Part 23

"DEAR MR. GODWIN,--I intended to answer your first letter in respect to the foundation of the Statue of Liberty, although it expressly waived a reply. My thought then was to have a conference which should explain to me the scheme proposed; but, in the progress of time, that result came about of itself....

"My impression has been, and still remains, that other objects ought to have a preference; and those will suffice to consume all I shall at present devote to such purposes.

"With my best wishes for the health, prosperity, and happiness of yourself and family, I remain,

"Very truly yours."

HENRY ADAMS TO TILDEN

"1607 H STREET, WASHINGTON, _24 Jan., 1883_.

"DEAR SIR,--Your kind letter of the 12th, acknowledging the receipt at some past time of a copy of _New England Federalism_, reached me yesterday. I am forced to confess that I have equally forgotten sending you the book, and can recall nothing except the fact that I sent you my _Life of Gallatin_ in consequence of assistance which you rendered me in regard to it. Probably the other book was sent in the same connection. I am quite sure that while in Europe, where I went for papers after the _Gallatin_ appeared, I received a letter of acknowledgment from you for the volume.

"To do justice to Gallatin was a labor of love. After long study of the prominent figures in our history, I am more than ever convinced that for combination of ability, integrity, knowledge, unselfishness, and social fitness Mr. Gallatin has no equal. He was the most fully and perfectly equipped statesman we can show. Other men, as I take hold of them, are soft in some spots and rough in others. Gallatin never gave way in my hand or seemed unfinished. That he made mistakes I can see, but even in his blunders he was respectable.

"I cannot say as much for his friends Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, about whom I have been for years hard at work. In regard to them I am incessantly forced to devise excuses and apologies or to admit that no excuse will avail. I am at times almost sorry that I ever undertook to write their history, for they appear like mere grasshoppers kicking and gesticulating on the middle of the Mississippi River. There is no possibility of reconciling their theories with their acts, or their extraordinary foreign policy with dignity. They were carried along on a stream which floated them, after a fashion, without much regard to themselves.

"This I take to be the result that students of history generally reach in regard to modern times. The element of individuality is the free-will dogma of the science, if it is a science. My own conclusion is that history is simply social development along the lines of weakest resistance, and that in most cases the line of weakest resistance is found as unconsciously by society as by water.

"I am very truly y'rs, "HENRY ADAMS."

JOHN BIGELOW TO TILDEN

"THURSDAY MG., _April 19_ (_1883_).

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Referring to the request of L. Smith Hobart, of New Haven, in regard to your collegiate residence at New Haven, I find myself only partially prepared to answer his questions, and though I had it on my mind when I saw you Tuesday morning to question you of other matters, I left without bethinking me of that duty.

"Your correspondence shows that you entered Yale College a third-term Freshman in the year 1834, and left at the close of that term never to return, for in December you were settled in New York. I find no evidence of your having returned to college in the fall.

"But there is nothing in your correspondence to show what _room_ you occupied. As you ate at Commons, I infer that you had a room in the college.

"If you will have the goodness to supply the information about the number of your room and the name of the college building that you occupied, I will be prepared to answer Mr. Hobart.

"If I am not right in assuming that you were a Yale third-term Freshman in 1834, and no longer, please correct me.

"Yours faithfully, "JOHN BIGELOW.

"P. S.--If you did not room in the college, please tell me where or with whom you had lodgings."

TILDEN TO BIGELOW

"GREYSTONE, _April 20, 1883_.

"DEAR MR. BIGELOW,--I entered Yale College in the third term of the Freshman class, in June, 1834. I had no room in the college building, but I had a room in the house of a Mr. Goodman, which was situated below the Tontine, in a street at right angles with the front of the college buildings. At first I took my meals at Commons, but soon found that the diet would not answer for my delicate stomach. I left the college at the end of the Freshman year, expecting to return after the long vacation, but found myself unable.

"As Mr. Hobart seems to desire more particulars, I enclose herewith two copies of the _Courier Journal_ Biography. Would it not be well for you to open communication with Mr. Hobart, saying that his letter had been referred to you?[28]

"Very truly yours, "S. J. TILDEN."

[28] Mr. Tilden was aware that I wrote the biography of him which is here referred to, and which first appeared in the Louisville _Courier-Journal_ during the campaign of 1876.

TILDEN TO MRS. MARY TILDEN

"GREYSTONE, _June 19, 1883_.

"DEAR MRS. TILDEN,--Your kind and interesting letter of October 12, 1882, has ever since awaited an opportunity for me to answer it, which, with the best intentions, has not been accomplished until now. I regret that I did not have the pleasure of making your acquaintance when I was last in England in 1877.

"My grandfather's name was John, which seems to have been a favorite name in that branch of the family. The ancestor who migrated to this country was Nathaniel; he came from Tenterden, of which he and several of his kinsmen had been Mayor.

"I am interested in the particulars which your letter contains in respect to your family.

"I send a photograph of myself. Please present to your daughter and accept for yourself my best regards.

"Very truly yours, "(Signed) S. J. TILDEN."

MARY E. BLAIR TO TILDEN

"FALKLAND, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD., _June 26th_.

"MR. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--Mr. Blair was much touched by your kind note of sympathy received a few days since. When I wrote Mr. Bigelow I was anxious and hurried, fearing the fatigue of the drive to the country on Mr. Blair. The change has been most beneficial, and his improvement since we came very decided, though our city papers will contrive to say that he is very ill. We are all greatly encouraged. He has less pain--is stronger and sleeps better. I follow your advice, and only present the most agreeable topics for his thoughts. The arrival of a young Holstein or Jersey calf--the Silo well filled--and a touch of the New York _Sun's_ sarcasm often diverts his attention from himself and interests him. He desires me to remember him kindly to you. I hope the papers report truly when they say your own health is so good.

"Very truly yrs., "MARY E. BLAIR."

TILDEN TO MRS. BLAIR

"GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _July 28, 1883_.

"DEAR MRS. BLAIR,--I am deeply afflicted by the sad intelligence concerning Mr. Blair which comes to-day. I share with you and his children in the great bereavement, lamenting that I am so impotent to lessen your sorrow while mingling with it my own.

"Tendering you my heart-felt condolences, I am,

"Very truly yours."

WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER TO TILDEN

"TRINITY BUILDING, 111 BROADWAY, _Sept. 10, 1883_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I am asked to write you a line about the law school of the New York University whose work and wants have, I understand, been brought to your attention. While the early plans of my father and his associates, Judge Kent and Mr. David Graham, Jr., were not carried out according to their full intention in its foundation, the later years of the school have been full of encouragement, and it is now prospering under good management. The class of young men who avail of its instruction is largely drawn from those students who must make their way in the profession for themselves; and the training they get is, I believe, exceptionally thorough and conscientious. I have no right to make any suggestions on the subject; but you will, I am sure, appreciate my interest in the school and my motive in saying what I have said in regard to its merits.

"Yours very truly, "WM. ALLEN BUTLER."

W. P. SCOTT TO TILDEN

"_Personal._

"NEW ORLEANS, _Sept. 16th, 1883_.

"DEAR SIR,--There come times in men's lives when, it matters not how carefully they have builded, how deep the structure strikes its foundations, or how critically material shall have been selected, all fail if the keystone be not placed skilfully, in season, and well.

"In these States, your sagacity, ability, firmness, and all that pertains to stamp the man as leader, is recognized to such an extent that it renders success impossible to any but yourself. The scheme of politicians may succeed in party conventions, but when candidates nominated by the party appear 'in the fierce light that beats around the throne,' the Democracy will soon find that the voters have discovered that a stronger element has been discarded than won, if you be not nominated.

"In 1880 success was impossible without your name for President, and the case applies with equal vigor at this moment. Since your resignation of its command, drift has been its policy, blunder its action.

"In '74, when nominated for Governor of your State, a Republican majority of 50,000 stared you in the face; your former efforts in the interests of reform nominated you; you had builded well.

"The 14th of September, '74, in this city, drew aside the full curtain and allowed the American people to view the workings of Republican reconstruction in the South; showed how hollow the Republican State government was, and committed the general government to the 'bayonet policy' more absolutely than ever. The people of Louisiana appealed to the nation, through the mouths of cannon, to free her of her oppressors, who were at the moment attempting to deny the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. The leader of that movement was Fred N. Ogden whom C. A. Burke is now vigorously opposing for the Governorship of this State, which nomination takes place in a few months and the election in April, '84. When the convention meets it will in all probability elect delegates to the national convention.

"Two years before your nomination the Democratic party was not able to place a candidate in the field for President, and in '76 elected a President. Louisiana contributed her eight votes to yourself, and maintained, through Fred N. Ogden, on the 9th of January, '77, the genuineness of her vote by destroying every opposition to the Nicholls government, and compelling Hayes to stamp his election as fraudulent without recourse.

"When your election for Governor took place the people were not disappointed, and your reforms heightened the enthusiasm engendered by the campaign of '74, and made your nomination certain for the highest office in the gift of the people. You know much better than myself the causes of its end, and suffice to say that, in my opinion, your patriotism came to me in a stronger and purer light than ever before by your action in not precipitating a civil war of unknown consequences.

"At this moment the situation of the Democratic party is this, in my opinion:

Electoral votes South 153 New Jersey 9 Connecticut 6 New York 36-- 51 ---- 204 ---- Majority 3

"You are the only man who can carry New York and fill the void that her loss would incur.

"Now, I ask you, Mr. Tilden, to ponder well the refusal of yourself through friends for the candidacy of President.

"Have you not placed yourself so high that you cannot refuse; cannot even afford to deny the right of your friends to run you for your just vindication?

"Let your friends announce that you will accept the responsibility if nominated, however great the sacrifice, and your nomination is assured and your election certain.

"With other candidate I fear the usual result: 'defeat.' You have builded well; your ability will not allow you to cease at the moment of your triumph. You stand upon the banks of Rubicon. Empire is beyond, wilderness behind.

"Enemies delight in publishing your unalterable determination not to be a candidate; your friends cannot even say that you will accept the position if nominated.

"In the past, as in the future, I will trust in your patriotism; and in your own due season, when the fruit be ripe, I trust and know that you will not fail to gather the harvest properly, honestly, and well.

"Your obt. servant, "W. P. SCOTT."

TILDEN TO WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER

"_Oct. 11/83._

"DEAR MR. BUTLER,--You are right in supposing that I do not fail to appreciate the motives of your suggestion in respect to the law school, but I am not prepared to say anything on the subject.

"Very truly yours, "S. J. TILDEN."

M. W. FULLER[29] TO W. H. BARNUM, CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE

[29] Present Chief Justice of the United States; appointed in April, 1888.

"CHICAGO, _December 23, 1883_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--It is clear to demonstration that Mr. Tilden should be our nominee, and if he would consent to run, that he would be again elected, this time by an overwhelming electoral as well as popular majority. From the moment of the nomination to the close of the polls, the canvass would be a triumphal progress. We should be obliged to do some hard fighting, but always under the influence of assured victory by fighting. The nomination and election would not simply vindicate Mr. Tilden, but the right of the people to elect their own officers. Nor is this all. If Mr. Tilden would accept the nomination, that would relieve the Democracy of all jealousy and heart-burning--all controversy between rival candidates, all difficulty in the convention or after the convention. Again, the platform could be carefully drawn before the meeting of the convention, and ought to be by Mr. Tilden himself. Since the days of Jefferson and Franklin, this country has not had a statesman whose pen could delineate so accurately and so simply a principle, a policy, or a line of conduct. What the people need is somebody who can tell them with accuracy and simplicity just what they themselves think. This is the secret of Mr. Tilden's great popularity with the masses, the existence of which eminent jackasses in our party have often denied, and do not seem to comprehend now that they are beginning to be driven to concede it. There are always political prophets (I don't mean to speak irreverently) looking for power in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, instead of the still, small voice. Now, the question of Mr. Tilden's health presents itself about which I know absolutely nothing. His age is no objection. Cato learned Greek at eighty, and Goethe completed 'Faust' after he had passed eighty. Taney and Shaw delivered judgments when nearly ninety. Look at John Quincy Adams and Gladstone and 'old Palm.' Why, Lord Palmerston at the age of eighty saved his administration by a masterly practical speech delivered without a note in the early hours of the morning. And, speaking of him, McCarthy, in his _History of Our Own Times_, commences the chapter on the death of Lord Palmerston with the quotation, 'Unarm, Eros, the long day's task is done and we must sleep.' Mr. Tilden's day has not been so long by eleven years. Is his task done? The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower must not remain unfinished. The art of prolonging life lies in an object to be attained. I admit that various things are to be taken into consideration as assisting in sustaining health, and in that way prolonging mere existence; but all these, while mere adjuncts to vegetation, really amount to nothing if there be not a sufficient object for living outside of keeping one's self on this side of the river. I can conceive of no higher object than the attainment of the Chief Magistracy with the view of benefiting the people of this Republic. Here I do Mr. Tilden justice. He is now at an age when he doubtless feels that merely being President is in itself vanity. That doll is stuffed with saw-dust, just as all other dolls are found to be by all men, children of a larger growth. But if he can, by being President, benefit this people by saving their institutions, now in utmost peril, by reforming the methods of administration, by teaching both the great parties, and, in an especial degree, his own, that adherence to principle is as desirable in a party as in an individual, &c., &c., is that not an object worthy the attainment of any man? And is it not an object that would prolong life, and not bring it to termination? I am very much mistaken if renomination, and election, and administration would not do Mr. Tilden good. Of course, as the returns came pouring in, there might be some hours of excitement which possibly would lead to a reaction; but I think not, as what is to be done would still lie ahead. The election would simply give him the certificate, but his duty would commence after the 4th of March. And here consider that what hurried Harrison into his grave was probably office-seeking; but that a man who could lug Roman consuls into his inaugural address probably thought it necessary to listen to every tide-waiter--a kindly but fatal error. I have seen a suggestion in the papers which, by the way, might have come from Mr. Tilden himself, which assigned to others selected by the President the burden of administrative detail. Certainly, in such particulars, my opinion is that Mr. Tilden knows who to choose to carry out his ideas. The difference between one man and another lies a good deal in the ability to do work through others, and the sagacity to select them. So far as the canvass or the administration is concerned, Mr. Tilden would be benefited by both, and injured by neither. As to the second place on the ticket, I think it should be given Governor Hendricks. Napoleon said, 'Imagination rules the world,' and you may depend upon it that sentiment cuts no inconsiderable part in all elections. It must be taken in solution, it is true, but it is a necessary ingredient. Apart from the necessity of the 'old ticket,' it has great strength because it _is_ the old ticket. There is a certain sense of justice that has gone unsatisfied since March, 1877, and you blunt its edge if you change the ticket. Undoubtedly Mr. Hendricks made a great mistake in 1880, but such mistakes are often inevitable, and ought never to be irretrievable. That he should now be in favor of the old ticket simply shows that he wishes to reattain his old position in politics. His error threw him out of the line, as everybody knew it would. That he should desire to get back again is natural enough. I thought yesterday you were entirely wrong in attributing another motive entirely foreign to his character. Assuming that the old ticket is to be nominated, and by acclamation, as it would be, this would as readily happen at Chicago as anywhere else. It is much better to have it done here than in any Eastern city. The only doubt is, would it not be better, partly as a matter of sentiment, to select St. Louis, and have the same temporary chairman, committees, and so on, as in 1876, and the same platform, corrected by Mr. Tilden so as to adapt it to the changes produced by lapse of time, and to shape it on the subject of the defeat of the people's will in 1876-7? So far as any other ticket is concerned, Chicago is the place, and so far as the old ticket is concerned, it is the place, except upon the ground above indicated.

"I have but little doubt that Mr. Tilden could carry this State. It would need a good State ticket to ensure it. But if it were known that the old ticket was to run, I think we should get a good local ticket.

"Excuse the length of this letter and, if you can write me, I wish you would.

"The compliments of the season to you and yours.

"Very truly yours, "M. W. FULLER."

CYRUS H. McCORMICK TO TILDEN

"CHICAGO, ILL., _April 7th, 1884_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I had a meeting of a few friends at dinner at my house last Friday, some mention of which, I trust, may not be entirely without interest to you. The gentlemen present were Senator McDonald, of Indiana; Mr. W. C. Goudy (member of National Democratic Committee); Mr. F. H. Winston; Mr. Henry G. Miller; Mr. Commissioner Mattocks; Mr. Perry H. Smith, Jr., and my son, all of this city. Judge Shepard, Mr. C. C. Copeland, and Mr. Melville Fuller were invited but could not attend.

"My letter of the 27th of March addressed to yourself was read to the gentlemen present and unanimously approved. I had had a call from Senator McDonald the day before, and had shown him a copy of my letter to you and discussed the subject with him to some extent. He seemed to think that 'the old ticket' (Tilden and Hendricks) would take better in this State than _Tilden and McDonald_, seeming, himself, not inclined to antagonize Hendricks on a ticket headed by yourself; but, at the same time, he stated unhesitatingly that, as a politician, in the ranks of the Democracy, he felt himself subject to the orders of the party.

"There was a striking unanimity of sentiment between the gentlemen present (except Senator McDonald) as to the contents of my letter referred to, while our family physician (a prominent Republican) remarked to me that the ticket mentioned would suit him precisely, and that it would give him pleasure to vote for it. An editorial article in the _Chicago Times_, in speaking of the prospective Democratic candidates, remarked that 'nobody wanted Mr. Hendricks.'

"Since the date of my letter to you, I have observed in the papers very favorable comments by Horatio Seymour on the subject of your health and ability to stand for a Presidential nomination; and I have also observed sundry reviews, by other parties, of the same character--perhaps in all which it may be said that, while you are disinclined to deprive yourself of your home comforts and enjoyments, you have in no case been found to say positively that, if nominated by the convention, you would not accept.

"I may add that Senator McDonald agreed heartily with the other gentlemen present at our dinner party that _no other name could command the support of the Democrats of the country that yours would_.

"Under the circumstances, I beg to ask whether it would be agreeable to your feelings or wishes that I should say anything publicly in regard to the momentous issues briefly referred to in this correspondence.

"I remain, my dear sir,

"Your friend and servant, "CYRUS H. MCCORMICK."

HENRY C. SEMPLE TO TILDEN

"GILSEY HOUSE, NEW YORK, _April 23d, 1884_.

"DEAR SIR,--I regret that your business engagements make it inconvenient for you to receive me for a few minutes, as I am obliged to set out for home on Thursday evening, and came on from Washington (where I have been in attendance on the Sup. Ct.) principally to see you.

"You must be aware that the Democratic party will not even consider the question of selecting among candidates for the Presidency, unless satisfied that you will be incapable of entering on the discharge of the duties of the office when elected.

"Sensible men in the party will not ask that you _consent_ to be a candidate, nor will they regard the fact that you decline to become a candidate.

"Those who wish to see the Republican party maintained in power till we shall cease to have a Republican _government_ try to persuade the people that your health renders it _impossible_ for you to discharge the duties of the office. Those in our own party, who look to their own interests rather than to the good of the people, would also have us believe this.