Part 1

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LETTERS AND LITERARY MEMORIALS OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN

EDITED BY JOHN BIGELOW, LL.D.

VOL. 2

NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1908

Copyright, 1908, by Harper & Brothers.

_All rights reserved._ Published February, 1908.

LETTERS AND LITERARY MEMORIALS OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN

DAVID A. WELLS TO TILDEN

"NORWICH, CONN, _Jan'y 6th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I do not know as I can testify of my admiration of your message better than by saying that I want you to send me an early copy in pamphlet form for more careful reading and preservation.

"When the novel which Mr. Sherman and I have been writing (now in press) comes out, in a week or two, please see how curiously prices worked on our imaginary island, where the people used something for currency which had no value as a commodity.

"Very truly yours, "DAVID A. WELLS."

Answered January 10, 1876, by the Governor, that he desired to submit some of the messages to Mr. Wells, but it was a race against time. The tables were not completed until the discussion was in the proof-reading. "Even I was surprised at the surplus of currency which they evince."

CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

"FORT WASHINGTON, _Jan'y 12, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR TILDEN,--In this form I will say nothing of the proceedings, surprising to me, as they must have been to you, which have marked the movements toward trying the Tweed civil cases. I have neither seen nor heard from the present chief of the 'bureau of municipal correction' since the newspapers began to regale us with its recent fortunes.

"My object in addressing you is to submit certain suggestions for consideration.

"When the present leading counsel for Tweed fell into a line of practice which, steadily pursued for years as it has been, might well have led to his being dubbed Attorney-General for Rascals, it was my lot to be much in professional antagonism to him. I found him to be neither wise, learned, nor, properly speaking, able, but essentially a trickster. He seems capable of being very troublesome, and to a _negligent_ or unskilful adversary he may be regarded as dangerous.

"In dealing with his class, one will generally find a central device around which all their series of tricks revolve, and from which all their force and effectiveness are drawn. This man's course and career furnish an admirable illustration of this fact.

"Our multitude of judges, with equal powers, were perceived by him to furnish a hopeful quarry. One wicked, weak, or manageable could be found somewhere. The next item in his scheme for making judicial proceedings do the work which a bolder thief might seek to accomplish by piracy, highway robbery, or counterfeiting was to engage himself in quarrels where an unlimited number of separate suits by separate plaintiffs might be brought before different judges--all aimed at the same substantial object. This enabled him to make almost at random all sorts of harassing movements against the same parties. Slap-dash, hit or miss, he poured his shot upon the selected victims, the loss of a suit or failure of a movement troubling him not, the number of strings to his bow making this of no more consequence to him than the loss of a single soldier to the general of an army.

"You are aware that any single stockholder in a private or trading corporation may file a bill in equity against the corporation itself, its managing officers, and any one else suggesting malversation, and, of course, such a suit has all the usual incidents of receivership, injunctions, etc., etc. With a desperate Wall Street swindler for plaintiff, an utterly unscrupulous legal practitioner to direct it, and an unprincipled or manageable judge, the blackmailing capabilities of such a suit are not slight. And when you consider that the stock is always in the market, and that five shares, or, indeed, a single share, may be sufficient to qualify a plaintiff, you see the readiness with which a lot of these suits, like a swarm of insects in summer, may harass. It was with this single scrap of technical knowledge that the Attorney-General for Scoundrels qualified himself for his office. In a very large degree he has lived upon it ever since.

"It was in analogy to this right of the stockholder of a private corporation that some well-intentioned persons devised the scheme of judicially restraining municipal and other public officers from improper action. I believe the history of the rise and fall of this idea may be found in a long argument of mine reported in 'Wetmore _v._ Story,' _22_ or _23 Barbour_. You have read it and spoken of it to me. There is no analogy between the cases, and no basis in our common-law or customary jurisprudence for the pretended right of a taxpayer thus to intervene. The inconveniences of such a practice would be enormous. It should not be permitted.

"Using a noted and life-long corruptionist, Charles Devlin, one of Tweed's bail, the Scoundrel's Attorney-General has brought a suit of this kind intended to perplex the Ring prosecutions and aid in misleading the thoughtless readers of their partisan journals.

"I have said that such a suit is wholly without warrant in the common law, and the claim to sustain it thereby has been by the highest authority, in every form, judicially exploded; but in two statutes it may find some color at least of support, and I write in the hope that these may be at once repealed.

"The first of these is S. 3 of the city tax levy of 1864, ch. 405, p. 945. It was obtained by Nathaniel Sands, the then leader of reform, as actuary or general agent of Peter Cooper's Citizens' Association. His subsequent history is known to you. The other is ch. 161 of the laws of 1872, p. 467. You were then in the Legislature, and may have favored its passage; it is not impossible that I may have failed to condemn it when spoken to, but I never believed in the utility of such a remedy. A reluctance to throw cold water on the efforts of our friends sometimes dictates a prudent silence. But whatever might be said at that time, the law of 1875, establishing the right of the State, has superseded the use of any such private taxpayer's action, and this inexpressibly impudent suit of Devlin shows that the privilege tends to mischief. I hope you will get some real and earnest reformer belonging to the Republican party to bring in and push through a bill for the repeal of both these enactments.

"Another subject may seem to demand attention, and that speedily. In Polly Bodine's case, some years ago, it was found that the public journals had so thoroughly imbued the minds of the people with information or reports and ideas concerning the facts of the case that under the existing common law touching challenges to the favor it was hardly possible to get a jury. This must be so in Tweed's cases. The Legislature then altered the law, but I am told that the change is confined in its terms to criminal cases. It ought, by supplemental legislation, to be extended to all cases.

Yours faithfully, "CH. O'CONOR."

BONAMY PRICE TO TILDEN

"2 NORHAM GARDENS, OXFORD, _Jan'y 31, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I hope that the great kindness which you showed me at New York will be allowed to plead my excuse with you for trespassing on your time with a few lines.

"I am anxious to tell you of the deep sympathy and interest with which I have closely watched your public career since I had the honor of becoming acquainted with you in America, as well as the strong admiration which it excited in me.

"Never did a man deserve better of his country; and I fervently hope that the new year will bring the amplest recognition of this fact from your fellow-countrymen.

"Yours truly, "BONAMY PRICE."

THOMAS COTTMAN TO TILDEN

"NEW YORK, _Feb'y 6th, 1876_.

"DEAR SIR,--I see by the papers this morning that Senator Francis Kernan had taken steps to reconcile the discordant elements of the Democratic party of this city. I am convinced of the unpracticability of the effort without your active interposition. Success with Tammany as at present organized is entirely out of the question. John Kelly, as chief, with Ned Gale, Tom Boize, Frank Spinola, Billy Boyd, and the like as chief counsel, will inevitably bring disaster upon the party and turn the State over to the Republicans in the fall. I would in no wise depreciate Mr. Kelly, whom I regard as a very estimable gentleman. But he has been most unfortunate in selecting his '_entourage_.' There is no lack of efficient material in this city for constructing a capital to the Democratic edifice and insure harmony in all its proportions. As at present constituted, it is an incongruous mass, ready to disintegrate and form other affinities. Without some decided action on your part, there will most certainly be two delegations from this city to the convention, and the bad blood thus generated will outcrop in the fall election to the detriment of the party. I shall leave home to-morrow night for Washington, where I expect to remain a short time to confer with my Democratic friends from the different sections of the country. There being quite a number of my acquaintances representing different constituencies in Congress, the dissensions of the New York Democracy are certain to form the leading topic of conversation and the topic upon which the least satisfaction can be vouchsafed--and the entire responsibility laid at your door. Your personal friendship for Andrew H. Green might have been so evinced as not to have provoked antagonism to yourself, and might have availed by its influence to have kept him from exciting the wrath of a majority of the voting community. Wickham is weaker than Green in the popular estimation. Wickham is looked upon as milk and water, whilst Green is regarded as gall and wormwood, whilst Kelly is so encumbered with _barnacles_ as to be impervious to the popular demand for a more democratic form of government than that now run exclusively for the benefit of favorites.

Very respectfully yours, "THOMAS COTTMAN."

A. E. SILLIMAN TO TILDEN

"Please do not trouble yourself to read until at entire leisure.

"56 CLINTON ST., BROOKLYN, _Feb. 14, '76_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I am indebted to some kind friend for a copy of your Message for 1876 (secluded among my books, I do not know whom); but recollecting your conversations with Mr. Bennett and myself some years since at Delmonico's, I am fain to believe that I am one of a number to whom you may have directed it to be sent; but in the uncertainty deem it more decorous to address you _personally_ in my recognition of the favor. I read the Message at the time of its appearance with much interest, and was particularly struck with the strong clearness and distinctness of that portion of it pertaining to financial affairs, which perhaps is the 'part of the schooner' I am (or rather ought to be) more particularly conversant with. We are much indebted to Mr. Chase for the present state of things--his refusal to recognize the banks as government depositors, and have a clearing-house for the daily settlement of its debt, with _enormous_ resulting economy of its _physical_ features (for instance, the issue of legal-tender notes under such circumstances need not have exceeded one hundred million)--but mainly for setting loose under his national bank system a thousand _new_ inflating-machines, called banks, practically unmuzzling the old banks which he cowed in under its flag. Admitting other causes, in my opinion it is mainly[1] the bank inflation which has caused the state of things _culminating_ in 1873; and which crisis, opening the eyes of the community to its truths on the one side, shows them the terrors of contraction on the other, and the natural apprehension of a sudden contraction to a specie basis produces thus, of course, almost paralysis in all business movement beyond the _immediate_ present. I do not think that the plan for _arbitrary_ resumption in 1879 will be attended with happy effect. 'There is no royal road to learning,' and assuredly none to specie resumption. We have slid down the hill with intense velocity; we have got _slowly_ to trudge up the hill again through the snow if we would have another slide. I think that if ten years ago we had commenced destroying the legal tender at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum we would have avoided _1873_, and have been paying specie now; and I think if we commence[2] now in that ratio we shall in ten years arrive at the desired result, relieving the business community from the bugbear of rapid contraction. The destruction of _20_ million legal-tender would carry with it _80_ million bank credit--say, an annual contraction of _100_ million. This, if the country is let alone, with a decent attention to the economy you suggest, it could have from the increasing receipts of its industry. In _1873_, as a matter of _curiosity_, I examined into the statistics of finance for the periods stated, and it is from them I draw my conclusions above expressed. I annex a copy, as perhaps your experienced eye will take in at a glance the gravity of the record. Now, my dear sir, I hope you will excuse my troubling you with this long note, and not trouble yourself to answer it. With hopes that you may be blessed in health, and remain long as the head of your State, I am

"Very truly your friend and servant, "A. E. SILLIMAN.

[1] The cost of the war being practically packed away in loans.

[2] "In my opinion, any other than a _very slow_ contraction of the excess of credit issue will be followed by a general dislocation of existing contracts. They are essentially 'nine-pins,' and if you knock over a few they will most likely bring down all the rest."

CAUSE OF FINANCIAL CRISIS IN 1873

_1862._

Total _liability_ of all the banks in the United States $1024 mills. Increase of _capital_ in the preceding nine years 117 mills. Increase of _liability_ in the same nine years 248 mills.

_1872._

Total _liability_ of national banks, including the _State_ banks _only_, of the city of New York $1759 mills.

Increase of _liability_ in said ten years $717 mills. Increase of _bank capital_ in said ten years $78 mills (!) Add legal-tender notes and fractional c. 400 mills. ----------- Total $2159 mills.

"_Showing_

"Money means in the hands of the community in excess of that of 1862, _$1117_ mills. And this _$2,159,000,000_ is the _hub_ of the wheel from which radiates the _individual_ debt of the community, until it reaches the apple-woman at the corner.

"Perhaps the above may vary, more or less, _20 or 30 mills_.

"The banks now number, I believe, more than 2200.

In 1854 the number was 1208 " 1873 " " " 1945

_Nineteen years_ an increase of 738

In 1862 the number was 1492 " 1873 " " " 1946

_Eleven years_ an increase of 454 _New_ banks with an increase of capital only of _$78 mills_.

"In considering the position, the banks are recognized _as part of the public_ in their representations of their stockholders, and it is not intended to dissect out of their liabilities their _individual_ status."

CHARLES O'CONOR TO TILDEN

"FORT WASHINGTON, _March 16th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I had the honor of addressing you some time ago concerning the expediency of repealing a section of 1864 and an act of 1867, both of which most absurdly recognized a right of action in tax-payers for maladministration by public corporations.

"My reason for urging the step at this time is an action by one Charles Devlin, Tweed's bail, against the Attorney-General and others, seeking the appointment of a receiver and the transfer of the Ring suits to the control of the Tweed faction. Tweed's attorneys are attorneys for the plaintiff in this action, and for their motions they select as judge Charles Donohue, who, by the order for a bill of particulars, showed his fidelity to Tweed principles.

"It is ridiculous that such a suit should be permitted to harass us and bring our movements under the control of Donohue.

"I have supposed that a real reformer of the Republican party should be enlisted to push this repeal through, and if you select such an one I am willing, if put in communication with him, to aid him in any way that I can, and, if need be, I will go to Albany to co-operate with him.

"The relations of D. D. Field and Judge Peabody are such that the latter, though a very correct and honorable man, ought not to be drawn into this affair. Of course, his son, the member of Assembly, is subject to the same remark. And as young Mr. Fish and he are _very_ intimate, and reside together in private joint lodgings, I would advise that Mr. Fish be not included in any movement on this subject.

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

WHEELER H. PECKHAM TO S. J. TILDEN

"NEW YORK, _April 15th, 1876_.

"DEAR SIR,--I enclose draft of a bill appropriating twenty-five thousand dollars for expenses prosecuting the ring suits.

"The last appropriation was in 1874, ch. 359, laws of that year--$25,000.

"Of the sum then appropriated but about $8000 are left. The expenses of the last civil trial of Tweed will more than exhaust this. The disbursements of that trial are about $3000, and Mr. Carter's very moderate bill is $5000. That exhausts the appropriation without any bill for my own services.

"The trial was protracted and expensive beyond expectation. It consumed the two months of January and February and part of March. The deft. Tweed is making a case and will appeal, and consequently further expense must be incurred. The case vs. Sweeney is also ready for trial, and we expect to try it in May. Active proceedings are pending against others, which must result in the collection of very considerable sums of money. Over half a million of dollars has already been realized and paid over to the city treasury. Under the circumstances, it seems to me that there should be no hesitation on the part of the Legislature in passing the bill.

"Of course, the force of my opinion must be weighed in the light of my own interest. On that account it is proper to add that I have submitted this proposed law to your consideration at the request of Mr. O'Conor.

"Yours truly, "WHEELER H. PECKHAM."

"Mr. O'Conor's name is left out of the act by his special request.--W. H. P."

CHARLES O'CONOR TO GOVERNOR TILDEN

"NEW YORK, _May 1st, 1876_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I write to remind you that great trouble and inconvenience are likely to result if the repealing acts sent up and handed to Senator Robertson are not pressed.

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

D. A. WELLS TO TILDEN

"NORWICH, CONN., _May 5th, 1876_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I have canvassed the political situation in this State since I last saw you, and think there is no doubt of your receiving the unanimous support of Connecticut at St. Louis. Indeed, there is no diversity of sentiment, so far as I can hear, Loomis, of New London, being the only one of the delegates whom I should regard as doubtful. Dick Hubbard, of Hartford, who heads the delegation; Waller, of New London, the Speaker of the House (who will probably go as a substitute); and Hunter, of Willimantic, are all to be relied on as warm supporters, and they will control the delegation if it should need controlling. Barr, of Hartford, is a tricky fellow, and if you could bring some influence to bear on him it may be as well, though I am advised that it is not necessary.

"There is one element of the future that I do not like, and that is the probable election of Barnum to the Senate from this State in place of English. Barnum is so unfit, so much of the Tweed order of men, and a pig-iron protectionist into the bargain, that the effect of his election will be bad, not only in the State, but throughout the country. It will be cited everywhere as a proof that the professions of the party do not amount to anything; I do not, however, know what you can do about it, or whether it would be advisable to exert an influence if you could; but it is an event that is likely to disgust the free-trade element intensely, and also those who have a deep conviction of the necessity of political reform. Eaton is probably more responsible for this movement than any other man, except Barnum.

"Do you think I had better go to the 18th of May conference? I see nothing antagonistic in it to your interest; neither do I think it will amount to much. I know the Republican managers have a most profound contempt for the whole movement, and haven't an idea of allowing to Bristow to be nominated.

"Command me for any service I can render.

"Truly yours, "DAVID A. WELLS."

"_Hon. S. J. Tilden._"

Shortly after the inauguration of Mr. Tilden as Governor, in January, 1875, he sent to the Legislature a special message setting forth his convictions of the corrupt management of the canals of the State. This message abounded with specific details of fraud of so infamous a character that even friends of the implicated contractors in the Legislature felt constrained to grant the request of the Governor, and by a concurrent resolution, adopted on the 31st day of March, 1875, authorized him to appoint a committee of four "to investigate the affairs of the canals of the State, and especially the matters embraced in the special message of the Governor, communicated to Legislature on the 19th of March, 1875."

In compliance with this authority, the Governor appointed four gentlemen, whose names are signed to the following report, two theretofore having acted with the Republican party and two with the Democratic. The Governor's commissioners organized at Albany on the 12th of April following; but before they began to take testimony the friends of the canal jobbers in the Assembly managed to pass a resolution appointing a commission of that body also to make a similar investigation, but naming in the resolution commissioners satisfactory to those who constituted what was known as the "Canal Ring."

This commission met two or three times, and then offered to the Governor's commission, under pretext of saving time and expense, to join them, so that the two commissions should constitute but one body. Of course this proffer was promptly declined, and the legislative commission took no more testimony, and was never heard of again.

The interval between the organization of the Governor's commission, in April, and the time for the introduction of water into the canals, near the end of May, was devoted exclusively to an examination of the most important works in progress or recently completed in the prism of the canals.