Part 26

"My dear Governor,--I wish you a happy New Year, and I would be delighted if I could offer my greeting in person. I would do so if I knew when you were to be in the city, or if it would be quite convenient to drop in on you at 'Greystone,' as I am going to pay a New Year's visit to my sister, Mrs. Hamilton, at Poughkeepsie.

"I have not heard from any of my New York friends since the election, and I can see little from the bottom of my well here. I saw Mr. Randall in Washington on Saturday just as he was starting for Kentucky, and was sorry to hear from him that he had expressed the wish that his name should not be associated with any cabinet appointment, for though I appreciate his disinterestedness, no man in the country is better able than he to dispel all distrust in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Indiana when we come to deal practically with the revision of the tariff. He could and would easily reduce duties and increase revenue, ridding us forever of excise taxation! We are, it seems to me, in very nearly the same fix we were in under Jackson and Polk, when we drove the high Protectionists and Free Traders into one camp in opposition to a revenue tariff! Under Polk, Governor Marcy brought from New York the experts employed by Mr. Walker in the Treasury, who gave the maximum revenue duty upon every article imported under the Whig Tariff of 1842. We could raise now over $300,000,000 by applying the same principle, greatly increasing the revenues, and to the advantage rather than to the injury of our industries. Mr. Randall is able to do this, and none of the doubtful States would distrust him. If we do not find such a solution of this question our victory will turn to ashes on our lips! Once more wishing you a happy New Year, and many returns thereof, I remain,

"Very sincerely yours, "ROBERT M. MCLANE."

TILDEN TO MR. GROSS

"GREYSTONE, _December 29, 1884_.

"DEAR MR. GROSS,--I regret that the temporary obstruction to your hearing, and the weakness of my voice, made the interview which I accorded you of so little utility.

"I have felt obliged to adopt a rule, thus far adhered to, to write no letters to Mr. Cleveland making any recommendations or requests in regard to appointments which may come within his gift. I intend not to volunteer any advice to him on that subject, and, if consulted in any case, I do not design to become a partisan of any one of my numerous friends who may desire his favor, but only to communicate with judicial impartiality such information as I may possess, and such opinions as I shall have formed concerning each of the competitors.

"It seems to me that your prospects of being selected for some such office as you desire will depend mainly upon the extent and character of the support which you may receive from your own locality.

"It can better be judged of, when the cabinet shall have been formed, whether and to what extent you may require extrinsic help.

"I need not say that I regard your connections with great esteem and respect and as entitled to high consideration, and I do not doubt that your qualifications are of a peculiarly excellent character.

"With cordial good wishes, I remain,

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

TILDEN TO GOVERNOR CLEVELAND

"GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _January 2, 1885_.

"DEAR GOVERNOR CLEVELAND,--When you shall relieve yourself of the urgent duties of your present office, if it will be agreeable to you to take a few days' repose at Greystone, it will give me great pleasure to welcome you, and make you as comfortable as possible. I shall be happy to invite Mr. and Mrs. Manning at the same time--which intention, I believe, has already been communicated to you.

"With cordial regards, I am,

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

TILDEN TO HUGH McCULLOCH

"GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _January 24, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MCCULLOCH,--I have received the reports which you were kind enough to send me, and for which please accept my thanks.

"I note your remark that you hope to have the pleasure of meeting me in Washington. I presume you have seen the rumor in the public journals that I have taken rooms in Washington. That rumor is unfounded. I have a disorder of the nerves of motion, which is aggravated by the fatigue and exposure of travel. I therefore forego all such pleasures.

"This note will be handed to you by Mr. C. N. Jordan, formerly cashier of the Third National Bank and an intelligent financier, whom I beg leave to introduce to you and commend to your confidence.

"He is requested, while in Washington, to obtain information which may enable me to guide my judgment as to what measures are necessary, and will be effectual to preserve the faith and honor of the government of the United States, and a sound currency for the people.

"I desire that such voice as a private man in retirement may have should be given in the right direction.

"With my best wishes for Mrs. and Miss McCulloch and yourself, I remain,

"Very truly yours.

"As I write this note, I am reminded that at the last time I was in Washington you were Secretary of the Treasury under the Johnson administration."

DANIEL MANNING TO TILDEN

_"Confidential_.

"ALBANY, N. Y., _Jan'y 24, 1885_.

"My dear Governor,--Ever since my return home in December, the cashier of our bank has been absent--ill of pneumonia--and I have been doing double duty. Until he returns, I cannot leave the city. We expect him at his desk early next week.

"Mr. Cleveland intends to go to New York on, or about, the 1st of February, to remain a week, for the purpose of giving everybody who wants to see him an opportunity to call on him. Either before, or after, that time (probably after) he will go to Greystone, and he wants me to go there with him.

"No committals have been made, nor will any be made, until after those visits have occurred. The situation remains just the same as when I was last with you.

"Will you want to see me before we make our proposed call?

"M."

SMITH M. WEED TO GEORGE W. SMITH[31]

_"Personal_.

"PLATTSBURG, N. Y., _Jany. 25, 1885_.

"GEO. W. SMITH.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I saw C. (Cleveland) on Saturday (yesterday) A.M., and talked from 10.30 to 12.30 with him. He was just as he was when I saw him last, and talked very _freely_ to me. He is absolutely with _our_ friends in sentiment. Has some queer ideas, which can all be talked out of him, I think. I told him what you said about his civil service letter, and it pleased him immensely. I told him about your financial work and talked over that subject with him, and it made an impression, and he seemed very anxious about it and thankful that you sent J. on to W. He spoke of anticipating seeing you in N. Y., but I did not say anything about his going to visit you. He will not give B. (Bayard) anything but Secretary of State, and, I think, _thinks he better stay in the Senate at that_. He is very set on _Whitney,_ and I think has no one else but that could be changed. He spoke of regretting both B.'s and G.'s leaving the Senate. He talked very freely and frankly, and I do not think it has hurt him to let him alone for a couple of weeks, as he has been.

[31] Mr. Tilden's private secretary, and, for intimate correspondence, his synonyme.

"I saw Manning a moment and told him he nor C. had acknowledged your invitation. He seemed surprised, and said he understood that he sent word to you this eve., and I think C. understood that M. had done so both for himself and C. I told him I did not so understand him. He said to write you to-day that C. was _all right in every way_. That he spent the entire evening with him on Friday, and that among other things he talked with him about going to see you. That C. said he had agreed to go to N. Y. and listen to those who wanted to talk to him, and that he should go Feb. 1, or within a day or so of it, one way or the other. That he should simply hear what they had to say, and should make no committals in any way; and that after he had heard them, he and M. should go to you. C. told M. that was his idea of the best way to do it--if agreeable to you. I think he said that C. insisted upon his going to N. Y. with him. They therefore will visit you the last of the first week in Feb'y--if nothing happens. I had a very hasty talk with M., as I had but five minutes before my train started. I think I ought to say that C. has considerable _dread_ of A. H. G. (Andrew H. Green). He said G. abused every one and found fault with everything, and evidently had an idea that G. represented to some extent your views. I undeceived him about that. I found M. feared that G. would get hold of his letters to you also, and that, _I think_, is one reason why M. likes better to send messages than to write, although he probably learned that from you. I do not know as I should have written the above about _G._, _but thought_ you ought to know it.

"Yours very truly, "SMITH M. WEED."

R. T. MERRICK TO TILDEN

_"Private and confidential._

"WASHINGTON CITY, _Feb'y 1st, 1885_.

"MY DEAR MR. TILDEN,--On the day after my return to New York from Greystone, I had a conversation with Mr. Jones as to the fusing of himself and his political associates, in regard to the appointment of Mr. Manning as Secretary of the Treasury.

"Mr. Jones spoke, very decidedly, for himself and Mr. Horace White, in favor of the appointment, and was of opinion that it would meet the approval of all the leading independents, especially in view of the fact that such an appointment was, probably, the only means by which the danger--as he characterized it--of Mr. Whitney's accession to that office could be avoided. He represented that he and his friends were opposed to the appointment of the last-named gentleman to any place in Cleveland's cabinet.

"He requested me to say to you that, in his interview with Mr. Cleveland on Sunday last, he stated to him that, but for your course, in reference to him, he certainly would never have been nominated--and that he impressed upon him the extent of his obligations to you.

"In all that he said--as far as I am informed--on this subject he was right, and would have been right had he gone further and given the President-elect a broader view of the situation.

"_But for you_, and the wonderful power and wisdom with which you conducted the Democratic party up to and through the campaign of '76, the rule of the Republican party would have remained unbroken for another quarter of a century.

"You _regained_, _preserved_, and have _transmitted_ a political estate to Mr. Cleveland, and from what I know of his intellectual and moral character, cannot believe that he will fail to appreciate this condition and history. I cannot believe that he will--in the great emergency which is upon him--fail to avail himself of your wise counsel and advice; or that he will, in looking back upon the events of '76 and those which followed, allow those of your friends who were with you in your triumph, and then led the forlorn hope in the desperate fight of that hour of darkness and treachery, to be pushed aside now by the unscarred sycophants around him.

"The impression seems to prevail here that, since the election of Evarts, it would be very unwise to withdraw either Bayard or Garland from the Senate.

"We will, certainly, be overmatched in debate in that body, whether the gentlemen referred to remain or not.

"Believe me, my dear Mr. Tilden, with great respect, always

Sincerely yours, "R. T. MERRICK."

THEODORE F. SHUEY TO S. J. TILDEN

"OFFICIAL REPORTER'S OFFICE, UNITED STATES SENATE, "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Feb'y 1, 1885_.

"DEAR SIR,--I learn, through the N. Y. _World_, that you have recently purchased for your library a 'Financial Diary' kept by Thomas Jefferson when President of the U. S. I have at my home in Virginia a similar diary kept by him in 1774, when a young lawyer at Williamsburg and a member of the House of Burgesses. It is the Virginia Kalendar for that year, well bound in leather with blank pages, on which he wrote, and is a complete diary of his 'pai^{mts},' as well as Mrs. Jefferson's. I have never offered it for sale, nor exhibited it except to friends who take an interest in such matters. You would, of course, wish to see the diary in my possession before purchasing it, if such should be your desire; and as I do not know the price recently paid by you, I have no idea as to the worth of the one for 1774. If you wish to have both diaries in your library, I hope to hear from you on the subject.

"Very truly yours, "THEO. F. SHUEY, "_Assistant Senate Reporter_."

DANIEL LAMONT TO TILDEN

"ALBANY, _February 4, 1885_.

"DEAR SIR,--Governor Cleveland directs me to convey to you his thanks for your very kind invitation, and to say that he hopes soon to have the pleasure of making you a visit.

"Mr. Manning will communicate with you concerning the time.

"Very respectfully, "DANIEL S. LAMONT, "_Private Secretary_."

WASHINGTON McLEAN TO TILDEN

"WASHINGTON, D. C., _Feb. 5th, 1885_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--Unless my information is sadly at fault, and I have reason to believe it is not, your old enemies, who conceived the electoral commission to cheat you out of the Presidency, are making both active and insidious efforts to install themselves in President Cleveland's cabinet. To be frank, Mr. Bayard and Mr. Thurman, who were your rivals for the Presidential nomination, and who originated the infamous tribunal which defrauded not only yourself but the American people of their just rights, are both using tremendous forces to gain cabinet places. Mr. Bayard wants the Treasury portfolio, in which desire I have reason to believe he will fail. In such case, he will take the State Department. Thurman will be content with any designation. His candidacy is covertly in the interest of Pendleton. This you may know and doubtless do.

"I have reason to believe you will have the opportunity, quite soon, to give your well-matured views as to public men and public policy to the President-elect. I know too well that our mutual friend, Mr. Bigelow, holds justly your highest appreciation. So he does mine. Still, the purpose of my letter, without detracting at all from Mr. Bigelow's merits, is to call your attention to an old and tried friend of your own and myself. Governor Robert McLane, of Maryland, I have in my mind's eye. He is an old friend of thirty years' standing. He is a radical Democrat. I know he has always been your conscientious and personal friend and admirer. He has had large and ripe public experience, both as a diplomat, a legislator, and the executive of his State. His grandfather was an officer in the war of the Revolution. His father was distinguished for all those traits which make true Democracy illustrious. He was a member of Congress, a U. S. Senator from Delaware, Minister to England, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of State. For ten years he was the president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co.

"To go back to the son. You know as well as I his public service. Jackson appointed him to West Point. In the Florida war he served with credit; also under General Scott in the Cherokee country. In 1847 he began his Congressional term, representing a Maryland district, and subsequently in 1849. President Pierce, in 1853, appointed him a commissioner to China with full powers plenipotentiary. In 1859 President Buchanan appointed him Minister to Mexico. He was again elected to Congress in 1879 and 1881, and is now the Governor of Maryland, being elected by 12,000 majority.

"Don't you think, Governor, it would be only fair to Cleveland to give him the choice between two of your friends: Mr. John Bigelow and Gov. Robt. McLane?

"Your cordial friend, "WASHINGTON MCLEAN.

"No. 8 La Fayette Square, Washington, D. C.

"_Gov. Samuel J. Tilden._

"P. S.--I had forgotten to add that I have conferred on this subject with Hon. Samuel Randall and other of our old friends, who concur with me in the endorsement of Gov. McLane.

"W. McL."

S. J. RANDALL TO GROVER CLEVELAND

"NEW YORK, _February 8, 1885_.

"HON. GROVER CLEVELAND.

"DEAR SIR,--The wisdom and public necessity of a discontinuance of compulsory coinage of bullion into standard silver dollars as authorized by the act of February 28, 1878, is under discussion in most of our commercial and trade organizations.

"There is a wide-spread apprehension that the continued coinage of standard silver dollars may bring about financial and trade embarrassment. Under these circumstances, I do not consider it inappropriate that I should ask an expression of your judgment in relation to this subject.

"I have the honor to enclose a copy of an amendment, which I propose to have inserted in the bill for the legislative, executive and judicial appropriations.

"Yours very truly."[32]

[32] This is the draft of a letter doubtless emanating from Mr. Tilden, as it is in the handwriting of one of his secretaries.

GROVER CLEVELAND TO S. J. RANDALL

"NEW YORK, _February 9, 1885_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have received your letter containing a copy of an amendment in relation to the coinage of silver, which it is proposed should be inserted in a bill now pending in Congress, and asking my judgment upon the subject.

"I have some delicacy in saying a word that may be construed by anybody as interfering with the legislation of the present Congress. But so grave do I deem the public emergency that I am willing as a private citizen to say that I think some legislation of the character suggested is eminently desirable.

Very respectfully yours, "GROVER CLEVELAND."

DRAFT OF A LETTER TO THE HONORABLE HUGH MCCULLOCH, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

"GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _February 11, 1885_.

"DEAR MR. MCCULLOCH,--I am much obliged for the kind attention you gave to my inquiries. I have been delayed in writing to you my acknowledgments, from the lack of leisure to add some observations which I desired to make. And if compelled to differ with you in any respect, I need not say that it is with a high and respectful appreciation of your opinions and abilities in finance.

"I agree that a currency strictly limited in amount so as not to exceed, but rather to be less, than the effective demand for necessary public use, may be kept in circulation at a rate higher than its intrinsic value. But that is true only on very stringent conditions.

"As to making a market for silver coin by withdrawing bank-notes and treasury notes of less denomination than five dollars--and ultimately of less denomination than ten dollars--there are grave difficulties. In your letter it is remarked:

"'You say that fifty millions of silver is about all that the country can absorb. This is true; and it is true simply because we keep in circulation upwards of fifty millions of one and two dollar notes. If these notes were withdrawn, their place would immediately be filled with silver and gold. If the five-dollar notes were also retired, all of the silver dollars now in the Treasury vaults would be in circulation, as they ought to be. On this point, permit me to call your attention to page 34 of my report. I wish you could see your way clear to use your great influence in favor of the retiring of the one and two dollar United States notes, to be followed in due time by the retirement of all notes below ten dollars.'

"The habits of the people, and their unanimous and strong preference for the portable currency of paper over the cumbrous currency of silver, interpose an almost insurmountable obstacle to such a measure. Borrowing the idea from the practice of England, and supported by most economical writers, that measure has been often advocated, and sometimes attempted to be put in practice. But the expedient has never made much progress, and it has been resisted and rejected by the people at every opportunity.

"About fifty years ago a law was passed, by the State of New York, suppressing bank-notes of a less denomination than five dollars. Although in my general views friendly to free banking, I justified myself in supporting the measures on the ground that it was legitimate to apply an artificial restraint to an artificial system. Enclosed is a copy of the resolutions drawn by myself, opposing the repeal of that law.

"On that issue, more than on any other single question, the party of Jackson and Van Buren was overthrown in the State of New York in the election of 1838. William L. Marcy was defeated as a candidate for re-election as Governor, and 'Small-Bill' Seward was elected in his place. The law was immediately repealed. The question had some special disadvantages at that time; but the indications of the popular wishes were unquestionable.

"I understand from members of my family, that ladies shopping at retail stores in New York city almost universally refuse to take silver dollars. Even one silver dollar is considered an incumbrance, is, in fact, too large to be carried in a ladies _porte-monnaie_, while several of them are quite out of the question.

"I understand, also, that our small notes are very popular in Canada, and in the Bahama Island, being preferred to silver coin.

"I think that the best way of making a market for silver through the small circulation, is for the government to receive the silver at its intrinsic value, and to issue certificates against it dollar for dollar.

"Among your observations on the question of the expediency of making the nominal value of the silver dollar correspond to its intrinsic value, it is suggested:

"'Another objection might be that the adoption of this standard would probably operate to prevent joint action, by the leading commercial nations, in fixing a ratio of silver to gold which would be concurred in by all nations; and, perhaps, thus delay or frustrate that which would seem to be very desirable. No legislation by the United States alone, would be effectual in fixing the rules of silver outside of its own boundaries. Joint action of the principal powers appears to be the only mode through which a satisfactory solution of the question can be reached.

"'If there is no hope that such an arrangement can be made, it would be desirable that the intrinsic value of the silver dollar should be brought so nearly as possible to its nominal value.'

"After looking over the discussions of the last two International Conferences, I cannot avoid the conclusion that it is hopeless to make any further attempt to obtain the co-operation of the leading commercial powers in fixing a ratio between gold and silver coins, and that the contingency in which you would deem it 'desirable that the intrinsic value of the silver dollar shall be brought as nearly as possible to its nominal value,' has already occurred.

"The statement of the Treasurer accompanying your letter for January 26, 1885, is as follows:

Gold coin $172,439,478 Gold bullion 64,195,150 ------------ Total gold assets $236,634,628 Gold certificates outstanding 107,917,890 ------------ Amount of gold actually owned $128,716,738