Part 5

The logic of the situation presented by Mr. Wright's nomination for Governor in 1844 required that he should by his election save the Presidential ticket and then "succeed President Polk in 1848 or retire from public life," and Mr. Marcy to defeat Mr. Wright's re-election as Governor, or himself retire from public life. It was practically to engage in such a duel that Mr. Wright went to Albany and took the oath of office on the 1st of January, 1845. He had in his favor a great parliamentary reputation, and a character for wisdom, probity, and political sagacity, enjoyed in a superior degree by no other American statesman of his generation.

On the other hand, he had to contend with an administration in whose eyes all these virtues, when enlisted against slavery, were regarded only as so many additional reasons for crushing their possessor. He had also to contend with a very considerable number who still called themselves Democrats, but who had deserted the party from mistrust of the success of its financial policy, and who were impatient to recover some sort of party standing.

Mr. Tilden engaged in this canvass for President Polk with more zeal than in any other except, perhaps, the last, in which he was himself a candidate, and in both instances was betrayed by his party.

Not the least efficient of his services in this campaign was the establishment of the _Daily News_ in connection with John L. O'Sullivan.

O'SULLIVAN'S PLAN AND ESTIMATE IN REGARD TO THE "MORNING NEWS."

"_July 13, 1844._

"Outline of plan of arrangement for the paper between S. J. Tilden and J. L. O'S.--proposed by me.

"J. L. O'S.

"1. The entire concern to be owned in equal halves by S. J. T. and J. L. O'S.

"2. Any disagreement of opinion ever arising, if requiring a decision, and irreconcilable by discussion, to be determined by reference to B. F. B. or some other friend, unprejudiced in the matter.

"3. In case of either party ever desiring to withdraw, the other to have the refusal of the purchase of his interest, on equal terms with those offered by any one side, or of any portion of the same at proportional rate.

"4. In case of failure of the enterprise and both desiring to give it up, the materials purchased to be vested in trust in (query--the Chairman of the Gen. Committee--or Young Men's Gen. Committee?--or B. F. B.?)--for the benefit of the Democratic Party. This is to be determined within six months. If one desires to give it up and the other does not, at the end of six months, or before, the whole property then to become absolute in the one remaining.

"5. Neither to place the firm under any debt or obligation without the consent of the other.

"6. The business machinery to be managed by a Chief Clerk (Guion), at a salary of $--, and 1/10 of profits.

"7. The estimate of profits of the concern to be made after the allowance of editorial salaries. S. J. T. and J. L. O'S. to be entitled to draw a sum not exceeding $30 a week apiece, for editorial labor and time. Each to do this at his own discretion, and according to his own estimate of a reasonable compensation for his labor and time. If hereafter, from regard to health or other cause, either should desire to withdraw for longer or shorter period from active participation in editorial charge, the other remaining in charge to be entitled to an editorial salary of $2500 per annum. In case of death of either, the other to inherit his share, subject to an annuity for ten years, according to direction of the deceased, amounting to one-third of that portion of the general profits which would otherwise have been divisible between the two--the salary of $2500 in that case being allowed to survivor for editorship.

"No other points now occur to me requiring provision.

"J. L. O'S.

"It is possible that Mr. Waterbury may desire to have some connection with the paper, which will be in that case perfectly agreeable to me. The amount to be allowed him for his services in it, in that event, whether in the form of a certain proportion of profits, or part salary and part proportion of profits, I leave to be fixed by you. I should like also myself to employ my brother in it, if as clerk and general aid his services should appear desirable, his compensation being fixed between us, ranging above a certain small minimum, according to his services and the ability of the concern.

"J. L. O'S."

TILDEN TO----

"NEW YORK, _April 25_, _1844_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I returned three days since, and have been trying to get an opportunity to write to you without success until now. The prospect of overcoming the pecuniary obstacle appears favorable. A few days will decide the question, when I will write to you more particularly.

"A modification of the plan is meanwhile being attempted, which, if successful, must greatly increase its usefulness. It is, if possible, to get the $5000 absolutely; with a condition that if we cannot get a subscription of 25,000 or deem it wise to publish a less number, we shall have the same _value_ in such printed matter as we may choose, and additional matter at cost; which we can circulate in what way we may think best. My own opinion is that, as a general rule, it should be _sold_, at or below cost, which will itself be very low if the quantity is large and the work managed economically. It seems to me that in this mode we could circulate 2, 3, 4, or 5 times our actual capital; that we should tempt purchases from every part of the country, and make the most extensive and efficient use of our money.

"Of course there are a great many details to be contemplated in arranging so large a machine: I cannot now state them sufficiently even to explain my suggestions, but hope to be able to speak more definitely in a few days.

"Mr. V. B. was perhaps less impressed with the importance of the paper than yourself, and circumstances of delicacy prevented my taking that view of the subject. Nevertheless, he was anxious to have it undertaken, and, since my return, tho I have in no measure availed myself of the aid which he was willing to render, our people seem better inclined than I expected. Still, the experiment cannot be regarded as tested."

SENATOR SILAS WRIGHT TO TILDEN

"SENATE CHAMBER, WASHINGTON, _April 11, 1844_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Having labored in vain during the whole of yesterday to find time to write to you my promised letter, and not having approached the probability of such leisure between 8 o'clock A.M. and 12 o'clock P.M., I now take my seat for the purpose.

"I have conversed as extensively as I could with our Western friends upon the subject of the paper of which we take,[6] and all I can say, as to the result of my conferences, is that no dependence can be made upon them, beyond a reasonable effort to extend the subscription, in case we shall conclude to take the hazard of making the attempt to establish the paper. The same feeling of which I spoke to you has produced the influences I supposed it would, and it, together with the efforts we are making here to distribute documents, has cooled the anxiety formerly expressed for such a paper, and especially so when a suspicion arises that the man's own pocket may be connected with the effort to establish the paper.

"Still, I confess, I have not been able to diminish, to my own mind, the importance of such a paper to our cause. I think our State press, as a general remark, in a very bad state for the pending contest. The country press has been, time immemorial, accustomed to look to the _Argus_ for lead and tone in these great fights, but the _Argus_, during the whole time we have been here, appears to me to have been insensible of the pendency of the contest, as perfectly unaware of what appears to me to be its true character. It is not my object to complain of the _Argus_, and I doubt not that the singular and very unfortunate state of things at Albany has embarrassed its cause, and perhaps presented reasons for its silence upon national questions, of which I am ignorant. In any event, the _Argus_ furnishes no lead to the country press; we have no weekly general paper, and the Whigs, through the showers of the _Tribune_ which they are pouring over the State, are doing much to get the start of us and to turn the current of feeling with the impulsive and unthinking against us. At least these are my fears, and it seems to me that these must be the natural consequences of constant effort and allegation and falsehood on the one side, and comparative silence upon the other. Of this, however, our friends at home can judge much better than I can, and I therefore renew the advice I gave you before we parted here, to go and make Mr. Van Buren a leisurely visit, and take his counsel and advice about the whole matter, and act as he shall think best.

"You will not be surprised when I tell you that the news from your charter election[7] has thrown everything here, for this morning, into that state of excitement and confusion which renders it troublesome for one to keep cool and good-natured both. After some months of constant session, the atmosphere becomes so thoroughly tainted here, and the members of Congress themselves become either so far corrupted, or so lost in their remembrances of home and what the people really are, that they are really more childish and more excitable than so many children, and it takes more patience than I can command to bear up against their whims. In the result of your charter election I have experienced little disappointment, and see no great cause of alarm. If our press would improve the advantages it presents, it appears to me it could not fail to fix the Irish and other emigrant vote throughout the country; but in this, as in other things, I fear we shall feel the want of some paper which is recognized as having a lead and giving the facts and the aims of the whole party. The _Post_ is well edited for its place and circulation, but its exchange-list, I suppose, is not the broadest, and it never has been looked to for the party lead. I say this in no disparagement to Mr. Bryant, for no one holds him in higher estimation than I do, and it is our own fault and not his that his paper has not held the leading place.

"But I must return to the subject of my letter, and writing, as I do, in my seat, and in the hearing of an excited debate, I can say little more, even upon that. You can tell Mr. V. B. all our views about the proposed establishment of a paper as fully as I could repeat them to you as to him if I had the time, and if he shall think that we overestimate our need, or the utility of such a paper, if established, I shall be perfectly content that any farther movement be abandoned. If he thinks it best for you to consult any of our friends at Albany he will tell you who and how. You will let him know, too, that the reason we did not think of Albany, rather than New York, was that we supposed the state of things and state of feeling there to be such, and the relations to our two papers there, those which would be likely to defeat any movement made there with this view, or compel it to be made either against active opposition from our own friends or under dissatisfied feeling on the part of those connected with one of those papers.

"It appears to me that if anything is to be done it should be done quietly, so that the paper may commence with the nominations. I do not doubt, if subscribers are sent here to be distributed, that many, very many, subscribers will be obtained from without the State, and especially from Indiana and Illinois, and probably from Ohio and Michigan, but to that end all the time which can be given will be desirable.

"I must close, for I have been listening to speeches, while writing, until I do not know what I have said or what I wanted to say. After your return let me know the result of your mission as soon as you shall find leisure.

"I am, most truly, yours, "SILAS WRIGHT."

"_Private_.

"N. B.--I shall write to Mr. V. B. upon this subject by this mail, and I think it not best for you to go up until after my letter can reach him. May it not be best for you to drop him a note, saying that you propose to make him a visit, naming the day, and telling him the subject is that of a paper, about which you suppose I have written to him?

"S. W."

SILAS WRIGHT TO S. J. TILDEN

"WASHINGTON, _April 30, 1844_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Your letter has come, and I have read it with deep interest, but have not time to give you any answer beyond a mere note. Events follow so thickly upon us now that I cannot promise when I shall have another hour at command. The speech has been made, but it will never be written, if I am overrun as I have been ever since it was spoken.

"Mr. V. B.'s Texas letter is producing the fever and fury which I expected, but I hope feeling will, bye and bye, settle down to a better state. There is great talk now of another candidate, as a third candidate, but the members who join in the movement are, as far as I can learn, much less in number than was expected, being, as is said to-day, only about 20. I think the number will grow less.

"A single word about your effort. Do not involve yourself pecuniarily. If you cannot see your way clear without that, let it go, for it is not your duty to ruin yourself, even for such an object. Your views of the indispensable necessity for minute organization are perfectly sound.

"All I can send to you is some copies of the Philadelphia Club preparation, as I cannot get time to draw out in detail what I have suggested for my own and other counties. You will do that better than I can. I am called.

"In great haste, "Most truly yours, "SILAS WRIGHT."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Henrietta was the sister of Samuel J. to whom, on the fifth of the month preceding the date of this letter, for the first and only occasion in his life he opened his mind on the subject of matrimony, a topic at that time of serious concern to her. See _Bigelow's Life of Tilden_, Vol. I., p. 80. Before the expiration of the year of which this letter bears date, she died. The brother when he wrote this letter was living with an aunt who kept a boarding-house at what was then the upper part of Broadway.

[2] Proprietor of the Hartford _Times_ at the date and United States Senator from Connecticut.

[3] Lewis Gaylord Clark.

[4] The place of attorney for the City and County of New York for which this address to the Democratic members of the Common Council, was the only office Mr. Tilden ever held by appointment. He held it but about one year, during which time he docketed 123 judgments for violations of city ordinances.

[5] This letter first appeared in print in the _Life of Tilden_, Vol. I., p. 102.

[6] The paper here referred to was the New York _Daily News_. For an account of Tilden's connection with its establishment and management, see _Life of Tilden_, Vol. I., p. 108.

[7] The triumph of the Native American party.

1845-1850

The purpose of the advisers of President Polk to prostrate the political organization of which Mr. Van Buren and Governor Wright were the most conspicuous representatives was scarcely disguised in the appointment of Mr. Van Ness as Collector of the Port of New York. Their part in preventing the organization of five more slave States, with their ten pro-slavery Senators, instead of one State with but two pro-slavery Senators, was such an offence to the Nullifiers of the South that the President, a citizen of a slave State, was compelled very reluctantly to yield to it and use his patronage accordingly.

The effort was made to seduce Tilden from his allegiance to his friends in New York by the offer of the naval office, then a lucrative and honorable position. Tilden had but just completed the thirty-first year of his age; the emoluments of the office were some twenty thousand dollars a year; the labor and responsibility inconsiderable. Tilden was poor, and many years must elapse before he could hope for any such revenue from his profession. The offer, however tempting it was, he promptly declined, saying that he did not labor for the election of President Polk to push his private interests; that when he was admitted to the bar he resolved that he would hold no merely lucrative office, and that, if he took any, it must be in the line of his profession or a post of honor, but under the then existing circumstances he could accept of nothing from this administration.

From this time forth there were practically two Democratic parties, so called, in the State of New York: one led by William L. Marcy, and vulgarly known by their adversaries sometimes as "Hardshells," and sometimes as "Hunkers," who were either in favor of or not opposed to the extension of slavery into the free Territories from which it had been excluded by the ordinance of 1789; and the other led by Silas Wright while he lived, also vulgarly known sometimes as the "Softshells," and sometimes as "Barnburners," who were opposed to the extension of slavery into those Territories.

Though the division lines of these parties, like those of latitude and longitude, were not visible to the eye, nor the parties themselves sufficiently organized to occupy hostile camps, the ends towards which they were severally working were quite as distinct as if they were.

The following letter was probably addressed to William L. Marcy, who had allowed himself to be made the instrument of the pro-slavery contingent in New York, and had been on that account selected by the President as his Secretary of War.[8]

S. J. TILDEN TO----

"NEW YORK, _1845_.

"I cannot give you in full detail the grounds of the almost universal odium with which Mr. Van Ness is regarded by the Democracy of this city and State, but will briefly allude to some of them.

"His appointment was not originally recognized as a Democratic one or received from a recognized Democratic President. He was personally and politically a stranger; did not occupy that proper representative relation to the party here to make his selection proper or acceptable, or to give him or entitle him to their confidence. On the contrary, all that was known of his private character and of his political tendencies was calculated to repel such confidence.

"His conduct since has confirmed and exacerbated the sentiments with which his original appointment was regarded. In his official action and his political influence he has been the mere representative and instrument of a miserable little faction, whose fortunes he has solved equally when it was in a state of partial alienation and open hostility to the Democratic party and its regular nominations. For months after Mr. Polk's nomination, for two-thirds of the whole canvass, he was an open and decided supporter of Mr. Tyler. All sorts of intrigue were employed by this little band of officeholders and their dependents to exact from the mass of the party a partial approval of Mr. Tyler's administration and an adoption of his appointments as a condition precedent to his withdrawal. Such had been the abuses and corruptions of his administration in the use of its patronage here--incredible to those who like yourself have looked upon them from a less central position--and shocking to the moral sense of honest men of all parties; such was the general disgust and hostility pervading the masses of the Democracy which had been for several years vexed by the abuses and corruptions of the government patronage employed for the purpose of distracting the party; so large was the number who had been the subject of exclusion and proscription because of their very political fidelity, and so large also the number who desired a new distribution of official favors, that such a concession as was demanded would have revolted public sentiment, in all probability have lost this city by a very large majority. Such was the conviction at the time of our soundest and most judicious men, who kindly and temperately but firmly resisted and defeated the project.

"The perilous crisis in our local politics you may form some idea of, if you will remember that there were then, delicately poised and uncertain to go for Clay or Polk until within a few weeks of the election, a body of men more than sufficient to have changed the result in this State. Mr. Polk has now to choose between the 19/20ths of the party and this faction; between the disinterested and honest who were true to his and the party's interest, and the venal gathered from all former parties into the common receptacle of Tylerism, who would have sacrificed both to their own mercenary objects. His choice between them will indicate the _morale_ of his character and administration. Ever since Mr. Tyler's attempt in 1841 to become the Presidential candidate of the Democracy, the patronage of the government in this city has been assiduously employed to harass or control the party here. It was managed by Mr. Curtis, who was skilful in if not the originator of all the corrupt tactics of the Glentworth school; and since his removal, his machinery has been used by Mr. Van Ness [with] much more industry and zeal and with no less profligacy."

TILDEN TO WM. H. HAVEMEYER[9] (probably)

"WASHINGTON, _March 4, 1845_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have received your letter of yesterday, which is much more acceptable than your personal presence. Indeed, I suppose that your intelligence from Albany would have changed the design, even if you had entertained it, of coming here. _I_ did not expect you to start before Mon. morning.[10]

"As far as your personal position is concerned, it is sustained by your renewed declension--perhaps uttered, although that it did not need. For be assured that nothing has been done to bring in question the sincerity and reality of your declension, as well as the good faith of your grounds, but everything to satisfy both. It, however, does lessen our right, or _apparent_ right, to complain of the precipitancy of Mr. Polk's action before the receipt of Mr. Van Buren's letter.

"I judge from your letter that every time the excitement of the particular motive operating on your mind for the moment to accept any department, subsides, your aversion returns and strengthens. This shows that it is the predominant and settled conviction, which ought not to be, without imperative necessity, disregarded, and applies even in the case of a _recast_. In this connection, I should add to the hasty view of the affair I yesterday gave you that Bancroft thinks that if you had accepted the War a recast could have been had, and intimates the possibility as if from the President. This may be so--others have thought so the whole time--but I doubt, for reasons I will explain when I see you.

"Last evening we had an interview with the President. Representations had been made to him which were repeated by us and which he said _convinced_ him of his error, but it was now too late to retract if the Heavens and the Earth came together. He assured us that he had acted from misinformation, and with the best intentions--that he would do all he could to counteract the consequences of his error--that he should be President himself, although not coming in with the same personal strength as some of his predecessors, and would protect us from any malign influences--that in regard to the important appointments in N. Y. he would rely on his old friends and act with the concurrence of V. B. and W. He has repeatedly and to different persons pledged himself as to the Collector. His asseverations of attachment, fidelity, and fair dealing towards N. Y. were earnest and strong, almost passing dignity, yet with an air of sincerity which made a strong impression as to mere personal intentions.