSON."

"_Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, New York._"

HORATIO SEYMOUR TO TILDEN

"UTICA, _Nov. 29, 1867_.

"DEAR SIR,--I send you the enclosed letter because I said I would call your attention to the subject of a paper in Kansas. I hope the harmless compliment to me will not harm the writer. Such things are usually found in letters asking favors. I do not know what can be done in such cases. I know that you as well as I have to meet such calls every day of the week. I hurried up my letter, getting my name off of the list of candidates so that I might save what little property I have. If it is so ruinous to be talked of for nomination, I do not see how any one can live through a canvass after a nomination. I expect now to be let alone.

"I wish the State Committee would do one thing--that is, send a circular to any Democratic paper in the State asking them to print John Q. Adams' speech, which is published in Friday's _World_. The National Committee should see to its publication elsewhere. To my mind it is the most effective speech made in years. This will cost nothing, but it will tell at this time.

"Please to send me back Mrs. Moore's letter.

"Truly yours, &c., "HORATIO SEYMOUR."

"_Hon. S. J. Tilden._"

JNO. D. VAN BUREN TO TILDEN

(ENCLOSING MR. VAN BUREN'S CHECK FOR $200)

"_Private._

"NEW YORK, _Dec. 3, 1867_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Take a cool, philosophical view of this note, but believe every word of it.

"It is very hard for me to do an ungracious thing, and few things are more ungracious than to reject kindness. I have carried the enclosed in my pocket a good while, but could not muster courage, when I saw you repeatedly, to take away from you the pleasure of having done the kindness.

"No matter tho' none but you and I know it, I cannot go to the club while _I feel_ that I have not paid my own footing; I have given it a good thinking, and I am sure I shall never incline to go there until this is done. So that the very object you desire would not be attained. You must, therefore, of necessity, take it back.

"It is not because I am unwilling to receive kindness from _you_ that I return it; and pray do not forget that the balance of favors done is very largely to your credit as between us. _You_ would have made me Comptroller if I had not refused; and your intentions with me are just as much a cause of gratitude as the realization would have been.

"One other thing. I will continue to give you my aid in the State Committee business, and follow your orders promptly so long as I have time; but for such work I cannot take pay.

"Yours truly, "JNO. D. VAN BUREN."

"_S. J. Tilden, Esq._"

WILLIAM CASSIDY TO TILDEN

"THE 'ARGUS,' ALBANY, _7 Decr., 1867_.

"DEAR TILDEN,--The convention is going on, after a fashion, with the judiciary; New York is absent, except Daly, who has confessed judgment for the judicial partnership in New York, upon which execution is to issue and the corrupt concern to be closed. Opdyke is ready to adjourn if there is Democratic strength enough to accomplish it. Let the New York delegates be on hand on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we can accomplish it; either adjourn till spring or to New York, for a winter month. Do you notify the city members confidentially to be on hand. I will write also.

"Schev, according to Warren's account, is not to blame for the protested draft. He spent $1000, and it was arranged in State committee that I was to go to the 8th dist. You need not come up to abolish him!

"Seymour is here, and is most anxious to commence the propaganda of Democracy, in tracts and newspapers, under the auspices of the State committee. You are unwell. Give up railroads and take to politics exclusively. The alternative will be as good as rest.

"Yours ever, "WILLIAM CASSIDY."

WILLIAM CASSIDY TO TILDEN

"THE 'ARGUS,' ALBANY, _12 Decr., 1867_.

"DEAR TILDEN,--I received your check for $500, which was welcome, because we were hard up for money at this _Argus_ office. The convention will owe us some $10,000, but we must wait for the Legislature and the Campbells to pay us in the spring. For the same reason, if you have not placed the $3000 belonging to Mrs. C., I will take it. She can pay part of it on the house she bought, and then I want to buy in Richmond's shares in the _Argus_. I ought to have them at half price, in view of a certain indebtedness of the late chn. of a State committee.

"We will adjourn the convention till spring, in spite of you. Unless the weather is too cold I will be down to New York. I want to talk of the Presidency, the Cabinet, the Governorship, and of yourself first and last.

"Yours ever, "WILLIAM CASSIDY."

HORATIO SEYMOUR TO TILDEN

A POLITICAL FORECAST

"UTICA, _Dec. 13, 1867_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--This is a bitter cold morning, and I have made up my mind to keep by the bright wood fire which is blazing on the hearthstone in my farm-house. I shall make use of the time to write to you a political letter. It is seven years since the Democratic party went out of power. Seven years of war or of discord, of corruption, of hate, of taxation and tyranny. In that time, how many who have enjoyed the honors and profit given to them by the Democratic party have turned against it and have proved to be its bitterest foes! How few were left to stand up against the storms of insult, scorn, and threats which beat upon any man who cared for principles of liberty, humanity, and rights! But there were those who did this, and they live to see the day dawning when right and truth will conquer.

"But all conditions have their dangers. The time-servers and spoil-hunters are seeking to come back to our party, not as penitents, but as leaders. They may in time forgive us for not joining in their treachery, but it will always be counted against us that we did not go out with them to gather spoils. There is danger that these men may divide those who stood together in the years of trial and of trouble. They hatch schemes to draw off some who have strength, and thus break up the band that held together in the dark days.

"What should we do to counteract these plans? We have in New York a great party. It is fresh, vigorous, and united. It is animated by a sense of past wrongs and of future victories. We have but a few leaders, for none but men of nerve and of truth could stand the tests of the last seven years. Those leading men are well placed in different parts of the State, so that neither their numbers nor positions make them clash. All fair and honorable ambitions can be gratified--could we be more fortunately organized. Let us in a generous spirit train up as many new men as we can and fit them for places of honor and trust, but do not suffer those who come in sunshine and leave us in storms to walk into our councils and shape our policy with a view to their own gain. We who have held to the cause of constitutional liberty have not always agreed in our views. At times there may have been irritation. But surely past trials have made a groundwork of an attachment and confidence which cannot be felt towards those who turned against us or who shrank away in our times of trouble. Those generals without troops who want to come back into leadership will bring no strength, but much discord. To my mind it is clear that policy and duty alike demand that we should stand, as to organization and counsellors, where we are. We do not want more leaders. We have the public with us. But something must be done to let all of our friends feel that we are to act together in the spirit that should be, and I think has been, nurtured in trials we have passed through. We must have the whole matter frankly talked over. In the mean while each one should keep clear of all entanglements. I have written to Sandford E. Church on this subject in the way I write to you. I wish you would let me know your views. I think eight or ten men should meet at Albany as soon as the Legislature gets under way. You should see four or five in New York--say, Sweeny, Tweed, Brennan, Hoffman, etc., etc. The rival candidates for the Presidency will all try to get men drawn into their interests. Let us keep our power by holding ourselves free.

"Truly yours, &c., "HORATIO SEYMOUR."

WM. A. WALLACE TO TILDEN

"CLEARFIELD, PENNA. "_30 Decr., 1868._

"HON. S. J. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--I have yours of 24th inst. I have received responses from several gentlemen to whom I addressed letters similar to that to which you reply, and I have been awaiting your reply before proceeding to name a time and place for our meeting. I am still of opinion that good will result from a meeting of the chairmen of the executive committees of the Northern and border States, by securing unanimity of sentiments or discovering the points of difference, as well as from discussing the general plan of campaign. I have thought of suggesting _Washington_ as the place of meeting, and about _Febry. 1st_ as the time. If the time and place suit you, and you will so advise me, I will proceed to notify the chairmen of all of the Democratic committees and invite their attendance.

"Very respy. yrs., "WM. A. WALLACE."

FOOTNOTES:

[31] Mr. Lincoln was elected President on the 7th Nov., 1860.

[32] A kind man and enjoying the confidence of Mr. Marcy who had been Secretary of War under President Pierce.

[33] Mr. O'Sullivan had been appointed, by President Buchanan, Minister to Portugal.

[34] It is presumed that the work here referred to is an account from Van Buren's pen of the administrations of President Jackson and his own. It is greatly to be regretted that Mr. Van Buren did not, to that extent, at least, become his own biographer.

[35] Mr. Gillett was a neighbor, a friend, and the authorized biographer of Silas Wright. His letter is only interesting as another illustration of the diversities of opinion among the spectators, about the first thing to do when the neighbor's house is on fire.

The letter of Mr. Tilden to Judge William Kent first appeared in the _Evening Post_ in 1860, and was republished in the New York _World_ in 1863.

[36] Mr. Taylor was appointed Harbor Master of New York, in Jan'y, 1873, by Governor Hoffman.

[37] Mr. Hogeboom was a lawyer in Hudson, Columbia County, of which county Mr. Tilden also was a native.

[38] A lawyer from Watertown, Mass., who settled in New York city, and was the author of _Several Studies of the Federal Constitution_, of _The Last Years of Daniel Webster_, and _The Law of Copyright_. In the Civil War his sympathies were with the insurgent States. He died in 1894.

[39] Martin Van Buren had died in July, 1862.

[40] Mr. Eames took the first honors of his class at Harvard University; studied law in New York; married the eldest daughter of Judge Campbell, then Surrogate of New York city. On the election of Polk he took up his residence in Washington, and during the Civil War was much employed by the government in the Supreme Court, as counsel of the Navy Department, in resisting illegal claims.

[41] The difference in the amounts received by General Grant and the amounts subscribed was doubtless cash from the donors whose names were withheld.

1868-1871

S. L. M. BARLOW TO TILDEN

OBJECTIONS TO HENDRICKS AS A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

"_Private._

"_1868._

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--Unless Indiana breaks from Pendleton, as I told you last evg., he will have all the Southern votes, including Tennessee, this morning, and then Indiana cannot leave him, and he will be nominated.

"I hear that in no case will more than half of the Indiana vote be given for Hendricks. If this is so, it seems to me that a better selection can be made. It is awkward to put a candidate in nomination who gets no vote out of his own State, and in leaving him to go for one who has but half his own State. But you know better about the facts than I, and I may be misinformed as to Indiana's probable course.

"But in no case is it probable that Hendricks can be nominated, and for success he should not be.

"S. L. M. BARLOW.

"_Wednesday._"

CLARKSON N. POTTER TO S. J. TILDEN

"_Thursday,_ 10 A. M. [_1868._]

"MY DEAR SIR,--At this juncture is it not wise for the N. Y. delegation to ask the Pendleton men whom they will support? If they answer Seymour, he _must not_ decline. But I am confident it won't do to take up Gov. Chase until the Pendleton men have been consulted.

"Faithfully yours, "CLARKSON N. POTTER."

GOVERNOR WM. BIGLER, OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO TILDEN

"CLEARFIELD, PA., _Feb. 3d, 1868_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--The time is rapidly approaching when we must select a candidate for the Presidency, and so far as the State is concerned we are all at sea. The judgment of our political friends seems to be in favor of the nomination of Gov. H. Seymour, and unless some objection be presented to him of which we have not heretofore heard I think our State will declare for him on the 20th proximo. We regard his declination as simply a manifestation of his personal desires on the subject, and not as denying his name and services to the country; at all events, we deny his right to control his friends to that extent, and unless his home friends deem it inexpedient we shall urge his nomination.

"I do not regard his chances of success as in the least impaired by what has occurred in the West. Mr. Pendleton is a good man, of high attainments, but I fear he has started an issue on which we cannot unite; at all events, it cannot be made the leading issue. The restoration of the ten absent States to the Union, with the rights and privileges of the other States, and with their local governments in the hands of their white population, must be the absorbing question. All else must be subordinate and secondary. The Democratic party will protect the good faith and honor of the nation as well in reference to the public debt as in reference to all other questions.

"What is the prevailing sentiment in your State? Is it in favor of Gov. Seymour; if not, to whom does it tend? Gen. Hancock would do right well for the second place, but I do not think our people are inclined to go for him for the first.

"Be kind enough to reply to this note, and address me at the Merchants Hotel, Phila. What you have to say shall be strictly confidential, and I shall go over to see you if you desire me so to do.

"Very truly, Your Obt., "WM. BIGLER."

CH. O'CONOR TO TILDEN

(HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE "GREAT MOGUL")

"_Feb. 10, 1868._

"DEAR SIR,--I saw the Great Mogul,[42] agreeably to your suggestion, and, finding him in very good humor, had a pretty long, full, and free chat with him.

"He is all for the cause, and cares not for any man living relatively to the result itself. He deems a failure fraught with indescribable misery.

"I am sure that he speaks the truth and is honest. He repeated that so far from having any antipathy against your man, he rather likes him; used some strong terms of commendation, and says that unless by some slip nothing will appear to his personal disadvantage. Indeed, he seemed to agree to my hint that he might best avoid sneering at any one who was a favorite with any so as to keep all in good humor. He would like very well to get your man in. The whole question is, Who's most likely to win?

"He is in trouble about the feud in Ohio; thinks Vallandigham more of a man than Pendleton. Wishes something done to reconcile the feud.

"He says the Democrats will deserve a thrashing if they nominate one day earlier than the last day to which the act can be postponed.

"Train all your men, keep all their friends in hope till it's too late to back out, and then try to nominate, with a sole view to victory, is his advice.

"Y'rs, "O'C."

R. C. ROOT TO TILDEN

(SUGGESTS TILDEN AS A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY)

"_Private._

"NEW YORK, _10 Feb., '68_.

"DEAR SIR,--I have been reflecting on the subject of next Presidential nomination suggested by you the other evening, and am seriously of opinion that I know of no one more able, or who would nearer meet all the requirements of the present crisis than yourself. The selection of any such names as those you mentioned would bring up _old_ issues and prejudices, and _insure_ defeat; no one doubts your ability or integrity; you, I think, could cut loose from such old associations (for they will be fatal to any candidate on our side who _can't_ do it); _you_ have _not_ been worn out on antiquated platforms. Why can't such a nomination be made? I believe it would [be] acceptable to the country.

"If you ask me if I think that you could be elected against Grant, I say _yes_, if the party won't force on you a platform that _says too much_--(if the devil ever possessed a sensible man, it is in getting up 'platforms'); not more than _three_ or four cardinal points, viz.:

"1. Cheerfully accord freedom to the negro, and equality before the law; but no _universal_ negro suffrage, nor _domination_ of the negro over the white man.

"2. No cavilling about the national debt, however incurred; that is sacred as honor, and must be paid, principal and interest.

"3. No further patching of the Constitution of the country, nor curtailing the independence of the Supreme Court.

"4. The present erroneous expenditures of the genl. government shall be reduced, and taxes equalized and diminished, and tax-gatherers shall no longer be suffered to pry into domestic affairs nor count the spoons.

"If such a platform could be put out and _stuck_ to, not dragged out into _side_ issues, or _dead_ issues, success would be sure; so it appears to me; but if I am only another instance of the side allusion above, it would not be strange; but I would like such a nomination as proposed--there could be none better.

"Y'rs, &c., "R. C. ROOT."

S. J. TILDEN TO R. C. ROOT (PROBABLY)

"NEW YORK, _Feb. 28th, 1868_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Two successive absences, between which I was in town but one day and passed that ill in bed, have prevented an earlier answer to your letters.

"I concur in your judgment that the paramount issue in the coming election would be 'the restoration of the ten absent States to the Union, with all the rights and privileges of the other States, and with their local government in the hands of the white population; and that all else must be subordinate and secondary.'

"Our position must be _condemnation and reversal of negro supremacy_ in the ten States (added to that in Tennessee), created by the measures of the Federal government--_first_, by disfranchising the whites and overawing them by military force, and, _secondly_, by admitting the blacks and organizing them through the Freeman's Bureau, not only involving us in a partnership in self-government with a mass of voters (in all the U. S. over 900,000), confessedly incompetent at the present time to exercise the suffrage wisely or safely, and without any of the training, habits, or aspirations of freemen, but, by thus obtaining control of nearly one-third of the Senate and nearly one-quarter of the House, establishing a practical dominion of the same character over the great free States of the North and over the whole country.

"Associated with this issue are all those measures by which the Senate is to be packed by the admission of new States--the subdivision of the present States--added to the control of 20 from the ten States and others constituting a Senatorial dynasty of long tenure, and the usurpation by the Senate thus constituted of the opportunity, power, and the absorption by it and the House of the rightful authorities of the Executive and of the Judiciary.

"In my judgment, if we obscure or weaken this issue, we shall not only fail to meet the necessities of the present condition of the country, but we shall commit a great political blunder.