Part 35

"1st. Where there was no haste, and more important matters claimed the earlier attention. It is very likely I have not been altogether wise, as the world is largely made up of fools, in this respect. I am so formed constitutionally that I concentrate on what seems of first importance, and defer with almost contemptuous indifference what can as well or better wait.

"This is the habit which has given me success in business, in affairs, in the conduct of parties, in all things where military organizations and strategy require a concentration of all resources and efforts on the turning-point of the battle to break thro the opposing lines.

"But the hungry office-seeker sees only the narrow personal interest he pursues, and perhaps the appointing power should act consistently in respect to its general duties for the sake of dealing with fools according to their folly. Perhaps so.

"2nd. When things were to be worked out which could only be known to the appointing power. For instance, a gentleman sent me a memorandum from Archbishop McCloskey suggesting two Catholic gentlemen for the Board of State Charities. He did not know that I had but three vacancies from N. Y., and that Mr. Jno. C. Deveraux, of Utica, would go out by expiration of his term if not reappointed. I sent to him to have his choice between the two he named, if only one of them could be taken, and to inform him about Dr. D. He gladly preferred the latter to one of his own nominees. Mr. D., you must know, is one of the best families of the interior, of the old and early Catholic aristocracy--a brother-in-law of Senator Kernan. How could I drop him?

"The one whom the archbishop preferred is the one who stands at the head of your list--Henry Hoguet. Then I wished to take one of the Hebrew persuasion if I could get a satisfactory one. I have good names, but location may compel me to forego this purpose.

"Then Mr. Howard Potter, who is one of the members resigning, making the vacancies I am to fill, has applied for an opportunity to see me before I make the appointment.

"These arrangements take time, only known to me.

"The case delayed the most was that of judge in this district. There were applicants from communities from all over the district. The appointment was made in a few hours after the last hearing was given, which it would have been an offence to refuse. I have more doubt about the delay in this case than in any other, but the result is general satisfaction.

"3rd. But the _real grumble_ is from those who ask for action which is doubtful or suspicious or which is certainly wrong.

"Our friend, Mr. Speaker MacGuire's grievance is this: There has been started the erection by the State of public buildings at four places beside the capital of a most extravagant character. One was the Elmira Reformatory. This was taken out of the hands of a commissioner and put in charge of an architect. Him I have the power to remove.

"Soon after I came here my old acquaintance, Steve Arnot, broke in half drunk, leading in the Speaker, Charles Walker, and Senator Bradley.

"He insisted that I should instantly turn out the architect and put in a man named by him.

"As there was no work going on, and the change might involve questions about contracts which had been broken--new ones pending, others to be made, and would involve the whole responsibility of wisdom and frugality and honesty in the construction--I thought the Governor had better not abdicate his functions, but had better look carefully into the whole matter before he embarked himself and the party on the adventure.

"The five buildings, including the capital, are popularly estimated to cost 25 or 30 millions.

"I treated the matter very kindly, but deferred it. I shall continue to do that until I know enough about it to act wisely. If I change the manager it will not be for patronage (one $4000 office of an expert), but to a man in whom I can have a personal trust that he will not disgrace me.

"My information is that the Democrats of Elmira and the county deprecate nothing so much as a return of the odium they have once had to bear. I had no reason to suppose there was any special discontent until it appeared. The Speaker had informed me he had introduced a bill which would make all right.

"Since I have written so much more than I intended I will turn back and make it personal.

"Very truly, &c.

"I have omitted to mention several narrow escapes. The balance is still in favor of wariness, notwithstanding some friends get tremors."

JOHN KELLY TO TILDEN

"315 LEX. AVENUE, NEW YORK, _Feb. 27th, 1875_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I regret that your kind intentions were so fruitless of effect. I am pleased, however, to find that the intended appointment of McLaughlin is generally approved. I am gratified, too, that Stemmler still is in the land of the living.

"I met your nephew, Mr. Pelton, at Marble's, as I presume he has so informed you, and there told him of Stemmler's death and advised a speedy appointment to fill the vacancy. My information was from the County Clerk's office; one of the principal clerks employed there gave me the information, and handed me at the same time the _Daily News_, which contained an account of the death of Stemmler. I enclose you herein a scrap cut from that paper, and one, too, referring to the matter afterwards.

"'CITY NEWS.

"'DEATH OF JUDGE STEMMLER.--Judge Stemmler of the Fourth District Civil Court died this morning at his residence in Seventy-first Street. Mr. Stemmler has long been an invalid. A short time ago an abscess on his right side was operated upon, and he was greatly benefited. Soon afterward he began to fail and took to his bed. Deceased was 63 years of age.'

"'CITY NEWS.

"'THE MAN WHO WILL FILL JUDGE STEMMLER'S PLACE, PROVIDED THE LATTER DIES.--Mr. J. Fairfax McLaughlin, who was yesterday appointed to fill the supposed vacancy in the judgeship of the Seventh District Court, is a native of Maryland, where he practiced law for ten years before coming to New York, which he did about four years ago. He has practiced law in this city, but is at present a clerk in the County Clerk's office. He has the reputation of being an elegant gentleman and scholar, speaking several languages. Judge Stemmler, however, is still alive.'

"I did not suppose that you would act promptly, and regret that the affair has occurred.

"Permit me to thank you for your well-disposed intention to do this kind favor.

"Wm. Dunham informs me that the bill authorizing the Board of Supervisors, or rather empowering them to remunerate him for the care and maintenance of prisoners committed to the debtor's gaol is now in your hands awaiting your signature.

"I have had some experience in the care of the gaol, and was paid a _per capita_ for maintaining the prisoners. It's unjust, then, to Dunham that he should not be paid. It appears that the gaol has always been supported by the county, yet there was no law authorizing it to be done. This was discovered when the predecessor of Dunham sued for his money on Green having refused to pay him. Dunham would not have taken the place if he had known that there was doubt about the remuneration. This law, then, as you have evidently seen, simply allows the Board of Supervisors to pay him what is just and proper for services rendered, and for which he has not been paid by the county.

"Yours truly, "JOHN KELLY."

CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

"FORT WASHINGTON, _Feb. 25, 1875_.

"DEAR GOV.,--I have perused the substitute. As a matter of course my first thought was that of a Yankee. I set to work guessing what could be the _motive_ of the change.

"The substitute is so much more broadly comprehensive than I feared the 'toned-down' document would be that this conjecturing process led me into what, even to myself, seems a strange dance.

"The substitute proposed is very good, nay, it is as good and as perfect as the original, save in one single point. It covers every ground I ever had in view, _save one_.

"And, who beneath the sun, can stand in the gap opposing that?

"Now let me explain to you my thoughts and mental processes.

"The swindlers have removed their property, _i. e._, the plunder, out of the State of New York. When the infamous decision was made in the State's own court that it, _i. e._, this State itself, _had no title_, that judicial point was thenceforth law in all foreign courts. If the State should bring an action in any foreign court, such court would be bound to decide against the plaintiff on the strength of that decree, substantially made _by such plaintiff itself_. But when the county or city or any like entity brought its action, the maintainability of that action would be a judicial question, determinable by the foreign judges according to their own views derived by them from the general principles of jurisprudence. These principles taught me, and should teach them, that as to most of these fraudulent abstractions the subordinate local entity had no title.

"When conferring with you concerning this subject prior to your message I distinctly stated this consideration.

"Though this may seem the product of a jurisprudent's recondite studies, it was born of practical common sense, and what is, perhaps, more to the point of my next observation, and to which it is preliminary, this idea is of a nature to be eminently popular. It might fairly be thought somewhat sensational.

"I was amazed to miss it from the lines of your message. If the thought that _you_ could have any hesitation about pursuing the plunderers and their plunder to the ends of the earth presented itself to me at all--as I must suppose was not the case--it was, of course, instantly rejected as fanciful and silly.

"But now, after a long pause for thought, forth comes the substitute for your own original conception, so long and so faithfully nurtured and cherished by me. And what is the difference between the original and the substitute? Nothing whatever, except this one thing.

"The title to and ownership of the money or cause of action is to remain unchanged!! Since that title was Allenized it is _not_ in the State.

"In all the courts of this State your substitute will be just as good as the original. For _any_ future local frauds I do not see but it is likely to answer every purpose. The single effect wrought by the alteration is that the stolen funds now in 'Belgium or Brittany' will be safe for the enjoyment of the thieves.

"To Dick Connolly it presents perfect immunity.

"Perhaps on this point you may say simply that I am mistaken; but such a remark never convinces any one. The mistake may exist, but the child of error never can see his mistake until some one takes the trouble of dissecting it and showing by adequate explanations that it is a mistake.

"I have done as to this substitute. No further observations upon it seem needful.

"The Tweed spirit is rampant here. It is determined to possess itself of unrestrained power over all the offices as avenues to plunder. The local suits against Tweed _et al._ will no doubt be pushed; but if any judgments shall be rendered which the gang shall dislike, their friends in the _Refugium Peccatorum_, as in duty bound, will reverse. Meantime the Statute of Limitations will do its kindly work.

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

JOHN BIGELOW TO TILDEN

"THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB, NEW YORK, _Tuesday, 1875_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I fully intended to drop in upon you to-day for an hour or two, but found myself this morning without a voice, and with a sore throat and headache. I wanted to say what I know it is unnecessary to say, but might be cheering and strengthening to you, that in this struggle with Tweed's scattered forces, led by the Mayor, to recover possession of the city treasury, you will be sustained if you are, as I am sure you will be, firm and defiant. You have only to inspire the public with confidence that you cannot be seduced or bullied into any concessions to the predatory class which is 'trying it on' with you, and you will find all of this city worth having are your friends. I am told that the Senate is likely to squelch the Costigan bill. If so, they will do wisely for themselves, no doubt, but they will deprive you of an excellent opportunity in a veto message to give Wickham his _coup de grace_.

"There is nothing you ever did that went so to the heart of the New-Yorkers as the way you doubled up Tweed and his pals. This movement against Green is the secondary symptoms of the same disease, and offers you an opportunity of which, I take it for granted, you will avail yourself of strengthening the public confidence in your chieftainship.

"You do not need to be told that nothing would be so fatal to you as the friendship of the Ring who are trying to force you into their intrigues to plunder the city. Green's defence has produced a fine effect here, and while the war lasts his position will improve.

"Very truly Yours, "JOHN BIGELOW."

Mr. Green had not been long in the office of Comptroller, to which he was appointed for the purpose of rendering its records accessible to Mr. Tilden, before he had alienated pretty much every one who had business with his department. He doubtless supposed that that was the necessary result of doing his duty. But such was not the impression left upon the Governor's friends, and the following letter from Mr. Hewitt was not the first indication of a public sentiment which made his nomination for that office, at the expiration of Connolly's term, which he was serving, impossible.

ABRAM S. HEWITT TO GOVERNOR TILDEN

"9 LEXINGTON AVENUE, NEW YORK, _Feb. 23rd, 1875_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--You will be glad to learn that I am getting stronger, and the doctor recommends me to go to Washington for a few days.

"You may be sure that I have followed the Wickham controversy with great interest, and was delighted at the perfect ease with which you applied an extinguisher to his farthing candle.

"If your brain keeps on softening for a few months longer, I think you will arrive at a development which will leave no doubt in the public mind as to your entire fitness for a much higher position than you now fill.

"Power told me yesterday that Kelly would be in Albany this week; let me urge that you have the frankest of free talks with him. I am satisfied that he will meet your views on every point except the retention of Green. Now you cannot afford to let Green be slaughtered, but Green can very well afford, in view of the momentous consequences to you involved in a disruption of the party machinery here, to solve the difficulty by placing his resignation in your hands, to be used only when a successor satisfactory to you and to Kelly can be agreed upon. I had a long talk with Green on Sunday night. He believes his position to be impregnable, and he is not at all conscious of the intense disgust with which he is regarded by the Tammany organization. He even thinks that the general committee might be got to indorse him. I told him very frankly that in my judgment it would be destruction to those who are really his friends to make any such issue in the committee, and I tell you that it is no use to try it. Your position and character will be with me the first consideration, and after that it seems to me that Kelly's position should be made as easy for him as the circumstances will admit. I think he understands Wickham now, and you and he ought never to be lacking in a perfect understanding with each other. I have not seen Kelly, as I would have been glad to do, but you are at perfect liberty to show him this letter if you choose, as there is nothing in my mind that I would not be willing to say to him personally on these topics, if he were to think it worth while to consult with me.

"Mr. Ruggles has been to see me with regard to the Davis canal bill, which he thinks is a blunder; he is quite clear, and I agree with him, that the canal can only be properly administered by a general superintendent, nominated by the Governor, and approved by the Senate. The Governor should have the power to suspend or remove the general superintendent for cause. In this way the Governor will have the direct control of the canal, and the canal commissioners be relegated to their proper duties of auditing the expenditures, and seeing that the general superintendent does his duty.

"It seems to me that the position in which Davis has placed himself in regard to the Tammany delegation affords an unusually favorable opportunity for getting this legislation. It might be brought in as a counter-proposition to Davis's bill. If you had a proper understanding with Davis in advance, and he would agree to make not more than a nominal opposition to the substitute, the canals could thus be rescued from the corrupt ring which has plundered the revenues for so many years. If your administration could accomplish any such result it would be a great triumph, as well as a priceless benefaction to the people of this State.

"Faithfully yours, "ABRAM S. HEWITT."

"_Feb'y 23, 1875_, "_Hon. Samuel J. Tilden_, "_Albany, N. Y._"

CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

(ON THE GOVERNOR'S POWER OF REMOVAL FROM OFFICE)

"FORT WASHINGTON, _February 11, 1875_.

"DEAR SIR,--I wrote you yesterday. You will have probably seen, ere this can reach you, a partisan opinion in the _Herald_ pronouncing your authority in the matter of removals limited to a Delphic response whether the 'reasons' or the 'causes' are sufficient. This, too, to be pronounced in the Mayor's specification of his reasons, without any authority on your part to look out of it.

"This is unsound. Your power of approval is just like the Mayor's power of removal--absolutely discretionary. You are not bound to pass upon the 'causes' assigned nor the 'reasons' communicated. The grammatical import of the law and the good sense of the thing show that your approval is to apply to the removal, _i. e._, the act itself.

"This journalist's reasoning would tie you up very closely. If the Mayor were to remove Comptroller on the ground that he had shown himself quite unworthy of confidence by kicking his wife in a church on Sunday, in the face of the whole congregation during divine service, the only point before you would be whether such a cause--assuming the fact to be as asserted--was in point of law sufficient ground of removal. Though Green had no wife, was sick in bed at home on the designated Sunday, and that, owing to bad weather or some accidental cause, there was no service in his church on that day, you must approve his removal and let him be kicked out unless you were prepared to say that, in point of law and reason, such misconduct was not objectionable in a public officer.

"The truth is, the Democratic branch of the Tweed Ring is no better than the Republican branch of the same. The former and the latter have the same aims. Either from weakness or something else, the Mayor goes with 'our friends.'

"You must make up your mind to go with that interesting party or to go against it. I am against it; nothing will persuade me to withhold any little power I possess from the anti-swindler-ism party.

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

"_His Excellency, Samuel J. Tilden_, "_Albany, N. Y._"

FRANCIS C. BARLOW TO TILDEN

"_Personal._

"NEW YORK, 21 PARK ROW, _Feb. 8th, '75_.

"HON. SAML. J. TILDEN, Governor, &c.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I am satisfied that the choice of Corporation Counsel, in place of Mr. E. Delafield Smith, lies between Mr. E. R. Robinson and Mr. Wm. C. Whitney. There is no doubt about this.

"I am, furthermore, pretty sure that Mr. Wickham would be glad of an influential pressure which would counterbalance the pressure of Wm. C. Barrett, Thos. Boise, and others in favor of Whitney, and authorize him (the Mayor) to appoint Robinson.

"You know what the influences of Barrett _et al._ are, and I am sure you would not think them desirable advisers of a corporation counsel, as they certainly would be of Whitney.

"I write to beg you to help, if you can, Robinson. I am sure he is far more in accord with Mr. O'Conor, Peckham, etc., than Whitney would be, though, of course, I am only able to speak for myself.

"I hope earnestly that you will be able to further the cause of public justice, for which you have done so much, by bringing about, so far as the matter comes before you, the appointment of Robinson.

"Yours Very Respectfully, "FRANCIS C. BARLOW."

SAMUEL HAND TO TILDEN

"STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, ALBANY, "_Monday Morning_.

"GOV. TILDEN.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I had intended to see you before or when I delivered the enclosed and satisfy you of _my reasons_.

"But the storm yesterday prevented, and I do not find you here this morning, and must go down. Fearing you may want to _act_ at once, I leave it.

"I will see you and _justify_ soon as possible.

"Yours with respect, "SAML. HAND."

SAMUEL HAND TO TILDEN

"ALBANY, _Jany. 30th, 1875_.

"HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR TILDEN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--When I received your note to-day by Mr. Pelton I had already spoken to my partners of the suggestion you had made to me yesterday that you might, in certain contingencies, ask me to accept the appointment of judge, and of my promise to you to consider the subject.

"After talking with them, and upon careful consideration, I have concluded that at this time it would hardly be possible for me to undertake the duties of the office of judge of the Supreme Court.

"In thus declining your very complimentary offer, I am and shall always remain deeply grateful to you personally for the kindness of your intentions towards me.

"I assure you that my present action is not from lack of due appreciation of the dignity and importance of the office, and of the high honor, especially coming from your hands, it would confer upon me.

"Yours, with the sincerest regard and respect, "SAMUEL HAND."

CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

"FORT WASHINGTON, _Jany. 7, 1875_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Perhaps I am too suspicious or too prone to evil constructions, but I cannot resist the belief that there is a complete conspiracy. And for aught I see, it may succeed.

"At the outset, Curtis and Porter were called in and gave a written avowal of their _doubts whether there was any remedy_. When the reform Mayor, a Republican, was coming in, Smith was substituted for O'Gorman. Now recently, counting in some way on favor or folly or softness in Wickham, Smith arranged it to dismiss Peckham and Barlow and substitute _Porter and Curtis_!! All the scamps have fled except Tweed. Field is hurrying up Tweed's criminal case, and the moment he gets a reversal, which is pretty sure, Tweed will fly. No civil process of arrest being out against him, this is easy.

"What are we to do?

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

A. LOOMIS TO TILDEN

"LITTLE FALLS, _Jany. 6, 1875_.

"DEAR SIR,--The usurpation by the military arms of the United States of the entire government of the _late_ State of Louisiana has been consummated by the forcible expulsion of members of the Legislature from their seats by United States soldiers.

"This occurrence demands, in my judgment, an expression of public opinion in relation to it more efficient than editorial denunciations, however emphatic. The press exerts a wonderful influence, but there are exigencies in which its efforts to arrest abuses may be greatly strengthened by public opinion expressed in more authentic form.